Lately the media seem to be talking a lot in black and white. And although people have accused me of thinking in such stark opposites before, it's never as easy as that… or is it? Is TRUTH really an absolute topic and all other options wrong? Are there no good people involved with causes that are inherently bad? Should Time be demonized for their recent poll? Should Kim Kardashian be lauded or shamed for her poses? Is the comet landing a more important news story than any other etc.
And something inside me says it's not so easy to make such stark distinctions. While Kardashian's posing seems iconic, one photo echoes some pretty repulsive shots of black women in oppressed roles. While the images focusing on her butt are clearly edited for effect, they have resulted in some pretty interesting reaction photos/videos etc. While the images haven't broken the internet (why would they have?) they have caused a dialogue about whether a woman should be able to flaunt her body AND be also a mother and have other roles in the world. Through whose eyes do we see these images? They're clearly not my favourites (and she is clearly not my favourite of celebrities) but this is one of those topics that have appeared to be of importance to the news, to media, and to folks in my and others' social circles (are the pictures art? Are they trash? etc.).
The probe landing on comet news story is interesting as it shows an increased interest in science again — or does it? It's fascinating that humans have had such success with a mission spanning such distance and time and which could tell us so much that we don't already know at this time. Yet I haven't been as rapt with attention to this news story as I could be: maybe I'm just more interested in the death of the person who started out Choose Your Own Adventure stories (there's been some lovely obituary articles actually)? Or maybe I'm just distracted by some other train wreck news articles like that of the fake soldier on Remembrance Day or the one about Time's poll with the intention of banning a word (and why feminist is even on this poll).
Frankly there's a lot going on in the world today and some of the more interesting discussions I've noticed lately have to do with this black and white dichotomy. I might have some pretty strong (or weak) views about a subject and sometimes folks succeed in changing these views based upon how they discuss them (online or in person). These stories provide fodder for our conversations.
*sighs* This week I've been distracted both by these news stories and by things closer to home… but I'm ever so thankful for the ability to think and talk and absorb information and learn about stories as they are revealed each in their own ways.