Month: December 2019

Thought For The Day

Quote #1

“Sensationalism seems to sell more than wonderful-positive news.” (Michael Jackson)

Quote #2

“Sensationalism sells: Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.” (Tiger Woods)

Quote #3

“Almost everything I say, no matter how innocent my intentions are, seems to get sort of manipulated and sensationalized and turned into some ridiculous news story.” (Megan Fox)

Bonus Quote

“I’m kind of glad I’m not famous, as I can’t imagine the sensationalized news stories that the media would probably portray of me by altering or misrepresenting the actual events of the addictive and abusive life I’ve worked hard to heal from.” (Andrew Arthur Dawson)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

“Richard Jewell”, A Film That Clearly Reminded Me To Never Fully Believe Everything I See In The News…

“Richard Jewell”, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, sheds light on something I’ve really come to detest when it comes to news and media, that being the willingness to put any story out there that will gain primetime exposure, even if it may be inaccurate or even completely false.

I know our current President is always talking about fake news and as much as I can’t believe I’m going to say this, on some level I agree with him. There is a lot of fake news that’s put out there for the world to see, which is precisely what happened to Richard Jewell back in 1996 when a bombing occurred in Centennial Park during the Olympics.

Richard Jewell may not have been the brightest person in the world, but he truly was a hero who saved many lives when he discovered a very large pipe bomb planted under a bench on the grounds of an extremely crowded Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics. Sadly, the FBI saw him as something different during their initial investigation and erroneously labeled him as their main suspect and a potential terrorist. When a lead reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kathy Scruggs (played by Olivia Wilde), catches wind of this from her FBI contact Tom Shaw (played by Jon Hamm), she convinces her editor to immediately run with the story, even when there was no official proof that Jewell was guilty of anything. Once the story gets printed, Jewel suddenly goes from being lauded to loathed. As he becomes public suspect number one, Jewell quickly enlists the help of a lawyer, Watson Bryant (played by Sam Rockwell), to clear his name, while his mother Bobi (played by Kathy Bates) loyally stands by his side knowing he’s innocent, even when the media continues to viciously defame her son. It doesn’t take long for Bryant to believe in Jewell’s innocence, as Jewell gained much of that in a previous job they worked together at. From the moment Bryant becomes Jewell’s lawyer, the film does a brilliant job depicting the pain and hardship Jewell had to go through to clear his name from the villain the news and media painted him as, and return him to what he should have been all along, a hero.

As I watched “Richard Jewell”, I totally felt myself becoming angry at the government and all those news and media outlets for slandering the name of such an innocent person. It’s sad to think about the number of people whose lives have actually been ruined because of erroneous stories getting printed that weren’t completely factual. It is estimated that up to 10,000 people are wrongfully convicted every single year and I wonder how much of that is due to all the slander that news and media outlets often put out there. This is specifically why I rarely watch or read the news because I don’t want it to bias me, like so many people were when the media blamed Jewell before even having a shard of evidence against him.

This movie led me to wonder how many others have gone through what Jewell did. How many lives have been wrecked by what the news and media have reported over the years? I even began to question if Jewell’s heart attack that killed him in the mid 2000’s was a direct result of all the pain and stress his heart went through during the years he was vilified.

The bottom line that the film “Richard Jewell” so clearly reminded me of is to never fully believe everything I see in the news. Rather, to accept that much of it is sensationalized and often falsely represented solely to gain readership or viewership, rather than “accurate-ship”.

Maybe we all just need to stop following the news and instead, begin to follow our hearts…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Silly Joke Friday

Silly Joke #1

A man was walking down a street in Washington. A man walking behind him suddenly pulled out a gun and said, “Gimme all your money, now!” The victim said, “You can’t do this to me! I’m a Congressman!” The robber thought for a moment, then said, “In that case, gimme all of MY money!”

Silly Joke #2

Brother John entered the ‘Monastery of Silence’ and the Chief Priest said, “Brother, this is a silent monastery, you are welcome here as long as you like, but you may not speak until I direct you to do so.” Brother John lived in the monastery for a full year before the Chief Priest said to him: “Brother John, you have been here a year now, you may speak two words.” Brother John said, “Hard Bed.” “I’m sorry to hear that” the Chief Priest said. “We will get you a better bed.” The next year, Brother John was called by the Chief Priest. “You may say another two words Brother John.” “Cold Food.” said Brother John, and the Chief Priest assured him that the food would be better in the future. On his third anniversary at the monastery, the Chief Priest again called Brother John into his office. “Two words you may say today.” “I Quit.” said Brother John. “It is probably best.” said the Chief Priest. “All you have done since you got here is complain.”

Silly Joke #3

In order to pay his medical school tuition, a student was working two jobs over the summer. One was as a butcher’s assistant and the other as a hospital orderly, both jobs that required the young man wear a long white coat.  One night he was wheeling a woman into surgery when she sat up suddenly, looked him in the eye, and screamed, “God save me! It’s the butcher!”

Bonus Silly Joke

The symphony orchestra was performing Beethoven’s Ninth. In the piece, there’s a long passage, about 20 minutes, during which the bass violinists have nothing to do. Rather than sit around that whole time looking stupid, some bassists decided to sneak offstage and go to the tavern next door for a quick one. After slamming several beers in quick succession, one of them looked at his watch and said, “Hey! We need to get back!” “No need to panic,” said a fellow bassist. “I thought we might need some extra time, so I tied the last few pages of the conductor’s score together with string. It’ll take him a few minutes to get it untangled.” A few moments later they staggered back to the concert hall and took their places in the orchestra. About this time, a member of the audience noticed the conductor seemed a bit edgy and said as much to her companion. “Well, of course,” said her companion. “Don’t you see? It’s the bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the bassists are loaded.”

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson