All-Star Game
I was a big baseball fan as a kid, and I loved the All-Star game. My boys were pretty excited about it, so I decided to watch a chunk of it last night. I looked up the start time: 8:05. They didn't say "8:00," of course, because that would be a dead giveaway that the game wouldn't really start then. To add to their deception, they said "8:05," then didn't actually start it until 8:50. It really irritates me, so much so that I dedicated an entire piece to it years ago in Gilbert Magazine. Excerpt:
"Well," I've heard people say, "that's just their way of making sure you stay tuned. The more that people stay tuned, the more advertising dollars for them."
And they'd be correct, but that doesn't make it right and, in fact, the idea that profit is a legitimate justification is rather startling.
If money from commercials is a legitimate reason to lie about little thing, doesn't it follow that networks have a legitimate reason to lie about big things? If a network can broadcast big and important news stories, its viewership will increase and advertisers will pay more. And if it needs to distort facts or invent footage in order to turn an ordinary story into a big story, isn't that legitimate? Such things, after all, bring greater profits.
Every time the media is caught lying or exaggerating or distorting (food dangers in Food Lion grocery stores, the alar apple scare, the danger of side-mounted fuel tanks, CNN in Iraq), it comes back, assuring us that such things are isolated events and that they can be trusted.
But then they continue to lie or mislead about little things.
Like the real importance of an upcoming new story. Like the real content of a feature. Like when a football or basketball game will really start.
Misleading conduct dots the landscape of the way media conducts everyday business. Arguably, it's habitual.
And they get away with it. And as long as they get away with it, they'll keep on lying or misleading about the little things. And as long as they continue to lie and mislead about little things, we can assume they are capable of lying or misleading about the big things.
For me, I'll never trust them until I see honesty every day.
A very wise man once said that a person can be trusted with big things once they can be trusted with little things. The flip side is equally true: if a person cannot be trusted with little things, they cannot be trusted with big things.
Anyway, here's my running commentary from last night:
The People Magazine Community All-Star feature was saccharine and self-aggrandizing stupidity. It also continued way too long. We wanted to watch baseball, not this feel-goodism.
The game didn't start until almost 9:00. I'm guessing it didn't end until after midnight. Perfect ending time for the young kids who are excited to see it. Man, I hope professional sports fall out of favor, crumble, then rot in hell. Am I being too harsh?
But of course, MLB cares so much about the kids. A lot of those volunteers honored by the Community All-Stars feature work with kids. Maybe that's how the MLB salves it non-kid friendly conscience.
I hate Budweiser, so much so that I resent their commercials because they're so good.
Hey Pepsi! I couldn't care less about your Refresh Project, and I'm tired of Big Business using philanthropy to further its own economic interests. It reminds me of T.E. Eliot's greatest treason (to do the right thing, for the wrong reason). Same to you Bank of America and Chevrolet. Spend more time providing banking services and making cars. That's plenty public service.
I don't like the Yankees, but that Joe Girardi strikes me as a pretty classy dude.
9:55. I'm off to bed.
