Dogfights: not news

I don’t care about dogfights, and you shouldn’t either.\nHaving recently found myself in Egypt, I don’t watch a lot of TV these days. Therefore, I felt safe turning to trusty CNN.com for a concise, well-prioritized taste of what’s “happening now” back home. \nAnd apparently, what’s “happening” is just a bunch of dogfights.\nNFL star Michael Vick recently pled guilty to letting a bunch of pit bulls run around in a circle and kill each other for his and others’ gambling entertainment. Pick the biggest, nastiest pit bull and become the biggest, nastiest “dawg.”\nThat’s headline news. Oh, by the way, X-hundred Iraqi civilians died in a suicide bombing. We’ll now be turning to local headlines. \nVick topping world headlines might seem funny, but our priorities in the media need to be addressed. And it becomes scary when the way society behaves toward media issues moves onto the political stage: what sells (read: pulls votes) determines how legislation moves through Congress. \nDemocracy is great, folks, but it has its pitfalls. The very nature of the word “representative” means that we elect our legislative body to represent the country in proportion to its public opinion – theoretically, what’s on that Senate floor is what we, the people, are asking for.\nNot surprisingly, there’s an inordinate amount of time and resources spent on hot-button moral issues as opposed to something with the potential to be fixed, such as fiscal policy or education reform. The way Washington operates is a dangerous 2.0 version of what goes on in the media circle – Vick’s habit involving fighting dogs is usurping airtime for huge international crises, which sends the message that football players and dogfights really are right in line, priority-wise, with other world headlines. News like this diverts attention from other news, and it can lead to serious political and international repercussions.\nSo why has nothing been done? We’re not stupid – most Americans probably realize there’s something slightly out of sorts with the proportion of coverage time to issue importance in our headline news. Realizing how things operate in the political realm is a bit trickier. Where’s the lobby for “Abortion Doesn’t Matter This Much So Stop Spending 85 Percent Of Capitol Hill’s Resources On It”? And more importantly – who’s risking his or her neck to start a lobby of cold, hard logic that flies in the face of many Americans’ sensationalized pet issues? In a democracy like ours, it’s political suicide, especially when there’s a Presidential election coming up. \nAnd with the media tracking every move of anyone with any hope of a political future, it’s doubtful that amidst the war and a plethora of other issues, Barack Obama is going to haphazardly throw another gnashing, unpopular cog in his campaign machine – even if it’s the right thing to do.\nLikewise, it’s doubtful Vick will get any less coverage after his trial.\nBut I still don’t care about dogfights.