Jack Johnson – The News

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  General Comment:one of my cousins is a newscaster and when she heard this song she started sobbing. i asked her why it got to her so much and i asked her if she was offended. she said that she wasnt offended, she was sad. she said that whenever she reports sad news, afterword she usually goes in the bathroom and cries. she said that newscasters jobs are hard because you have to wear a happy face and be brave and just do your job, cuz thats what people want to see, smiles. but at the end of the day, when you take off the mask, you know how full off shit everyone is, and you know how fucked up the world is.
  
  i thought that was very sad
  

  Flag whedonist21on February 24, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:this song's album, brushfire fairytales, was released on febuary 2001, so it was before 9/11 happened. jack johnson can really bring out great melodies to such broad topics, its almost poetic

  Flag husky27on December 05, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:"Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die?"
  
  4% of the American population (12 mil / 300 mil) is estimated to be clinically psychopathic, physiologically incapable of feeling normal emotion like normal people. Without emotion like regret, guilt, shame, sadness, remorse, they are incapable of developing a conscience, a moral compass, sense of right and wrong. Brain MRIs and EEGs (electroencephalographs) have shown that, while normal people respond more strongly to emotionally charged words like death or cancer than to neutral words like chair or spoon, psychopaths respond just as strongly (not at all) to both groups of words. (The first time these studies are sent from universities to newspapers, they were sent back because the editors "determined" that these studies were false because these EEGs "couldn't have come from real people"). Naturally, despite "only" comprising 4% of the general American population, these "people" comprise 20-25% of our criminals, 50% of our serial rapists, and 85% of our serial killers.
  
  hypothetical newscast (i hope) :"In other news, a family was brutally murdered today in a home invasion, with each person's eyelids cut out so that they would be forced to watch each other burn alive. Now for the weather, Mike?"

  Flag Castle742on May 15, 2010   Link

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  Song Meaning:its 'diegetic'. and he didn't make it up. diegesis is a film term, and it means a narration or recitation, as opposed to the action taking place.
  
  i guess what jack johnson means when he says 'the diegetic world is so unclear' is that events dont really have meaning until they are represented/reported. it's not about the actual events, but the way theyre delivered, which makes sense since hes talking about newscasters.

  Flag diamondprincss02on May 14, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:i really don't understand how newscasters can do it. there is always so much depressing news that just makes you so sad. there is no way i could ever be a newscaster i would cry every time i read about people dying. but maybe thats what jack johnson wants...newscasters to actually show emotion and show that they are human and care about things that are going on

  Flag kiko222on April 10, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I think this song poses such a good question about society. How can we watch the news and see something like "37 innocent people have been killed in a car bombing attack in Iraq" and not be affected by it? They are lives lost, hundreds of people in mourning and we barely bat an eyelid. It's wrong. There should be some sentiment in it, though if they did that the world would be far too miserable. I suppose reporting bad news straight is the only way to do it.

  Flag cookiejaron March 13, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:on 9/11 the newscasters did cry, when people who did something for the world died. the news casters cried. but i do hate the truth that they can read news with out crying.

  Flag kona67on July 16, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:I love this song. And the sad part is is that this song is completely true. I saw someone say something about 9/11 and how the news casters didn't even look sad. Even my teachers at school were crying. The song is so sad and true but I love it.

  Flag Queen~Mumon June 28, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:According to Gerald Prince in A Dictionary of Narratology, diegesis is "(1) The (fictional) world in which the situations and events narrated occur; (2) Telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting." In diegesis the narrator tells the story. The narrator presents to the audience or the implied readers the actions (and perhaps) thoughts of the characters (including perhaps, but not necessarily, all that dwells within their imagination, their fantasies and dreams).
  
  the diagetic world" is pretty much the way people tell stories,events...

  Flag harryharryharryon April 13, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:I think WhiteLightCaress is a lot closer to the meaning here. The 'news' that he's singing about is just a broad metaphor for anything terrible that you might see in life. But there's an escapist element too, where he pretends this terrible things are 'lullabies' sung by his mother. Basically, ignoring or imagining something didn't happen. And sure, it might be a bad thing to learn escapist tendencies, but it's nice being able to retreat into your imagination... that's why I love this song. Back to daydreaming...

  Flag jupiterjameson March 05, 2007   Link

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