As I commented on Washingtonpost.com:
Something is very wrong when someone as delusional and vapid as Charlie Sheen makes millions per episode. Because this story has been repeated so many times on media outlets that I follow, I have been sucked in like so many witnesses of this car crash.
Yesterday, as a requirement of Psychology 231, I watched "Super Size Me," an expose of the mass-marketing strategies of McDonald's restaurants, and a case-study of the health risks associated with a fast food diet. Morgan Spurlock, who directed and acted in the movie, embarked on a 30 day McDonald's diet, using himself as a human guinea pig. For 30 days, Spurlock ate only what he could find on McDonald's menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and limited his movement to a hypothetical average person's daily movement. The movie was, admittedly, made in support of litigation against McDonald's. It accused the company of negligence, and pointed the finger at the company's marketing machine for causing an epidemic of obesity in the US. Last night, my son Joseph acted as if he was going to hurl when we served him homemade vegetable beef soup -- he loves Chicken McNuggets. How can parents and educators compete with the bombardment of toxic messages coming from the media? How exactly does taking a barrage of multiple choice tests prepare students for evaluating everything they watch, listen to, or read?
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