I’m sure that many of you are aware that comedian Jon Stewart, in his ongoing feud with Fox News, recently referred to the network as “the lupus of news.” I don’t feel like creating any new links to this, so if you want to find out more, search for it.

There is so much about this topic that disturbs me, I’m not sure where to begin. Well, let’s start with the obvious one, that lupus is still considered by many to be a joke disease. Why? Well, I think people joke about things that don’t make sense to them and Lupus certainly doesn’t make much sense. Some people we know who have lupus have such a mild case that they appear to others as not being sick at all. On the other hand, someone we knew just lost their battle with lupus. I don’t know how to fix society’s perception. American society appears to be much more interested in being entertained than being educated.

When a society makes political decisions based on entertainers masquerading as journalists, the eventual conflict for ratings and viewership can only result in a political system forced to make decisions based on the amusement of the masses and the economy of YouTube viewership.

Every day that a person turns on the radio and listens to someone like Rush Limbaugh tell them how to be a real American or feels like they are politically involved because they watch The Daily Show, this economy of stupidity will continue to perpetuate itself until this country is reduced into neatly identified marketing groups of lemmings running blindly toward their edu-taining talking head of choice.

I wish I had some easy solution, but sanity is not very entertaining.

From On the Road to a Cure:

March 3, 2009 is the Lupus Foundation of America’s 11th Annual Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. Even if you cannot physically join us on Tuesday, there are still several things you – and your family and friends – can do to help raise awareness about the seriousness of lupus.

I do encourage everyone to choose one or more of the recommended activities and participate this coming Tuesday.

Here’s a few easy ways to let everyone know that you support Lupus research and the Lupus Foundation of America, using a couple of the social networking tools we all seem to spend so much time using.

Facebook
There is one very simple thing you can do in Facebook. Below is suggested text that you can use for your status on your Facebook account for Tuesday, March 3, 2009. Encourage your family and friends to change their statuses as well.

“YOUR NAME is encouraging friends and family to support the LFA’s Advocacy Day. Tell Congress 50 years without a new FDA-approved lupus drug is too long http://www.capwiz.com/lfa”

Twitter
If you have a Twitter account and are joining us for Advocacy Day, you can “tweet” your Advocacy Day experience. You might want to post updates such as “Heading to Capitol Hill now” or “Meeting with Senator Young.”

If you’re not able to be on Capitol Hill, you can still use your Twitter account to encourage people to call their Senators and Representatives, and raise awareness about the need for new, safe, tolerable, and effective treatments. Below are some suggested “tweets.”

“Support LFA’s Advocacy Day tomorrow. Tell Congress 50 years without a new FDA-approved lupus drug is too long. http://www.capwiz.com/lfa”

“Join me and call Congress and tell them 50 years without a new FDA-approved lupus drug is too long. http://www.capwiz.com/lfa”

I recently cancelled my Twitter account, but perhaps I will activate a new account that is just centered around this blog. More on my to do list.