Monkeys, Media, Pornography

Two quotes from articles read while traveling to Toronto, one from the New Yorker, and one from Readers Digest.

From "Cult of Celebrity" Readers Digest, February 2008:

"A 2005 study ... found that monkeys would give up food to stare at photos of dominant monkeys in their group. The theory is that, for survival and procreation, less powerful monkeys need to be tuned into all the social information about those at the centre of attention."

So... people obsessively read about Brittany's mental problems in order to survive and maintain the species? That's like licking batteries for your daily iron supplement.

From "Twilight of the Books" The New Yorker, December 2007:

The Internet, happily, does not so far, seem to be antagonistic to literacy. researchers recently gave Michigan children and teen-agers home computers in exchange for permission to monitor their Internet usage. The study found that grades and reading scores rose with the amount of time spent online. Even visits to pornography Web sites improved academic performance. (my emphasis)

Giving renewed validity to the phrase, "Honey I just get it for the articles."

Oh my christphercolumber people, what exactly are we trying to say about ourselves here? That we are starfucking perverts who will only read if there is a money shot a click or two away??

I weep for us, but actually mostly I weep for you folks out there, I for one, love reading, and celebrity gossip and eating *and* porn. I'm like 10 for 10.