It香蕉视频直播檚 five o香蕉视频直播檆lock. Time to watch the local TV news. But my body refuses to rise out of my easy chair.
I realize I don香蕉视频直播檛 want to watch the news. Any news.
We have only one TV channel here in the Okanagan. Everything else comes from outside: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto香蕉视频直播nd from dozens of U.S. cities. Over 500 channels available.
But only one local news channel whose one-hour program depends heavily on video of fires, accidents, and sports highlights. It香蕉视频直播檚 followed by half an hour of the Global Network香蕉视频直播檚 national news, which depends heavily on war footage, mass shootings, and talking heads trying to convince us that they香蕉视频直播檝e been right all along. Then a half-hour repeat of the juiciest bits of the earlier hour of local fires, accidents, and sports.
Somehow, this isn香蕉视频直播檛 the world I wanted to retire into.
An insurance company used to promote 香蕉视频直播淔reedom 55.香蕉视频直播� It sold the notion that by investing with them, I could retire at 55 to something resembling Donald Trump香蕉视频直播檚 Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. With someone much younger than me. Who mixes excellent Margaritas.
Freedom 55 has been replaced by Reverse Mortgages. So that when I die 香蕉视频直播� which I will, inevitably 香蕉视频直播� I can leave less to my family.
Assuming that all of us haven香蕉视频直播檛 been bombed, shot, burned, frozen, scorched, drowned, or suffocated by then.
TV news just doesn香蕉视频直播檛 appeal to me anymore. After yet another mass shooting in the U.S., I got so turned off guns that I resolved not to watch any program that culminates in a shoot-out.
That cuts my viewing options by at least 50 per cent.
It leaves me mostly with programs on public service channels: CBC across Canada, Knowledge Network here in B.C., PBS in the U.S香蕉视频直播�.
The Brits, somehow, manage to create lively, entertaining, and even funny murder mysteries that don香蕉视频直播檛 conclude with a shoot-out: Death in Paradise, Vera, Morse, Lewis, Endeavour, Midsomer Murders香蕉视频直播ustralia and New Zealand do the same with Miss Fisher, Brokenwood, Dr. Blake香蕉视频直播� Canada香蕉视频直播檚 Murdoch Mysteries sets a standard for literacy and historical research 香蕉视频直播� along with convoluted plots.
But in a sense, all of these are escapism. They take me to a world where people are generally decent to each other. Where criminals let themselves be handcuffed without struggle. They commit murders,true 香蕉视频直播� but they香蕉视频直播檙e nice about it.
Doc Martin can even be rude nicely.
It香蕉视频直播檚 not the world I see on the nightly news. Maybe it香蕉视频直播檚 a world that never existed, except in my imagination.
I香蕉视频直播檓 tired of seeing emaciated children die of starvation. Of seeing people heaving rubble aside with their bare hands to rescued buried relatives. Of watching political leaders malign each other, with no indication they香蕉视频直播檝e ever actually talked with the other person. Of hearing about corporate CEOs getting a multi-million bonus for laying off thousands of staff. And of corporations raking in record profits while making the planet less livable.
I don香蕉视频直播檛 like it. And I香蕉视频直播檓 slowly realizing I don香蕉视频直播檛 have to like it.
Maybe I香蕉视频直播檓 kidding myself. Maybe I香蕉视频直播檓 just pulling the covers up over my head, hoping that the monster under the mattress will go away. Maybe I香蕉视频直播檓 guilty of escapism.
Regardless, I香蕉视频直播檓 voting with my 香蕉视频直播渙ff香蕉视频直播� button.
Jim Taylor lives in Lake Country: rewrite@shaw.ca
