Too much “cute” for the Old Coot!
By Merlin Lessler
Is it just me or has “cute” taken over our society? Not a
day goes by without getting a “cute” picture or video on e-mail, Facebook or
some other social media. A “cute” little kid singing an opera. Off key! A
“cute” little puppy, looking into the camera with a big grin on his puss. A
“cute” tiny kitten, riding around on the back of a Great Dane. Cute, Cute,
Cute! You can’t escape it.
It’s bad enough when you get a barrage of “cute” images on
your private communication systems (phones or PC’s), but now they’ve taken over
public media too. It started with “soft” news shows: The Today Show, Good
Morning America, Entertainment Tonight and the like. Now it’s embedded in
“serious” news shows. Tune in to CBS, NBC, ABC FOX, CNN to find out what’s
going on in the world and interspersed between troubles in the mid-east and a
hurricane gaining force in the Caribbean, you get a “cute” bull dog, skate
boarding in LA, a “cute” little girl yodeling in church and a “cute” sad faced
basset hound, gently holding a mouse in his paws. That is TV news today!
They’ve cut the reporting staff, writing staff and copy
editors and replaced them with a handful of tech savvy computer geeks who scour
social media and You Tube for “cute” stories. Most “cute” stories are just
plain lame! Almost as bad as listening to old coots like me talk about the good
old days.
But “cute” is here to stay. In fact, it’s unavoidable, with
a populace that is equipped with high tech video and photography capabilities
on their smart phones. Cute and weather, that’s eventually all we’ll get on the
evening news. Weather is leading the charge right now, but “cute” is coming up
fast. It’s like watching a tennis match. Look left and get scared to death by
the dire prediction of heavy rain, local flooding, dangerous lightning, high
winds, the possibility of large hailstones and tornados. Look right, and watch
the “cute” video that’s gone viral today. What’s my beef? No “cute” old guy
videos!
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