Don't believe everything you read

I read at least some news just about every day. I rely on relatively few newspapers and television news broadcasts for my information. After seeing what's been written about my friend's death last weekend, I think I need to expand my horizons. Of course, there aren't as many sources available for stories of this nature as there are for state-wide, national and international stories, but it really hit me that you simply cannot assume that what you are reading is factual. It makes me sick to know that the goal of selling a certain number of newspapers or getting a certain number of hits or enticing people to keep watching a broadcast takes precedence over the truth. Even more disturbing is not only John Q. Public's willingness to swallow the so-called news wholesale, but their complete lack of compassion and overwhelming desire to jump to conclusions and make callous, vile, and hurtful statements about people they have never met. The Internet is breeding a generation of spiteful, mean-spirited people who have nothing better to do all day than lurk on news messages boards to make judgments and flame people. They can go to hell.

Thank goodness I've got a bunch of great fellow bloggers to help balance out all the fuckwits out there.