Strange juxtaposition yesterday. On the two hundred thirtieth birthday of the US of A, – two strangely related events took place. They were oddly related by a nutritional connection – yet diametrically opposed in cultural significance.
The events involved silly gluttony in New York, and a very serious hunger strike in Washington DC. And guess which one was covered by every single major news network, here and abroad? You betcha….the annual Nathan’s hot dog eating contest at Coney Island won hands down. How’s that for ugly?
Jesse’s Blog today includes this description:
The press from all over the world was on the scene. Most of the press had set up hours in advance. I saw ABC, NBC & CBS cameras there along with all the sports networks. Coverage was thorough and global.
All of this coverage was dedicated to a twelve minute gluttony contest.
The NY police department, (60th Precinct) was out in numbers. They lined the roof of Nathan’s. I assume they were keeping an eye out for Osama “Bun” Laden. The police provided the contest sponsors with a crowd estimate of twenty five thousand people. Personally I think there were between five and ten thousand. I can not imagine that half of Yankee stadium filled the small area. Anyway I found it amazing that the police could estimate this crowd when I have heard time and time again that crowd estimates were not possible. I heard this at every anti-war protest that I have attended. You know…the protests where twenty or thirty Yankee stadiums full of people attended!
At almost the same time, Cindy Sheehan, along with Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and others began their anti war hunger strike in Washington. Heck, it was a day to celebrate, not to bemoan the ongoing deaths in a useless, evil war.
So, what else is new? As usual, the corporate media continue to ignore all the vital issues that the public has a right to know….from election fraud to the myriad of lies and crimes of the Bush administration. It’s all about diversion and distraction, and I suppose hot dogs are about as good a diversion as any.
Full blog tells it like it is. If you want to take a look:
http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=407
