When I turned on my computer this morning, a headline flashed before me "John Edwards talks about his son's death," and got me to wondering:

Why is the death of a political candidate's son, and his wife's spreading cancer our business?

Why is it that ongoing genocide in Darfur, starvation, and homelessness not?

Why is the sex life of teenagers our business, but  implementing programs to provide the tools required to ensure safer sex not?

Why does Katie Couric cross-examine a prospective president about his capacity to cope with grief, and function as commander in chief, and NOT question the current chief executive about his delusions of grandeur, and how it affects world peace, as well as stability at home?

 

Whose business is it that, according to an article by David Cay Johnston in today's New York Times this morning, the top 10% wage earners, who  make in excess of $100,000 annually, reached a level of income in this country not seen since the roaring twenties, and why wasn't that flashing across our computer screens first thing this morning?  ( NYT)   Can it be because a T.V. show firing people is infinitely more popular than one hiring people would be?  Why aren't we talking about all the corporate mega-layoffs instead of the misfortune of celebrities like Anna Nicole, members of the White House press corps, and Elizabeth Edwards? 

Shame on each and every one of us who make this kind of sensationalism profitable.  What skewed priorities when we, as a society, no longer distinguish between that which is private, and that which we have a right to know.