Why? First, the royals. While it's all interesting and whatnot, I guess I got burned by the wedding of the century when I was a kid. You know, the one involving Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Not to mention the fact that several news outlets are praising the young prince's willingness to let all those old traditions and moral anachronisms be set aside for a splash in the wellspring of modern narcissism and hedonistic post-Christian livun'. So count me as one who will gladly watch a National Geographic special on the art of whale gutting in the arctic rather than waste my time following this one. If the Royal Family was interested in preserving the best of what England had to offer, I might. But as of now, it doesn't look like it's produced much more than a new generation of European post-moderns.
As for the Beatles, that's a little stranger. I count myself as quite the Beatles fan. I have all of their CDs, a few old time LPs, many old, now unused, cassettes, and myriad books and other fan paraphernalia. So why don't I care about this? One reason I don't care could be I have the CDs and can just download the songs onto our digital receptacles as need be. Another, however, is that I think I've grown up. Not that I don't have my child like love of things such as running through cemeteries at Halloween or snowball fights at Christmastime or playing games with my children. But I'm trying to stop being a kid disguised as an adult. And one of the first things that go when that occurs is the end of living centered around the pop culture universe.
That's not to say I don't like movies here or there, or still listen to the Beatles, Van Halen, 80s music, or whatever. I just don't live there anymore. I'm tired of being part of a generation proud of the fact that it's forgotten how many Commandments there were, but knows the name of the latest kid Brad Pitt adopted. I'm weary of a society that can't name the Vice-President or tell me how many Supreme Court Justices there are, but is all aflutter over who will win Dancing With the Stars. And that means while I enjoy the Beatles' music, and even their life stories, I no longer sit on pins and needles waiting to obsess about the next cleverly designed marketing campaign meant to make filthy rich a bunch of people who couldn't care less if I lived or died.
So for the next day or two, I will have to stomach story after story about two things I feel I've grown out of in order to hear a little bit of attention focused on the serious things of the world. But I guess I can cheer up. In a couple days it will be reduced to one superficial story as all focus turns to the release of the latest Harry Potter movie.
Oh so cynical. That's ok in this case I would agree with you. Hated to hear that last story. I wonder what will be done about it. I would imagine nothing at this point. Sad to see such things happening.
ReplyDeleteI pay so little attention to those fly by night "news" stories that I don't think I even realized the story about the Prince was about him getting married. I had heard his name in the news then turned the channel. That is how much I care.
DS
"Whale gutting in the Arctic" - a Jack Tripper line from Three's Company, too.
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