The Worldwide Leader In Dumb

I really should stop watching TV news. I can't stop though, I'm a news junkie. But it is so easy to get pissed at these people. The real problem today is not the so-called "liberal bias," which is not even close to being true anyway. No, it is the dumbing down, not just of the news, but of the people hired to read the news.

Now I've gone off on the idiot weatherman Chad Myers before, and he keeps proving his stupidity. For some reason CNN keeps rewarding his idiocy by giving him more responsibility, and a shiny new desk and studio. They had Mr. Hair Gel pull up the radar showing the planes in the air during the whole British situation last week. He was pointing out that there were not very many planes coming to the U.S. from England on that day because most had been canceled. He pointed out the few that there were, although I'm still not sure why other than he likes showing off the neato new computer CNN bought him, going from over the States first and moving east toward the UK. On the last one he pointed out he said, "...this one that just departed and is now over Scotland" while pointing to Ireland.

Fuck he's a moron. And nobody corrected the guy. Shit like that is just so damn annoying. People bitch and moan all the time that high school kids today can't pick out countries on the map or label all the states or some other thing that they should know. But shit, this is a lot worse. First, he's a weatherman, his whole life is about maps. How could he not know the difference between Ireland and Scotland? Second, he's in the media, he is responsible for information. And come on, can't they at least talk in his ear and tell him to correct himself when he does stupid shit like that? I'm guessing that nobody else even noticed, which means the producers of the news are no smarter than the pretty-boys hired to read it.

I just wonder where all the smart people in the media are, because it seems to me that used to be a requirement to get the job. But not any more. Instead, we get mind-numbing stupidity of the likes of Soledad O'Brien, Carol Costello, and Carol Lin, a trio of women whose role in the world should be spritzing you with perfume at the make-up counter in Macy's. Instead, they report on the important issues of the day. Well, sometimes. If there's time between the reports on Tom Cruise's new baby.

Though as annoying as those three are, they pale in comparison to the air-headedness of Betty Nguyen. How this giggly bimbo ever got a job other than hosting Tupperware parties or selling Amway I will never understand.

And don't even get me started on Miles O'Brien. Who did he have to fuck to get his career?

CNN has spent a lot of money recently on big new sets with fancy (and really annoying) video screens. You'd think they could spare 20 bucks for a goddamn world atlas for Chad Myers.

Or hey, what about hiring people with half a brain? There's a novel idea.