really, cnn? REALLY?

since i really don't know all that much about what is going on in the world (this is because i do not have a television, therefore, i cannot watch the news, because i also do not really have internet access in my apartment, unless i take my laptop downstairs to the club room in my building and 95% of the time, i am too lazy to do that), i try to check in on current events while i'm at work. usually i get most of my news from cnn.com and the ny times online (i guess people.com and perez hilton don't really count as actual news, right?), which typically give me just enough information to know if the world is about to explode or not.

HOWEVER. i just discovered that one can actually watch live streaming video of oil spilling out into the gulf of mexico on cnn.com and my immediate reaction was WHY DOES CNN THINK I NEED TO SEE THAT?? maybe anderson & co. are trying to get some sort of emtional reaction out of me, so that i can actually see for myself the horrors that oil and greed and idiots who run oil companies have inflicted upon the environment down there, but if that's the case, i can tell them that all i really needed was that one photo of the pelican trying in vain to spread its oil-coated wings and fly. THAT WAS ENOUGH. since i grew up in the gulf coast neighborhood, it's especially painful to watch the powers that be pass the blame around like it's a game of hot potato, when dolphins are washing up dead on the shore and hundreds of thousands of people are worried about the economic well being of themselves and their families since no one really wants to eat oil-marinated seafood. anyway, it's just beyond my realm of understanding as to why one would need to watch live video of oil spilling into the gulf, because what is the point of that? i can see how some media outlets would want us to really truly KNOW what is going on down there and they want to shake us all out of our oil-consuming comas by streaming video that says SEE? SEE HOW AWFUL OIL COMPANIES CAN BE? LOOK AT THE POOR BIRDS AND FISH! because they know people like me, and how i will cry about those poor birds and fish and other marine life and swear off oil forever (good thing i don't have a car, or that might make this a little more challenging) and then dedicate the rest of my life to alternative energy sources.

this is how they kept me in front of my television (back when i had one) for 3 days straight after hurricane katrina, watching people being airlifted from the roofs of their houses, or footage of dogs and cats stranded in trees, or people looting stores and carrying out flat screen tvs (clearly, when a hurricane blows through and there is no power for weeks, one of the first things anyone will need to survive is a flat screen tv). i watch it because it's there to watch. it's like a train wreck or a car accident, you don't want to look, but you can't turn away.

but come on, cnn. you had me at