Apparently, the literacy rate isn’t any better at the Associated Press.

The Media constantly inundates with useless trivia about the personal lives of entertainers, rather than any real current events which affect our daily lives such as Foreign Policy, Terrorism, War or what’s happening in Congress. Consequently, Americans become even more out of touch and blissfully ignorant of the state of the world around them.

Having fed your brain the useless fodder it felt was newsworthy, so-called News Media then turns around and makes report after report about how stupid you, the viewer, are given that you don’t know anything of current, and important, events.

Having such a contemptible News Media makes it ever more important to know the difference between between Entertainment and Information, between Fiction and Fact and between Fantasy and Reality.

We’re used to people being at the ridiculous end of Politically Correct when we hear “California.” But in Utah last week, the Canyons School District decided to overturn a vote for the new Draper High School’s mascot because the word “may be offensive to some women.” Other news reports are more specific, saying the word “might be seen as offensive to middle-aged women.”

Yes, Cougars.

If subsequent reports are correct, Draper, Utah must be full of sexually aggressive, middle-aged women seeking relationships with men up to the age of 24.

Amusingly, Brigham Young University’s mascot is the Cougar. When considering the Mormonism & Polygamy bit, I suppose the BYU Sugar Daddies might’ve been more appropriate.

Sources: Salt Lake City’s Fox 13, Yahoo! Sports

In the last twenty years, digital photo enhancement and computer-generated imagery have become so mainstream that many prolific photographers go completely unrecognized.  Today, falsified images can be made by even a novice user, but when combined with the skill and distribution capabilty of mass media outlets, images can be — and have been — used for everything from garnering brand advertising revenues to swaying political campaigns. People now have the instant expectation that the majority of the images we see are digitally retouched, disproving the old adage, “the camera never lies.”  It is no wonder, given this bombardment of visual manipulation, that the general public is becoming so disillusioned by facts, amused by scandal and less likely to be shocked at the images that we see.

Although there are some who might claim that it is actually enhancing! 😉

This one beats July’s winner, Anita Little-Ganus, who isn’t even bi-curious.