And so scanning through the headlines in the World section of the New Zealand Herald this morning, I see:
- Camilla pulls out of Diana memorial service
- Grieving father says there’s ‘ice water’ in royals’ veins
- Princes want Camilla at Diana service
- Stella in a hop over animal rights (McCartney, I presume. I didn’t bother actually reading the article)
- Trafficked women auctioned in pubs
Alright, so I’m being very carefully selective here, there are in fact many more articles on offer, but something struck me: Listed above there are the headlinese of five articles about “events” in the UK (well, I’m just guessing about that Stella one- and for good reason). Four are about the antics of celebrities. Those four headlines mention the celebrities by given name (Camilla, Diana, Stella) or title (Princes) only, and presumably we are meant to somehow immediately know which Camilla, Diana, Stella or Princes are being referred to. Only one could actually be considered by a rational, mature person to actually be news that offers us real information about serious issues in real British society. And no, the NZ Herald is not some cheap, sleazy tabloid. At least, it pretends to be a serious newspaper. Am I the only one who sees anything wrong here?
And so it’s been ten years since the death of Princess Diana. Wow, so it’s also ten years since the death of Mother Teresa. I’ll leave you to guess which life I consider most worthy of rememberance and veneration. While you’re at it, you can also try and guess which of those two women I consider made the greater contribution to society.
Oh, and follow the link to that article about trafficked women being auctioned in pubs, but be warned, it does not make for pleasant reading.
