The Cornblog

Children's News Network...
So I'm randomly watching CNN while I'm in Vegas (for some reason, CNN seems to be the default cable news in all hotels). It stuck me how they seemed to think that they were broadcasting for children. Essentially, they knew the right opinion and would tell you want it was, in extremely stupid terms, so that even you, the viewer, might understand. There was was story on the Korean scientists that cloned a human to harvest cells.

The story was formatted as an interview where the anchor asked the reporter questions, which the reported seemed to be answering in at least a semi-scripted way. Very Mr Rodgers.

The lead was the statement that the Koreans had taken a step that may mean that that Christopher Reeves could walk again. Then, that it could mean that Michael J Fox could be cured. It was all very kind of them to put it in terms of celebrities that we all have seen, while staring slack-jawed at the Screen. It keeps the kids' attention.

Then, the reporter insisted on talking about stem cell-based cures being "not yet ready for market", as opposed to, say possible cures.

Then, the reporter said that the cloning of humans was nothing to worry about, after all they "promised" not to do "reproductive" cloning. She did add that even with this promise, some people still didn't like this. As if the idea that humans shouldn't be grown and harvested for use in commercial products was so alien as to be almost shocking.

Sigh.