Apr 23, 2009

This is the 1000th entry in the life of the Merle Wayne Sneed blog. A more ambitious guy than me might have made an effort to make 1000 memorable. Perhaps you are thinking, "1000?? That's about 990 too many." Perfectly reasonable thinking. As for me, I'm wondering how a guy with nothing to say, has managed to say it 1000 times? Through the long slog to 1000, I've met many wonderful people. You know who you are. I'm accustomed to smart people snubbing me, so I appreciate that you mostly haven't. I've especially enjoyed the occasional crazy commenter. I'm reminded of the person in Montana who thought that I had my facts wrong about this local story. She wrote. "AN FYI...this happened moths ago....and who ever wrote this is a liar! WOW...I cant believe I just wasted my time reading it!!!! Get your facts straight!" Or the time I got an email from the mayor of Gas City, Indiana, telling me that he enjoyed this story that I reported. A special thanks to Mr. Kurt of the Other People Exist blog. Kurt has pretended to read nearly all of my inane posts and leave comments on most of them. That is a level of fake interest that one rarely sees. Anyway, I'm tearing up, so on with the post. We've had a shooting on the south side of Hooterville, which is only slightly more newsworthy than reporting that we had a sunrise on the east side. It happens everyday. Someone shot someone at a car wash and stole a car. Or something. I don't mean to seem callous, but I can't keep the local mayhem straight, particularly when it doesn't involve me. A better citizen than me might get involved and try to bring about some change or something. But I'm kind of busy, laying low. I just heard the five o'clock news come on the television in the other room and before I could rush to turn it off, the talking head said, "We have breaking news, that you'll hear first on News13 about the car wash shooting on the south side. You will hear the recording of the 9-1-1 call by one of the victims." I turned off the TV. Who the heck listens to the frantic call of a victim of a terrible crime for entertainment? Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

13 comments:

Barbara said...

Sorry I waited so long to discover your Blog. Should I go back and read the 900 posts I missed? :)

Bad news sells, plain and simple. That's what the public wants to hear.

R.L. Bourges said...

Listening to frantic calls for entertainment: sick. As Barbara says: sick sells.

On a brighter note: After sixty-two years of repeating myself, all I can say is: you've got the right idea, Merle. One thousand times is a good start. Congratulations and don't stop now. On to the next millenium ! :-)

alphabet soup said...

A thousand blogs about nothing. Well done Merle. I hope the next thousand will maintain the high standard of meaninglessness, especially when they contain so much meaningless amusement. Laughter is important in life, keep up the good work.

On a slightly more serious note I found the post recently that prompted me to keep reading your blog. About using cell phones in public - way back in 2006. It was neither meaningless nor amusing but very pertinent

Ms Soup

Megan said...

I like Kurt, too.

Kurt said...

Kurt rocks!

I admit that I skim most blogs, especially the stupid ones, but yours is one of the rare interesting ones. It's quite pleasant to read.

I hope that when I leave the Internet for quality of life reasons, you will understand.

Steve Reed said...

Even though I'm in the news business, I have to agree that there's something uncomfortable about making 911 calls public. I suppose most of my colleagues would say we're merely giving the public what they want, but does it serve a purpose? I'm not sure. I usually don't listen to them myself because they're just too harrowing.

Avid Reader said...

Congrats on a truly fabulous 1,000. If I wasn't somehow involved in the latest town mayhem, it's like it never happened...

Exasperated Friend: YOU didn't KNOW about the crazy naked guy who ran through town? It was a big deal, with police chasing him and everything!

Me: It wasn't my naked guy, so I don't care.

Nan Patience said...

congratulations, Merle! A thousand is a big number.

Squirrel said...

Sometimes I wish you put up three posts a day. I'm always bereft when I stop by and find yesterday's post, but then I re-read it a few times and then I feel much better.

Reya Mellicker said...

People who are numb watch/listen to other people's suffering. I think they're trying to feel something - anything.

1000 posts and many more! I love your blog, as you know. Love you, too.

Onwards and upwards.

Bella Rum said...

Merle, you have one of the most interesting blogs around. 1000 is a lot of posts. Congrats!

a. said...

1,000! Congratulations Mr. Sneed. I haven't even hit 200 yet.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

thanks for the 1000 look forward to the next 1000!

cheers!