The Jaundiced Viewer

In an era

Of 24 hour news

And instantaneous communication.

Have we

Created these monsters

Which flash before us

On the computer

And TV screens?

In this insatiable need

For constant information

Around the clock.

As news crews

Span the globe

In this ratings game

Of viewers.

Broadcasting images

Once deemed

Too offensive

Even for

The most harden

Of souls.

Has our moral compass

Become so misdirected

We need

Our daily horror dose

To feel human

Again?

Titillating us

For watching

Something deemed taboo

Only a few years ago

By society

At large.

Desensitizing us

To the horrors

That war brings

On a daily basis

To the people trapped

In its brutal grasp.

As we sit

In our warm

And comfortable homes

Watching

So many 1 000s km

Away.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i wonder this same thing...does media coverage incite much more than just give us the news...and some of these news stations... they seem to make the news if there isn't any---create it.
i also often wonder how often these terrorist acts, school shootings, etc. would actually happen if they got no publicity at all.
some will claim martyrdom just to make headlines....

and media also helps to make us so paranoid...
as george harrison once sang, "it's all too much for me to take" only when his lyrics continued it was about peace.

a moving write that addresses what's happening today, so well.
the news is so hard to watch now.

[therisa]

I don't know, Jacob, and scared to find out, what the answer is. Maybe, this time bliss is, ignorance.

[ANTO]

You nailed it Therisa - and ironically - some of the people who decided that they would no longer sit by and watch 'their ones' getting visited by horror are the ones in France and elsewhere inflicting the horror. Its a vicious circle - very deftly handled T.

[ANTO]

You nailed it Therisa - and ironically - some of the people who decided that they would no longer sit by and watch 'their ones' getting visited by horror are the ones in France and elsewhere inflicting the horror. Its a vicious circle

[therisa]

Thank you, Anto, for your double reviews, of this poem. Maybe, one day, we will learn better.

[ANTO]

hah the ISP kicked me and so i retried and..... viola!! (a small Cello)
:)

[ANTO]

sorry - I'll try that again - voila - (French is rusty) :D

[therisa]

The WC and it quirks, does drive a non-drinker, to drink, at times.

[ANTO]

:)))........