Alex and Wesley,
I’ve seen the video dozens of times since last night, and each time, I’ve watched with fascination–especially when they put it in slow motion, like during The News With Brian Williams last night on MSNBC. The way his body slams into the car and then flips is breathtaking, the stunning climax to a Cirque du Soleil performance, not to the latest example of idiocy turned media obsession.
The New YorkPost’s Adam Buckman blames the kids (good call) but also slams the show’s host, Johnny Knoxville, and the “jackass enablers at MTV” (whatever). But what network(s) actually aired the footage of the three kids? Not MTV. What media outlets lunged at this story like a Survivor contestant jumps on a stray, product-placed Dorito? Again, not MTV. So who do we blame when kids start doing jackass things to appear on the nightly news? Probably MTV.
The most appalling part, besides the fact that the kids are stars now solely because of the media, is that one of the participants actually said that it had nothing to do with Jackass; the one who did the aerial acrobatics doesn’t even have cable. Even if that’s a complete lie, how many times have we heard his side reported? Plus, I’ve never seen anyone get hit by a car on Jackass, a show that I find to be completely hilarious–mostly because the stuff they do is so ridiculous it’s unbelievable. Jackass may make brazen masculinity look hip, but, hell, they’re hurting themselves. Who wants to do that?
Best of all: One of them, Drew Janney, 15, told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “It is wrong for people to sensationalize for media attention.” Gotta love it when a 15-year-old delivers a perfectly aimed slap to the media’s buzzing head.
So once again, besides not getting any of the actual facts from the news, we’re fed a diet of lazy politicians who lack the ability or desire to actually examine something thoroughly before they issue a press release and whore themselves to the willing media. It’s a viscous, incestuous cycle.
So which one of you guys wants to hold the video camera while I drop my TV and computer out my 11th-floor window as a metaphor for my disgust?
Andy
