Enough Ashley Smith Already, and a Prediction
March 13th, 2005Is anyone other than me sick of Ashley Smith?
Anyone watching any news show lately, especially CNN, can attest to the obsesssion of news stations with Ashley Smith, the woman taken hostage by the Atlanta courthouse killer. In her initial “interviews” she sits in front of a camera and spends an hour describing every detail of the few hours she was in contact with the murder suspect. While I I sympathize with her ordeal — I know I would have been shitting bricks had I ran into that brutal killer at my home — she is getting excessive recognition, as a hero, too.
Furthermore, I still am amazed at how sensationalistic news stations are…again, especially CNN. I had the misfortune of having the TV in front of me at the treadmill at the gym be tuned to CNN, which featured a show called “Ashley Smith: the story of a hero” (or maybe something similar). In what could have been a straightforward overview of the events of that day, CNN devoted an hour to detailing, minute by minute, what took place, in an over-exaggerated and over-dramatic way (just like the LA evening news). 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, etc.
It’s a shame, because CNN used to be a respectable news source.
Anyway, here’s the prediction I promised. Several times, Smith alluded to a book called “The Purpose Driven Life” and the role it played in her encounter with the murder suspect. I guaranted you that sales of this book will skyrocket as a result of its newfound media attention. I just checked amazon, and its Amazon Sales Rank is #5 (pretty freakin high already for what sounds like another useless spiritual self-help book, don’t you think?). Let’s see where this attention gets the book.
Why am I such a hater? I don’t know.