Jellyfish Journalism

 

JELLYFISH JOURNALISM

by

Anthonystjoseph

 

     In the past, journalist and most news outlets have usually only reported the news and have always held themselves back when becoming part of the news.  The creed has always been, ‘report the news, don’t become the news’.  Well in this fast paced and modern day world of rapid fire media, some news outlets are getting tired of sitting around waiting for news to happen so they have decided to CREATE news.

     We have all been slowly watching it happen as news sources, and I wish I could say that I am using that term loosely here but I am not, such as TMZ, find subjects that they can provoke into creating news.  The type of news creating I am speaking of came to a fruition with Amanda Bynes.  TMZ and others would constantly provoke this young woman and get her to say things that they and the rest of the media world would consider newsworthy.  TMZ had already fine tuned there trademark behavioral pattern of paparazzi catching celebrities or so called news worthy people on camera and asking provocative questions until the willing or unwilling prey said something that they could call news…

     With Amanda Bynes it got so outrageous that I realized this was a new form of journalism.  I realized that these vulture paparazzi were now basically like little kids on a beach who came across a jelly fish and would try to poke the jelly fish with a stick to see if they could get the jelly fish to do something exciting.  I decided to start calling this form of journalism whenever I see it as ‘Jellyfish Journalism’ and realized that it was a sickening form of journalism that should be cast aside and not given any lasting credibility. 

     I found myself in the Amanda Bynes situation truly hoping that these kids, i.e. media, would find a new jelly fish to poke with their camera sticks and silly questions because it was clearly affecting this woman’s state of mind as well as her behavior of acting out for them.  Because just like the little kids on the beach who have no concern at all as to whether the stick is harming the jellyfish, these paparazzi have no concern for the harm they are doing to these human beings called celebrities.  In the Amanda Bynes situation, it was clear that they were doing harm.

     What further incensed me in the Amanda Bynes Criminal Case of being arrested was that TMZ actually went to the scene of the crime and found what they felt was broken glass and then called the police and said, ‘We found broken glass!’(Amanda Bynes had allegedly thrown a glass smoking pipe from her apartment window when the cops showed up).  Here again they have broken the creed of journalism and were becoming part of the news.  Thankfully in this case the cops told TMZ, ‘Thanks but no thanks’.

     Well now the paparazzi are focusing on a different jelly fish in the form of one of their favorite jelly fish, Kanye West.  A few days ago Kanye West laid down the gauntlet and informed the paparazzi that he did not want, or I should say he informed them that they WILL NOT speak to him and I think he told them not to speak EVER to anyone…  This article is not about him and his manifestos so I cannot get into him OR his manifestos since I do not know too much about him.  I could not name a Kanye West song to save my life.  This article is about the fact that the paparazzi saw that they had him going and they pounced. 

     Then Kanye flies back into LAX which was the scene and pedestal for the ‘Manifesto de Kanye’ and what did the paparazzi do.  They all started creaming and cramming to get at him to see whose stick would rile the current jellyfish on the beach.  The paparazzi whose stick got the jelly fish, Kanye, to move, was so excited that he got the jellyfish to move that while Kanye was trying to wrestle his camera from him he was actually smiling while Kanye was physically assaulting him.  If you look at the picture of the paparazzi in what appears to be a headlock you will see the biggest smile on his face as he realizes, ‘I’M NEWS, I’VE DONE IT!  My career is set, and PLUS, I get to sue this guy now and get PAID!’  All this while the paparazzi himself was the aggressor and all the jellyfish was doing was making the dumb mistake of getting caught on the beach.  Note to Kanye:  Take a private plane man!  Get off the beach!

     So what happens next?  All the so called legitimate news channels across the world carry the story calling it news and now felony charges may possibly be charged against Kanye as the supposedly attacked paparazzi shops for new homes in Malibu with his payoff for being ‘assaulted’…  And clearly he was ‘assaulted’ because an ambulance had to be called to attend to his smile from the altercation of his career making actions.  One of the paparazzi, who was there at the scene, says on camera to the ‘legitimate’ news channel of the town I’m currently in, “Something has to be done.  Someone’s gonna get hurt!”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  You are the instigators in ALL these incidents.  What has to be done is that YOU need to go home and leave these people ALONE!  You are a reporter of the news, not the creator of the news, try and remember that.

     I have removed TMZ from my favorites and will no longer visit their website which is the home and nucleus of Jelly Fish Journalism for I cannot support manufactured and created ‘news’ for the sake of entertainment.  I am sure that there will be charges filed against Kanye West in this litigious world by the paparazzi who was actually the instigator of this incident.  I am sure they will have a judge like the one who gave Chad Johnson thirty days in jail for giving his lawyer an atta-boy in court.  I am sure there will be a jury like the one in the Trayvon Martin Trial who think its okay to trample on folks rights and liberties.  I am sure the mentality of people who think its right for George Zimmerman to go free will prevail in this case and the Jelly Fish Kanye West will be punished for washing up on the wrong beach with the wrong kids and their sticks.

     We need to stop this real fast and get back to the news outlets REPORTING the news and not CREATING the news.

By

Anthonystjoseph

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P.S. And in the words and manner of one of my new favorite folks, “I’ve had it!”

The Curse In The Blessing

THE CURSE IN THE BLESSING

by

Anthonystjoseph

     I had always been told how smart I was as a child and never really paid too much attention to it…  I guess I was always too busy paying attention to the people who were saying it and not what they were actually saying.  It wasn’t until my grandmother’s funeral that I learned that she had taken me, as a young child, to be tested where they determined that I had a high IQ and recommended I attend a special school.  I still didn’t recognize the scope of this even when an IQ test I took online as an adult said unbelievable things…  I was familiar with the academic praise when in the Army I was pulled aside and told the computer that I took my ASVAB Aptitude test on indicated I should apply to West Point’s Preparatory Academy…

     All this talk about intelligence never really fazed me because my brain was always too busy with other things…  As a matter of FACT, I will tell you this, I NEVER read one book until I was in the US Army and I read that out of boredom.  National Honor Society, Arizona Boys State, and even an appointment to West Point were all achieved without ever fully reading ONE BOOK!  I had never even read a ‘See Jane Run’ book…  My mother didn’t read me stories or buy me books…  She just sat me in front of the television and I loved it.  Whenever a book report or something of that nature was due I just gave it a simple scan the night before and did my report and that’s the truth.

     So I am very thankful to the author and her book that got me started reading ferociously in the army and I haven’t stopped since…  Books are awesome and I sometimes deeply wish I had met them earlier in my life.  I found that books could catapult me from any place I happened to be to any place that I wanted to be, and some places I didn’t want to be but still felt compelled just for the discovery aspect.  I was in love with being catapulted to different places and transported to different times.  The process of reading to me was nothing short of magic.  No one had told me, no one had shown me; the magic of books until that time, had been a secret.

     So whenever I come up for air from a book, I am completely grounded back in the real world with the people who have always caused me consternation, ‘the slow ones’.  It seems that with the higher intelligence comes a higher awareness and a completely higher level of sentience.  Sometimes I am dumbfounded by the stupidity that is standing in front of me and presenting itself as an equal.  It sometimes actually appears to me that you all even move slower than I do…  I am at a complete loss sometimes as to what appears to me to be idiotic behavior…

     I got questions; let’s get into some questions, random questions…  We’ll keep it simple.  Who goes into McDonald’s and stares at the menu for five minutes with an open mouth of ‘what do I want’.  THE CHOICES ARE ALWAYS THE SAME!  When you got into your car to go to McDonalds shouldn’t you have known then what you were going to get?  How about the drive TOO McDonalds; didn’t it occur to you at any time during that ‘drive’ to think about what you wanted of the same old menu.  These little things drive me crazy and believe me I know it’s ‘my crazy’ because I think you folks are different.

     I usually try to remind myself of something that I have worked out to help me deal and understand my personal situation.  I have come to realize that this planet is a school and we are not all in the same grade…  I am in school with some first graders and second graders and a very small group of high schoolers that I look up too.  When I’m at a four way Stop Sign in the desert and someone stops in front of me and looks for cars for a whole minute when there are clearly NO cars coming from any direction in this desert, I calm myself down.  I calm myself down by telling myself, “Tony, this is a first grader, they haven’t learned that cars are not invisible so they are taking extra time to look for the INVISIBLE CARS!”  And then I lose it, HONK, HONK, HONK, “WOULD YOU PLEASE GO!  THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS INVISIBLE CARS LADY!  GO!!!”

     So when they say, ‘there is a curse with every blessing and a blessing with every curse’, I know what they are talking about.  I am blessed with the intelligence to KNOW that I am going to McDonald’s and the ability to remember their menu and think what I want, and cursed to be standing behind someone who doesn’t.  I am blessed with the ability to know that there is no such thing as an invisible car and cursed to be waiting behind someone who doesn’t…  I am blessed and I am cursed, just an example of more of God’s handy work.

By

Anthonystjoseph

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A Sermon

A SERMON

by

Anthonystjoseph

 

     I can tell you one thing, my higher power, whoever or whatever it is, is most definitely the ONE.  Well, wait a minute; I do take a lot of hits though…  Let’s discuss that…  Traveling the righteous road as a righteous man serving the greater good in order for righteousness to win out; that is my motto dictated to me by my soul. I cannot change it no matter how mad I get or how much vengeance I may want to seek.  To tell you how messed up my righteous path is; if I litter, my higher power or what most call God, slaps me no later than two minutes or two blocks away from said litter spot.  So it disturbs me when I have someone who considers and declares themselves a Christian right to my face when in their unscrupulous and decrepitly deceptive world, littering is a sacred offering on the scale of their wrong doings.

     I bring up this point because of a neighbors actions and revelatory statements when she didn’t even know she was revealing her true nature.  This neighbor religiously claims to be a Christian…  This neighbor constantly reminds you of her Christian status with constant mentions and daily sprinkles of her Christianity.  This neighbor always reminds me of how she goes to church every Sunday.  This neighbor even explains that she tithes and gives ten percent of all her money to the church.  When she told me that she tithed ten percent of all her money I didn’t miss a beat and turned to my house and pointed to it and told her that I was going to start a church in my house and she could give ME the ten percent, I’ll gladly take it.  Truth is, I wouldn’t.  Before we go on I’m going to tell you one thing loud and clear; GOD does not want your ten percent.  GOD does not need your money and he damn sure doesn’t need your money to help others.  If God cannot help others then he or it is NOT God.  Let’s move on; charity is a good thing but stupidity is a whole different issue.

     So when I explain to this woman about something I’m doing as a benefit for MY neighbors when I sell and leave my home tells me, “What do YOU care, you’re not going to be here anymore.”  Baby, it’s all about making this world a better place and making it a better place because YOU HAVE BEEN THERE! 

     This neighbor’s statement of ‘what do I care’ reflects the fact that when SHE leaves a place, she doesn’t care what’s left behind in her wake…  This tells me her soul will basically CRAP on its past and not care what it leaves behind.  So do not tell me you are a Christian when you are not.  I always remember great words when I hear them the first time and the bible has a lot of great words and some that are ‘so so’ and then some I think the wrong guy snuck in.  I often think of the words in The Bible that say, “…and those that say they are Jews but they are NOT”.  Those biblical words are saying, ‘Those that say they are something and they are NOT’. 

     Those that say they are Christians and they are NOT.  Those that say they are righteous and they are NOT.  Those that say they are your friends and they are NOT.  Those that say they are your family and they are NOT!

     This neighbor woman professes the Christian Doctrine and has a different heart all together unbeknownst to even her.  So don’t crap on your past and at least try and learn to be a person that leaves flower seeds in your footsteps and perfume flavor in your exhales.  Like the song says, the moral of the story is, “Make this world a better place, the world in which WE live.”

“Bye”.

By

Anthonystjoseph

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The Dog Did It

THE DOG DID IT

by

Anthonystjoseph

“Come on baby; come on in the yard…  I won’t bite you, I swear.”

“No.”

“Come on now, don’t be that way sugar.  I’m just lonely, come on now… come on, you can do it.”

“No.”

“Are you dealing with some trust issues?”

“No.”

“Well come on in and play with Rocky… Rocky get’s lonely in this big old yard all alone.  Come on now.”

“NO!”

‘Look at those calves, must be a runner or something’

“So do you ride bicycles?”

“All the time.”

“You shave those legs.”

“All the time.”

“Oh yeah.”

“What was that?”

“Oh nothing, come on in and keep Rocky company. Throw the stick for Rocky.  What’s your name?”

“My friends call me Ham Bone.”

“Sure looks like Ham to me.”

“What was that?”

“Oh nothing, nothing, nothing at all.”

“You coming in to play or not Ham Bone.”

Later that day~~~

“Rocky, have you seen Ham Bone?”

“Never heard of him.”

By

Anthonystjoseph

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The Truth

THE TRUTH

by

Anthonystjoseph

 

     Some people have come to be very liberal with the truth…  Even some learned scholars will tell you, “well, that’s your truth and everybody has their ‘own’ truth.”  Well let me tell you that that is completely wrong and misleading, in fact, it’s a lie.  Everybody might have their own ‘version’ but the truth is the truth and one true thing you’ve heard about truth is that IT will be set free. 

     The truth is the TRUTH!  There is no such thing as two different truths…  My right foot IS my RIGHT foot.  Now the so called ‘new-era’ thinkers might say to me that my right foot to them, when looking at me, is my left foot.  Well, they would be WRONG, because neither one of my feet are theirs so it will ALWAYS be my, ‘right’ foot.

     Simply put, there is only one truth because only IT can be set free; because if IT is set free and it is NOT the truth but only a ‘version’ disguised as the truth, then the TRUTH is still being held hostage and the lie of YOUR ‘version’ is running around calling itself the TRUTH.

By

Anthonystjoseph

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The Oversharer

 

THE OVERSHARER

by

Anthonystjoseph

     I was at a club in Los Angeles a while back and heard someone from across the room say something that has stuck with me every since…  As a writer you hear everything and anything and remember everything and anything while always having to remember that not everything and anything is worth remembering.  I love to dance with words.  And believe me, I’m a dancer on all counts.  You see how I just randomly shared that I am a good dancer as well, actually a great dancer…  You see, that’s the problem.  I constantly over share little bits of information that may or may not be important to the current discussion.  I share this, I share that, I share this, I share that…  I sometimes forget what I was originally intending to share.  Case in point; back to what I was saying, I was at a club in Los Angeles a while back…

     Well, at this club, I heard this man across the room that wasn’t even facing me or even talking to me say…  And first, I have to tell you, it was my supersonic, six million dollar man hearing capabilities that zoomed in on this discussion because this was a big room and a lot of people were talking.  I must explain that certain writers have a God given ability to zone out and zone in on specific happenings or conversations that are deemed important and more necessary than others for whatever reasons only God can tell you…  My guess is that the Universe wants the writer to share this information.  I can be standing six inches from your face involved in a deep discussion on your part and not hear a thing you say.  My writers mind will be busy working across the room or visually down the block or mentally a mile away planning, devouring, or studying a happening.

     So while I was at that club in Los Angeles, this guy across the room facing the opposite direction says to his friend…  You see, I think that when God or the Universe has chosen you for even the smallest mission in life, God or the Universe gives you certain gifts to complete that mission.  I really cannot get into listing all my missions because we don’t have that kind of time and some of them are secret.  So when the Universe or God (insert choice here), decided to make me a writer they knew they had to add some over-sharer-ingredient to make sure that I would take pencil to pad or pen to paper or keystroke to page…  In my case, they frosted the cake with over-sharer-ingredient, spelled Happy Birthday on the cake with over-sharer-ingredient and USED Over-sharer-ingredient CANDLES!

     See what I mean, man, what was I saying, oh, okay, so at this club in Los Angeles, WAIT!  I forgot to tell you what the CAKE was made of.  The cake that makes up a lot of my existence that is frosted with over-sharer is made completely of Memory Filling.  My memory is long and strong and never goes wrong.  I wrote two stories about my high school life quite a few years after they happened that amazed some of the characters in the stories as far as accuracies were concerned.  And yes, I remember YOU!

     So at this club in Los Angeles, this guy across the room says all randomly to his associate, “You know the type of guy, the type that after five minutes of talking to them you know everything about them.” 

     OH no, the Universe, DIDN’T!  Calling me an over-sharer and telling me to shut up from across the room and facing the other way!  I heard it!  FIRST OFF!  Let me tell you this, I didn’t make the Over-sharer Cake.  I didn’t choose to use the Over-sharer Frosting.  I didn’t spell ‘Happy Birthday’ with Over-sharer thick and fluffy frosting…  And I damn sure didn’t decide to use the Over-sharer CANDLES!  I tried to tell them that was too much and that I didn’t need it.  They were like, ‘NO’, ‘The stuff you have to share most people won’t want too.

     And as far as ‘knowing everything about me’, you don’t know a thang!  A THANG!  You don’t know nothing ‘bout me!  Well, maybe what I’m frosted with, and what the cake is made of, and which candles they used, but other than that; you don’t know NOTHING!  Oh, did I tell you…  Never mind.

By

Anthonystjoseph

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