I've said it before but I must say it again --- Reality shows bear no resemblance to reality... and neither does the news. Surely most people realize the reality shows aren't real, but what the news media presents is just as distorted, and I'm not sure folks realize it. If a 'news' event was a usual and customary activity from everyday life, it wouldn't make the news. They only report the sensational, and unfortunately they seem very fond of the negatively sensational. I wish the news hounds would chase good news as doggedly as they sniff out bad news.

The media doesn't talk about ordinary life but by plastering the anomalies on the evening news people are misled into thinking their lives are full of these anomalous events. They aren't. We hear about murders in the news daily, but how many real peoples' lives are actually touched by a murder ever, much less daily? I'd like to see the news reported more realistically, in context. If they report one school shooting, I think they should be required to report the number of schools that went through the day with no shooting. I'm not saying that we should discount lives lost or affected by such events, but give it some perspective, instead of making it sound as though these things happen on everyone's doorstep, all day, everyday. They don't.

It would get really boring really quickly if the media had to report the statistics, if they had to reveal the actual percentages of the incidents they report relative to the actual experiences of the rest of the six and a half billion people living ordinary everyday lives on this planet.

But it's not the media's fault. It's human nature to get all caught up in drama. We really need to get over it. Addiction to drama is what causes dramatic events, whether we're committing them or revelling in the reporting of them. For heaven's sake... for humanity's sake... read a freakin book, watch a movie, have a nightmare. Get yourself a good cry or knee jerk reaction or shiver of fear or fit of rage without actually doing damage or waiting for someone to do it so you can drool over it or feel better because it didn't happen to you.

We now have the capability of synthesizing human experience so convincingly that we don't have to do the actual harm necessary for getting the adrenalin fix. Sheesh Can't we start doing all this crap to each other from memory, getting the emotional fix virtually if we need it, then just move on? Let's skip the vicarious thrill of feeding off the real-life tragedy of a few. It's twisted. We should have evolved past this.

The plot is worn. I don't need the drama. I don't understand people who do. I feel quite alive without it. And when I don't, I write myself a little story or find one to suit, then go on living my real life.