There is no message in this post.
News is meant to move you. Tacked at the end of a news post is usually some kind of call to action. I’ve done it myself. I don’t mean to downplay the urgency of those posts; they are powerful and important.
Sometimes the news posts are positive, and are meant to be a respite from the harsh realities of our world. News stations have a lot of time to fill, and to keep their ratings up they employ the use of what is basically visual clickbait. It’s a salvo of tragedy. We need something to lift our spirits, both to ground us and as a reminder that there is some goodness in the world. Those are important too.
But where’s the really under-reported news?
I went out of my way to find the grayest news ever. The neutral news. It doesn’t move you. It isn’t urgent. It’s a wonder why people reported on it in the first place.
On an early Tuesday morning in August, Ciaran Flanagan, a Brooklynite with an aggressively Irish name, saw a herd of goats grazing on a sidewalk in Bushwick. This news report is just three short sentences and a photo on News 12 Brooklyn’s website. Maybe you can find some emotional respite in an image of an animal, but there’s nothing that interests me less than blurry photos of a goat that someone else saw.
A middle-aged black man walks at the camera from thirty feet away. His posture is neutral, his hands hang awkwardly at his sides, and from the expression on his face it’s clear he’s aware of the camera he isn’t looking at. Taylor Garnier is campaigning for the city to install a speed bump on the corner of Avenue D and East 45th street in Brooklyn. He says there’s a funeral home and a school there. He’s seen cars speeding. I have not heard of a single instance where a petition changed something. From the article, it also sounds like the DOT was already surveying the street for a speed bump and Garnier just prompted them to “expedite” the investigation. I can’t imagine caring about a speed bump.
The Bronx has a new tourist attraction. The stairs featured in the new Joker movie have a lot of visitors going there to take photos. PIX11 says that despite having the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Gardens, and Yankee Stadium, the borough isn’t a popular spot for tourists. This could change thanks The Joker. Isn’t that incredible?
I meant for this to be light hearted and funny, but I had trouble finding more than three mediocre news stories. The amount of shootings I had to sift through has left me jaded. There are a lot in NYC. I didn’t hear about them.
There is no message in this post.
-M.C.
Bronx staircase featured in ‘Joker’ movie becomes tourist attraction, for better or worse
http://brooklyn.news12.com/story/38885917/goats-found-on-sidewalk-in-bushwick
The Junction Journal 