Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Not for the squeamish

I was glossing over the headlines on Yahoo's News page when a headline grabbed my attention: "Ants eat away woman's eye in hospital". This is just wrong on SO many levels.

1) Why is Reuters reporting this kind of thing?
2) How is it that one of the most populous democracies (India) on the planet has state run hospitals where this kind of thing can happen?
3) Why was this one of the most popular stories on Yahoo today?

OK. Never mind. I actually DO know the answer to #3. I read the story. Many of you will read the story. Many people who see the story in the "Most Viewed News Stories" will also be intrigued by the story, and read it.

People are sick. We are all fascinated by the odd and the macabre. It's not just the riveting, and ever present, accident on the side of the road, that gets our attention. It's other gross or ridiculous things. Think about it. Ever catch someone picking their nose? Do you immediately look away or do you watch to see what they do with the result? Heck, the television industry counts on our fascination for this stuff. Think about "Fear Factor". And, while not nearly as straight out gross, think about all those other reality television shows.

Other than television, what real situation have you encountered where good taste told you to turn away, but you just couldn't?

2 comments:

briwei said...

Ok. That totally creeped me out. Gah! As to how, I'd imagine that state run hospitals over there are for the people who can't afford good health care. So, the answer is likely BECAUSE it is such a populous nation.

Kitten Herder said...

UPDATE: Very sadly, the woman passed away shortly after the story about her eye was published.