Slartibartfast's advice

Sometimes I get so perplexed at the rubbish job being done by the mainstream U.S. news media on any number of serious issues that I think about following the advice of Slartibarfast, the Magrathean planetary designer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied."

It's either that or try and find out everything, realize I can't and in any case I can't do a thing about it, and stay depressed all the time - just like Marvin the Paranoid Android. Marvin's favorite quote is "What's the use?"

Oh dear.

Incidentally, the movie version of Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, a US-UK co-production, has been doing rather well in the States - it's currently number 3 at the U.S. box office, having held the number 1 spot in its first week of release. I suppose the Brits can still sell sci-fi and comedy as a package in the U.S.

Hang the sense of it.