Better Class Of Newsmakers Wanted

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I think what the world needs is a better class of people making the news. Too many of these people who get attention these days just seem ridiculous. Yet they're the ones who make the papers and the TV. Like that guy who had himself suspended for months in a glass box over London Bridge. Was I supposed to care? Well, now it can be told; I didn't.

And that other guy who went over Niagara Falls without a barrel? Now that's quite a feat. A 180-foot drop straight down through to a churning river with rocks all around. He said it was something he just always wanted to do.

But here is my question. Should we have been upset if he had been killed? I suppose so. But to be honest -- well, never mind.

And then there was that multimillion-dollar lawsuit that Liza Minnelli's estranged husband filed against her because he said she beat him up all the time. Something about she's strong as a bull when she's drinking vodka or some such. And can't you just imagine? It got big play in all the papers, and, yes, I was shocked to know that a wedding that had featured Michael Jackson as the best man and Liz Taylor as the matron of honor could end up going so bad. But, so far, I have had no trouble remaining unmoved. I know this is a character flaw, and I'm trying to work through it.

But here's the part that worries me. If people like this keep getting all the attention, I may wind up sounding like Andy Rooney.

By Bob Schieffer