Sunday, May 13, 2007

Should I feel sorry for them?

I just watched a 60 Minutes segment about a man who fell for a Nigeran banking scam. You know, you get an e-mail in your junk mail folder that goes along the lines of "Greetings Sir. I am the son of the late President Mutakaka and I am e-mailing you to ask for your help. I need someone trustworthy to take care of US$1,000,000 for me. Please send me your bank account details so I can transfer this money to you."

It turned out that he sent the Nigeran con men money several different times, in the promise that he would receive a larger sum in return. Eventually they sent him a fake cheque for US $31,500,000. Even after receiving the fake cheque, and even after being told by the authorities that the men were con artists, HE KEPT SENDING THEM MONEY!!!! Why should we feel sorry for his stupid actions? Sure, he lost all his money, his house, and his businesses, but IT WAS HIS FAULT. The blame game is the number one sport of our country. People never assume responsibility for their own actions. No, don't blame the man's stupidity but the cunningness of the Nigerian con men.

I never watch TV but I sometimes have it on for background noise. Commercial TV nowadays loves to show real stories of the stupid, annoying, fat and whinging. I can't believe there's an audience for this material. It's like the readers of Take Five magazine too over the reigns of TV production so they can show the 'real' stories of 'real' Australians. What happened to the good ol TV viewing days of becoming addicted to the latest (American) sitcom or drama. Other than The Chaser, I can't think of any other Australian show I'd rather watch than, say, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos and even Scrubs (despite the annoyingness of J.D). When I watch TV I want to escape reality. I don't want to be confronted with the annoying types of people I encounter in public and at work everyday. I couldn't give a shit about their lives (especially if they have an annoying voice).

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