I am on vacation until Aug. 29
(Note: To fill the vacation void, we are dipping into the Buzzblog archives for some lighter fare and more personal items that I enjoyed writing for one reason or another.)
This was originally published on April 24, 2006:
A rant about gas prices
It’s a rant not about gas prices, per se, although they are certainly worth ranting about … but rather what passes for reporting about gas prices on the local television news (Boston, in this case, although I’ll bet a full tank that it’s no different where you live).
Enough already. … Enough with the “reporting” about rising gas prices, in general. More specifically, enough with the feigned commiseration with the common people on the part of well-to-do TV news anchors whose six-figure salaries unquestionably relieve them of any real concern for where their next fill-up might come from. Enough with the pained expressions, eye-rolling and lame lines about second mortgages. Have these people no shame, no sense of embarrassment? Don’t they realize that even the dullards among their viewers understand that TV news personalities do not plan their holiday travel around the latest prices at the pump?
Last week my wife, Julie — knowing of my pet peeve — called just to tell me that she saw a gas-price report on the TV news that included this nugget: Someone, somewhere, the reporter intoned, had literally pawned their wedding ring in order to buy gas — and another had hocked, get this, their gold teeth. … Oh, please.
Of course, I understand that $3-a-gallon gas can be a financial burden for the less well off and an annoyance for all of us (even keeping in mind that adjusted for inflation we’re nowhere near record gas prices). I didn’t enjoy spending $31 to fill my Toyota Corolla the other day and the minivan tops $50 now. But that’s not the issue here.
The issues are perspective and respect for our intelligence. Might we possibly regain just a bit of both?
Needless to say, no one listened to me.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if you’d like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here’s where to sign up. Follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
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