Not just journalists

I'm afraid, as I noted before, that journalism isn't the only profession that has jettisoned its own history, and has paid a heavy price. Due to the missteps of papers like the Red Star Tribune, LA Times, and NY Times, journalism makes a tempting and sometimes easy target, but it's by no means the only one.

Consider Hollywood--yes, another easy target, but it lost its way about the same time as journalism (probably about a decade earlier, really) and for the same reasons. More or less, they forgot that what really binds films together isn't special effects or profound beauty, but rather plot and dialogue. Even the best stories are often no match for an industry that thrives on instant visual gratification.

Doubt this? Consider The Wizard of Oz (1939 w. Judy Garland) and the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet. Most anyone would tell you that the story for the latter is far better and compelling, but reality is that people who have seen both can remember far more of The Wizard of Oz. You know why, as well; if you saw Romeo and Juliet your freshman year in high school, you have a vivid memory of about two seconds of that movie and little else. Right?

When you engage the hormones, you disengage the mind. Hollywood has paid a heavy price for forgetting this.