What passes for news

By now, the entire world knows about Jennifer Wilbanks. They know she faked her kidnapping because she was nervous about her wedding. They know she lied until she could lie no more. They know she was the only person to fly the friendly skies on Saturday with a multicolored towel on her head.

CNN led with this story for much of the day on Saturday. Her sad tale occupied the coveted top spot on the snooze network's web site. They even ran a Big Red Breaking News banner at one point. On the telly, they repeated the same inane walking-through-the-airport video for the entire day while everyone and his/her dog called in to comment. As if she hasn't milked it enough already, she's already booked on Jerry Springer (hopefully not after the chair-flinging, vertically-challenged circus acrobats with really bad haircuts.) Oh yes, she also received donations from some of the law enforcement folks who helped her. Wow, such news.

Some perspective might be in order:

1. This wasn't headline news. Not even close.
   
2. This shouldn't have even been a kicker on the local fake news.
3. Real resources were wasted while more worthy problems in the world remained unsolved. This commentary touches on some of the fallout.
4. America wouldn't be America without race popping into the equation. This commentary rightfully touches on a true disappearance involving a young woman who happens to be African-American.
   
5. It does make for funny satire. To wit this piece from the site Unconfirmed Sources.

Finally, her now-famous fiance, John Mason, has some thinking to do. Perhaps this, this, and this might help him navigate the coming days.

I hope they donated the food from the cancelled 600-person wedding to a worthy charity. That's pretty much the only good that could come from this pathetic affair, and this ridiculous show of misplaced journalistic priorities by the media who covered this so-called story.