(Jean Michel Jarre, from his 1984 album Zoolook)

Today is a day for a rant. Not that it is in any way atypical for me to be exasperated with the stupidity and sensationalism of the media, but today it's just to the point of utter intolerability.

"News" stories of note in the last couple of days:

#1 - Mark Sanchez Hot Dog

Not that this really merits further discussion. Apparently, eating hot dogs now requires an apology. I suppose it's a good thing that I don't eat hot dogs, lest I draw the ire of the public. At this time, however, I would like to apologize for the Brussels sprouts I ate the other night. I know how sensitive some of my readers are about these midget cabbages, and I was entirely wrong for eating them. Seriously? I guess the stone-throwers have finally gone off the deep end. I mean, before NFL players had to at least do something more notable like rape women or run illegal dog fighting rings to get publicly shamed.

#2 - America's Next Top Model - "blackface"

This one really gets my goat. This is about the third time in the media recently that they've tried to invent a blackface scandal. Seriously? Blackface? Do they even have any concept of what this means? Historically, blackface was a terrible form of comedy, racist to the core. Performers would don, and I emphasize, poorly made up costumes of southern poor blacks, basing their entire routine on portraying them as poor and stupid and ridiculing them in a not-so-wholesome manner. Let me emphasize again, the key element of blackface is the ridicule and denigration of blacks. If you watch this video of America's Next Top Model and look at the photo shoots, they are nothing but tasteful and clearly celebrate the target cultures. I see no way to derive denigration of any kind.

The real irony is that the actions of the media bear an uncanny resemblance to blackface, because although not comedic, they use gross exaggeration and untruths to unjustly damage the public's opinion of others.