"Kathie Lee and Hoda" -- Wasteland for the Human Brain

Migratory Canada goose. Target of Kathie Lee Gifford wrath and paranoia.

If this past weekend's Saturday Night Live (and specifically, Justin Timberlake) represented a pioneering high in entertainment, this morning's "Kathie Lee and Hoda" represented shallow and archaic low.

For at least five minutes, Kathie Lee Gifford went on a bewildering rant against migrating "Canadian geese" who apparently landed and briefly fueled up on her property over the weekend.

"Something needs to be done about these birds...other than  shooting!" decried the distressed Kathie Lee who apparently never saw a migrating bird before.

If the personal tirade was meant to be funny, it wasn't. The fact Kathie Lee couldn't get the name correctly of what she was railing against seemed pathetic.

It is just one more example of the "talking heads" of national media not bothering to research anything of what they spout of.  

As noted in this journal over the past few weeks, Canada geese (along with millions of other migrating birds) are in transition now.  As all trees do not bloom at the same time, nor do all birds migrate at the exact same time. Migrations occur over some weeks and it is during these times that migrating birds will briefly stop in fields or grassy locations to rest and fuel up for a long journey ahead (as Canada geese did recently in Central Park).

We should not be wiping out or endlessly harassing migrating wildlife for the sake of some rich celebrity's posh lawn or personal gripe.  One supposes Ms. Gifford can easily hire some undocumented workers to clean up her lawn or maybe get her ex-football star husband to move his butt and partially earn his keep.

But, if Kathie Lee's irrational (alcohol-induced?) rant against "Canadian geese" was not enough to turn one off on this TV dribble, it was followed by both KLG and her co-host Hoda Kobe "flinging" a dead fish around the set.

http://www.facebook.com/klgandhoda?ref=ts&fref=ts

This while millions of people around the world face starvation.

There is a marked difference between "crass" and class.

One wonders what kind of example shows like this portray to our mass culture?

That it is acceptable to drink on the job?  (Both Kathie Lee and Hoda routinely consume alcohol on the program.)

That it is OK to use a nationally syndicated show to spread misinformation and air personal paranoia?

That it is "cute" to desecrate what was once a living animal and considered food to many people for the sake of so-called, "fun?"

I have never been a fan of Kathie Lee Gifford as she comes off as vapid and at times, phony. Nor do I watch this show.  (A friend called me about the program this morning.)

But, it seems past time that we should be demanding better from the producers of mass media television less it really be true that television represents little more than a "vast wasteland" for the human brain. -- PCA

                                                                    
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