When in Cannes

I've been watching a film, The Mission, which concerns the Jesuit missionaries in Paraguay in the 18th century. Like many natives, the women of the Guarani walked about with their breasts bared. Not even Jesuits seemed to make anything of it.


I cannot help but contrast this with the attention granted Alexandra Kerry's mammaries, because she is the daughter of someone running for president, and people seem interested in saying WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?, as though breasts in southern France are some kind of rare and precious sighting. It begs the question of whether the media, by focusing our eyes on what they can manage to find, are able to offer anything which is not irrelevant and distorted.


The same goes for Michael Moore. Under what reasoning is this something that the public must know of? In what way is this surprising? Is this evidence of anything other than the fact that denouncing American governments is popular in France? Can there be a message to take other than the one intended?


Of course, I tread the edge of an abyss named "What is News?" But some abysses are worth exploring.