A perfect world with more CNN than Grand Theft Auto

On a typical day, it’s not something I think about, or even notice. However, recently it hit… On a typical day, it’s not something I think about, or even notice. However, recently it hit me like a ton of bricks: peoples’ priorities are considerably out of whack.

I’m no exception to this tidbit of truth. I’ll stand at the bookstore for fifteen minutes seriously contemplating if I should shell out $30 for a textbook or just try to make do without it; yet I think nothing of dropping $70 on yet another pair of shoes. Hell, if I spent half as much time on reading my assignments from professors as I do issues of People and Us magazine, I’d probably be a certified genius by now. Perhaps that’s wishful thinking.

The most glaring example of whacked-out priorities that comes to mind occurred the other weekend. Let it be said that the world knows no fury like the wrath of a diehard Eagles fan after the Birds lose in the second round of the playoffs for the third year in a row. The team’s horrendous game play resulted in a three-foot hole in the drywall of my friend’s apartment. Bye-bye, security deposit. This Neanderthal action is certainly not typical of my pal, who is generally a pretty levelheaded dude. I, too, was not the least bit pleased with the fate of my favorite team, but I’m not willing to be out a couple hundred bucks just because the Eagles’ wide receivers couldn’t catch so much as a cold that day.

The irony of the whole situation was that the loss by the Eagles warranted a hole in the wall, yet the day the kid realized that all of Pitt was through scheduling and he had yet to make a registration appointment, the biggest reaction it spurred was a lackadaisical “whoops.” I guess they still had some space in “obsolete languages never spoken outside of the Amazon” class or something, because somehow he managed to be around the following semester.

All of this may seem trivial and not worthy of discussion, but take a look at all the other important subjects and issues that are put on the back burner while we’re all having panic attacks if our AOL Instant Messenger service happens to go down for longer than five minutes.

Last year, according to Superbowl.com, 138.9 million people tuned in to watch the game — a game that is historically a blowout but is redeemed by some witty and ludicrously expensive commercials typically involving beer bottles wearing football helmets — and next week’s numbers are certainly unlikely to go down. Preliminary estimates on Variety.com say that a mere 43.4 million people tuned in last week to watch the President address Congress and the nation in his State of the Union address.

To be fair, it’s obvious that G.W. doesn’t have half the charisma that a six pack of longnecks sporting football helmets do, but shouldn’t we, the public, want to be informed of all the dire schemes our President has planned for us — particularly during an election year?

Even during a Presidential election year, less than half of the eligible population votes. Of those who do vote, the smallest percentage comes from the college-age bracket. College students claim to be too busy to take the ten minutes to register or send in an absentee ballot, but I’ve actually witnessed games of Grand Theft Auto on PlayStation that started at noon and ended just before 2 a.m. Ah, the struggle that is effective time management.

Currently our country is facing a serious weight problem. Millions of dollars are spent each year treating conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression that are all linked to obesity. Even though our waistlines are growing, we still manage to squeeze into McDonalds to indulge in a Big Mac with cheese, super size the fries, extra mayo… and oh, a diet Coke please.

In a perfect world we’d all be concerned, involved and informed citizens who’d be fighting over who gets the last copy of the New York Times as opposed to who gets the last doughnut or Tickle Me Elmo left on the shelf at Christmastime. But, the world isn’t perfect and neither are we — maybe it won’t hurt to skip a few episodes of the Real World/Road Rules marathon we’ve seen five times already and check out what’s shaking on CNN.com

Colleen Bayus’ friends may have priorities that are slightly askew, but they never fail to keep life interesting. E-mail her at cab2357@pitt.edu