Even FNC started five of of its six evening shows with "coverage" of the Malaysian airliner. It fell to my least favorite host in the line-up, O'Reilly, to lead with the actual big story (the peril to America from the axis of its enemies and adversaries), and I was surprised at the hard-hitting fashion in which he did so. For cryin' out loud, even the normally excellent Megyn Kelly devoted most of her hour to the plane "story."
At the gym yesterday morning, I caught some other cable news outlets, and it was the same thing. Experts on everything from aerodynamics to Pakistani politics. Someone has determined that this is the supreme ratings-driver this week. All very interesting, except that the core of the matter is that we still know absolutely nothing about what happened to this aircraft.
I have my own suspicions: I'd wager that when and if the situation is fully explained, this story will indeed become yet another episode in the real news of our time: the mortal danger in which the West finds itself.
Until we know, until we eliminate less likely explanations, it's nothing but a sensational mystery.
And that's why the preoccupation with it concerns me so.
Entertainment long ago metastasized beyond its healthy place in our culture as a relief valve from life's hard realities. We no longer "go to the picture show" or "stop by the club" or round up friends or family for attendance at a sporting event followed by a late-night snack before heading home to resume our routines. Post-American life is a constant stream of cute kitty videos, March Madness bracket picks, festivals and showcases, and boxed sets of the first five seasons of gritty dramas and irony-heavy comedies. We tweet and twerk and jam and paint team logos on our foreheads, and when it comes time to think about public policy or the direction of our culture or threats to our very civilization, we consult smart-alec comedians who openly mock common sense and morality.
Right now, the airplane story is fun. It's quite a hoot to ruminate on conspiracy theories, or post Gilligan's Island ha-has on Facebook.
All this plays right into the hands of Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim, Assad, the Iranian mullahs, al-Zawahiri, Maduro and Castro. We could not be more distracted.
So, no, I have nothing to say about the airplane at this time. Neither do all the talking heads who nevertheless fill endless hours of television air time with their pretensions otherwise.
Speculation, in my opinion, is always a waste of time.
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