[thirti4thirty]

If everyone on this planet were to be like me, "people gossip" journalists would be hopeless jobless wrecks!

I was going through MSN headlines this morning and I came across this:
"PRINCE GEORGE THREW FOOD AT COUSIN'S BABY"

For real? an MSN HEADLINE????

I decided to click on the article just because I needed to make sure the article was about the baby called prince George throwing anything. And yes, it was! Complete with interviews of the parents of the "victim" giving you a detailed account of the headline-worthy EVENT!!

I thought my ears and eyes would be spared of "prince george" gossip articles for a few years until he turns maybe 16 and started dating and his dating stories become the number 1 problem of kids throughout the world.

I just realized that was a dream. UGH! Exasperation!

What's the lowest we'll get? We have gotten to the bottom of the pit and we are now digging below wishing to get where I don't know....

Sorry, I just needed to vent about this one!

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by thirti4thirty

I decided to click on the article just because I needed to make sure the article was about the baby called prince George throwing anything. And yes, it was! Complete with interviews of the parents of the "victim" giving you a detailed account of the headline-worthy EVENT!!

But you not only did click on the article, you also passed along the story (in a highly populated internet forum, no less) and that's why the gossip journalists will continue to have jobs. Like it or not, you got pulled into the vicious gossip cycle.

A high percentage of people who read this will feel compelled (I'm fighting the urge myself) to click on and read the story "just to check" that the story actually is exactly as un-newsworthy as the title siggests. Then they'll post here, and continue to discuss it.


Aaaagh, I got sucked in too, because even having NOT read it, I'm discussing it, which will draw in more people to go read the article.

The gossip journalists got exactly what they wanted from you (and from me, even though I didn't even read the d$%&@ article) - an emotional response that you felt compelled to pass along and comment upon.

They will continue to have job security until no one clicks on any of the gossip articles, regardless of the content, fascinating or truly scandalous or mundane... and until no ome even comments on the titles of their articles either.

They do not need readers who are deeply interested in the actual gossip, they only need readers who will click "just to make sure" the topic really is as boring as it seems.

[sacha]

There are times I think our planet needs another dinosaur comet

[thirti4thirty]

Originally Posted by kaplods

But you not only did click on the article, you also passed along the story (in a highly populated internet forum, no less) and that's why the gossip journalists will continue to have jobs. Like it or not, you got pulled into the vicious gossip cycle.

A high percentage of people who read this will feel compelled (I'm fighting the urge myself) to click on and read the story "just to check" that the story actually is exactly as un-newsworthy as the title siggests. Then they'll post here, and continue to discuss it.


Aaaagh, I got sucked in too, because even having NOT read it, I'm discussing it, which will draw in more people to go read the article.

The gossip journalists got exactly what they wanted from you (and from me, even though I didn't even read the d$%&@ article) - an emotional response that you felt compelled to pass along and comment upon.

They will continue to have job security until no one clicks on any of the gossip articles, regardless of the content, fascinating or truly scandalous or mundane... and until no ome even comments on the titles of their articles either.

They do not need readers who are deeply interested in the actual gossip, they only need readers who will click "just to make sure" the topic really is as boring as it seems.

Oww, I knew this, and I saw it coming. But hey, I wasn't going to keep my surprise/exasperation before/after to myself just because I'd be a carrier of the story.

Sacha: We need something worse to do the cleasing!!