There is a common journalistic format that involves making
lists of five things. And while the people who write these lists get paid to
count to five for you, I don’t. I am not a journalist, although I did take
journalism before and therefore decided that I never will work in that
field. Especially because I could never in good conscience take any compensation for writing the drivel that accompanies these lists. Well and for so many other
reasons. I don’t get paid a dime and my work may never be read by millions
worldwide, either. But at least at the end of the day I can look at myself in
the mirror and go to sleep with my soul in tact. Also, because I have something
these journalists apparently don’t have: respect for my readers.
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| The Bonera of football journalism |
If I were to make a list of five reasons you would never
read such a list on this blog, reason
number five could be that not everything can be effectively broken down into a
list of five. Sometimes it’s just one really good reason, other times it’s four
or eight or whatever. Football is not a cookie-cutter format that wraps itself
neatly into the number five. There are plenty of things that require more or
less bullet points for a proper discussion.
As for reason number four, using any kind of set format
limits your ability to express your thoughts. There are so many ways to write,
and so many formats to choose from. Heaven forbid you should actually get paid
for writing what you want, that would simply be heresy. Or the world might actually end if the big papers and sites allowed their writers a little leniency on the format and style.
The number three reason would be that five is such a random
number. And it has nothing to do with football. A match is 90 minutes, played
in two halves, with 22 players, etc. To discuss the beautiful game in
increments of five makes no sense whatsoever, and clearly is a random number
chosen by news agencies to cater to what they believe is your attention span
and intelligence.
Which brings me to the number two reason: it insults your
intelligence. Do these people really believe that you can only count to five?
Or have they done their research and decided that the average person can only
manage to process five bullet points? Not one subject or two or three bullet points, or
heaven forbid the antiquated top ten lists. Just five. Because you the reader are
apparently an idiot, according to places who make lists of five things.
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| Just because he gets paid, doesn't make him credible |
And the top reason lists of five are ridiculous? Because it
insults the people who get paid. Many of them are talented writers, but they
also have to eat. So rather than hold out for work that is worthy of their
talent or take another fulfilling job and wait for the chance to get paid for
doing what they love best, they sell their souls and put their names on these
ridiculous pieces and hope that they can pay the bills. To each their own, but
you can’t put a price on self-respect. Or some semblance of social
responsibility, for that matter.
Which brings me to…. oops, I already made five points… see
how silly this is? Another problem that I have with these lists is the lack of
integrity involved in the writing itself. They are rarely accurate,
well-researched, or even decently written. Just a list of five things to throw
to the masses so they can collect a paycheck. There is no concept of social
responsibility, in fact stirring up ignorance within five bullet points seems to be
part of the format. They are often opinion-based, but written as factual to
further mislead the masses.
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| There used to be some semblance of integrity in sports journalism, but apparently it's extinct, too |
If reading this makes you think twice about clicking or
sharing links to those lists of five things, then there is hope for you yet.
But I know that for the hundreds of people who read this post, there will be
millions to read each and every one of those lists of five. Those journalists
who write those pieces will get paid, the companies that host them will make
money in advertising for every click. Because, you know, millions of people are
okay with their intelligence being insulted, and will read whatever is easiest to access rather than holding out for something that someone put some thought into. All of those journalists are happy just to get paid and so will write anything they’re told to write regardless of
whether or not it’s true or even socially responsible. On this blog, I will always do my best to keep you informed with accurate information. I will write from my heart and give you different types of posts about Milan for variety. I may continue to be
poor and settle for hundreds or thousands of views per post instead of the
millions that those lists will get, but I will also have my self respect and
integrity. And you can’t put a price on that.
This post inspired by the music of
Rammstein
Our next match is
Milan vs. Fiorentina
Sunday, October 26 • 20:45 CET (3:45pm EDT)*
*note the end of European daylight savings time changes the time
difference