I was checking the news online, when I happened to glance at the sidebar of “most read” headlines. Is it just me, or do today’s stories amount to a truly world-class litany of depravity?

Consider the first several stories:

• “Ohio 13-Year-Old Charged With 128 Felonies.” That headline speaks for itself.
• “Two Volunteer Police Officers Among Four Killed in NYC Shootout.” In NYC, volunteer or “auxiliary” police officers, like essentially all other demonstrably decent and law abiding citizens, are not allowed to carry firearms to defend themselves. In this case a criminal had shot a worker in a restaurant and fled to the street. The volunteer officers headed towards the report of shots fired. Let’s assume — as I think is reasonable — that their plan was not to take on the armed villain, but just to render whatever assistance they could in the situation. As it happened (according to early reports) the shooter was heading up the same block they were coming down, on the opposite side of the street. According to Mayor Bloomberg today, it is believed that he crossed the street towards the volunteer officers, in order to shoot them dead, which he did. He later was killed by law abiding citizens who are allowed to bear arms; i.e. paid officers of the NYPD.
• “Playboy Editor In Indonesia Found Guilty; Protesters Call For Death Sentence.” The editor in question was reportedly found guilty of doing what Playboy editors generally do: publishing naughty pictures. In this case, however, not nude pictures. Playboy apparently greatly restrained its usual style in deference to the largely Muslim population of Indonesia. The protesters calling for a death sentence are, of-course, Muslims.
• “Florida Teen’s Stomach Ache Turns Out To Be Gunshot Wound.” Again, no comment needed here.
• “Colorado Granny Charged With Sexually Assaulting Kids While Man Watched Over Internet.” That’s right: the woman allegedly had her grandchildren perform according to the requests of a man watching them via webcam. There’s a slight (very slight) amelioration of this story: the grandmother was 49 years old; i.e. not the white-haired seventy or eighty-year-old dear of our imagination. Still and all …
• “Boy, 6, Stays In Home Two Days With Dead Father.” I haven’t read this story, but the headline alone conveys something of the disconnect between many people in society today, and — what’s worse — the disconnect within families. There was no one else around?
• “Minnesota Teen Horrified To Receive Her Dog’s Head as Gift On Her Doorstep.” Truly, humankind can sink no lower than this.
• “Yellowstone Supervolcano Making Strange Rumblings.” This story seems only fitting after the preceding ones.

Farther down, right below a report on the latest contestant to be booted from the “American Idol” TV show, we get this:

“Al Qaeda Chief Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Confesses To Planning Sept. 11, Gitmo Transcript Shows.” Oh yeah. About five and a half years ago, there was some brouhaha at the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. This has something to do with that, I guess.

The litany of headlines continues, with both Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears making their respective appearances before it ends.

Oh, well. You can draw your own conclusions.

...................
Share this!

Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• “Remember New Orleans”
• Don’t Think Twice …
• There’s Blasphemy on Every Tongue