David Sirota deserves a medal for pointing out 10 stories the media missed because they were too into covering Weiner's Weaner. We are clearly moving into a state of Idiocracy. Sirota, a media critic at Salon, introduces the list:
As of my writing this, it takes less than two-tenths of a second for Google News to register 15,500 hits for the name "Anthony Weiner." Those are the kind of rare numbers that come along only when the media and political establishment is expressing full-blown Howard Beale Outrage -- the kind of scandal-addled rage that was once reserved for break-ins at Washington office buildings and arms-for-hostages deals.
But, of course, after those controversies created constitutional crises and almost brought down presidencies -- well, then came the real scandals: Bill Clinton staining that blue dress, Larry Craig's wide stance in the Minneapolis Airport, Mark Foley's instant messages, Chris Lee showing off his chest... and now, of course, Anthony Weiner. These are scandals that come with made-for-24-hour-cable-news visuals and require no investigative reporting whatsoever. These are scandals, in short, that are better sculpted for the 21st century Idiocracy that we call America circa 2011 -- so they are presented as even more important than anything that might actually affect the future of the nation or the planet.
Still, for some odd reason -- I don't know, call me old fashioned or crazy or both -- an irrelevant congressman's bizarre behavior in a silly 140-character-limited medium strikes me as a tad less offensive and less worthy of media focus than at number of other less-covered stories that broke at the same time as the Weiner Scandal. I think these 10 stories from this week are far more offensive -- and involve what should be considered more egregious infractions -- than Anthony Weiner's half-naked sexts.
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