Thanksgiving is, among other things, a time of the year which we have specifically designated for thinking about the poverty and famine in the world. If you were an alien being receiving American news broadcasts in some frigid corner of the universe, you might think that the homeless only existed a few times a year- especially in late November.
Around Thanksgiving, the news networks bring out tales of the homeless. While I was home briefly this past Thanksgiving weekend, I saw one such story on the local news. The segment was about a charity-funded place in Cincinnati that gives out food to the homeless. Unfortunately, their stock of many crucial items- food and the like- had run out. The reporter stood before ransacked and mostly empty shelves and talked gravely about those in need. The segment ended with a shot of a long line of homeless men, women, and children standing out in the cold, November night and waiting for that which was not there.
No kidding- the very next shot was of a man grinning stupidly as he hurled a massive frozen turkey over the ice at a hockey rink. This new segment was about some sort of turkey bowling competition in which various well-to-do people used turkeys for no other purpose but to knock over bowling pins.
I'm not here to get outraged at the suffering of the world. I'm really just pointing this out because the utter incompetence on the part of the editors is hilarious. I wonder how many people didn't see anything funny or strange about this unfortunate juxtaposition, but just thought: "Wow, it's really sad that there are people who don't have food this Thanksgiving. Look! On a totally unrelated note, some people are throwing turkeys around a hockey rink- that looks fun."
Next Phase.
3 years ago
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