For some reason, all that was on TV last night was coverage of the WTC terrorism. Who would have thought that people had such long attention spans?

Over all, the coverage was pretty riveting and I couldn't figure out what channel to stay on. As I was meandering between different coverages for the latest wild rumors, I found one where a panel of pundits was taking calls. They were listening to some teenage girl named "Amy" talk about how it didn't quite sink in for her and her classmates at school.

After the call, one of the erudites starts in with his, "I think this is the problem with kids today. They are exposed to violence so often on TV that--"

That's when I shut it off. Good thing, too, because I was about to get all terrorist on the TV.

I find it so profoundly annoying when brain dead morons feel the need to criticize  with broad generalizations, particularly if they were once in that situation themselves. It would be like a poor person who becomes rich through winning the lottery and then talks about how poor people are a bunch of stupid, morally bankrupt losers. A bit hypocritical.

I would presume that this scholar was a young person once. I would ask him if he would expect a 2 year-old to grasp the enormity of the situation? I doubt it. What about a 5 year-old? What about a 10 year-old? Nope, I don't think any of those kids really grasp it. Hmph. As I write, they're talking about what to tell little kids about what happened. Somehow, I doubt that kids living in California would be much affected emotionally. The only reaction they'd make is to their parents going insane. Anyway, so if we can agree that a 10-year olds can't really wrap their young brains around it, what about 16 year-olds, who have yet to experience the world? I say, no, they shouldn't be expected to understand what's going on. I'll go into why in a minute.

But that's all trifles.

What really irks me that, as usual, TV gets the blame. Poor, defenseless TV, that has never hurt anyone and brings us hours and hours of endless joy. TV's to blame for desensitization to violence, girls getting boobs faster, impulse shopping, and the rise of brain dead morons getting to spout their nonsensical ravings to millions of people. Well, that last one is actually true, and sucks.

I blame society for Amy and her classmates' inability to grasp the gravity of the situation. It's clear to me that the relatively violence-free culture we live in is responsible. Heck, TV is the only place most kids see someone get murdered or a building blow up. Of COURSE when a disaster like this happens, these kids can't get any more emotionally attached than if it was just another movie. It's not like we live in Israel or Afghanistan or Sudan where people are getting killed and blown up all the time, and that's only because they probably know people who are involved.

Well, whatever. It just bugs me that even at a time like this people can find time to break into a Puritanical rant.