This is our story...

 A straight-up parody of a crop failure is making the rounds in ag today.


First, it's well done - nobody breaks character and the premise is amusing.  But if you are like me it is more revealing than riotous.

Notice how you stop laughing and start squirming about halfway through.  This is formulaic journalism from the camera angles to the composition to the unctuous announcer.  Any one of us could have written the close, right?

We've assumed this role of victim for so long, we could start doing stories like this by shorthand, just like the old prison joke where inmates told jokes by number.  And if it's that familiar, maybe this is how our story really is shaped - we just insert a new crop and farmer accent.

We are obsessed with telling our story, but we need a new script, methinks.