|
In case you haven’t heard, we are engaged in a war with Iraq. The estimate on its duration changes from day to day and it appears that it’s going to be longer than sooner before this “conflict” is over. As of Wednesday, according to President “Dubya,” the war is far from over.
While I don’t put much credence into what he says, that is when I can figure out what he’s saying, that statement seems to be true. While we all pray for the safe return of our fighting men and women, the machine that is the war and it’s fringe industries, by that I mean the protesters and the news media, push forward.
The protesters, whether they are for or against the war, all seem to have their own press agents and the news media seems to be more than happy to accommodate them. Every time more than ten people carrying signs get together the news media dispatches a camera crew and a chopper to cover it. And if you can count actor Martin Sheen in your protest, watch out, you’ll have media outlets from around the world. In the land of protesters Martin is their king. I guess it all provides a good filler in between the never-ending coverage from the front.
While I am sure that some of these groups have their hearts in the right places, I am equally sure that there are some people who are just opportunists looking to get a little camera time at the expense of a very serious situation. If you look beyond the people the cameras are focusing on in the front, you will notice that many times there are those in the background who think that they are at some kind of party.
If you are there based on your convictions, more power to you. If you are there for no other reason than to see yourself on TV and future news specials, go home. There are too many people in this world exploiting situations to further their own agendas. No matter if it is protesting a war or volunteering to help an organization, if you’re doing it for yourself, don’t do it.
As far as the faux protesters go, on a certain level, you can’t blame them. They are only reacting to the non-stop real time coverage that is being given by all the media outlets. It can be very seductive to the weak-minded opportunists out there. It can also be devastating to the psyches of children and those who have been to war.
Many veterans who have suffered from post war stress syndrome have already made it known that this continuous bombardment of real time war coverage has, in many cases, triggered relapses in their disease. Many impressionable children have also been affected by the coverage. The fact that what they are seeing on TV is real and not a motion picture or a video game fantasy is beginning to have an adverse affect and the war is less than two weeks old.
So why is it mandatory for us to witness every bomb drop? Why does it require the likes of Matt Lauer and Ted Koppel to be riding along with American convoys? Sure there have always been war journalists in the field documenting the horrors of war but not like this. This time it’s not “Where in the World is Matt Lauer,” it’s more like “Why in the World Are You There Matt Lauer?”
I don’t know if you have started to notice or not, but they, the big news stations, have been gradually trying to present some of the war coverage in more of an “entertainment” type of vain. I find this even more disturbing. I’m sure that the families of our military love hearing the fact that in addition to watching out for the unscrupulous Iraqi soldiers, that our troops also need to beware of the deadly scorpions and snakes that make their home in the desert. I am as concerned as anyone is about our troops, but do I really need to know what the weather report is for Baghdad?
Already the public is having an adverse reaction to this force-feeding of war coverage by looking for an alternative. One look at the movie box office receipts is a good indication. For the last three weeks Steve Martins’ new comedy “Bringing Down The House” has been the number one movie at the box office while Bruce Willis’ war flick “Tears of the Sun” has floundered. I guess during wartime Americans aren’t really in the mood to watch a war movie. Sorry Bruce. So all of you big networks better take a clue. Cut it back a bit or your viewers will soon be blowing you off for repeats of “Friends” or just about anything else that’s on.
We really need to reel in the news sections of the broadcast TV networks before they get more out of control than they already are. In their efforts to battle the continuous coverage provided by CNN, CNBC, and FOX News they have changed the entire landscape of broadcast TV. Hey if I want or need never ending news we already have it. There is no need for all of you to be doing the same thing.
This is reality TV at it’s most dangerous, without safety nets. A few years back when a man led police on a car chase, then committed suicide with the live TV cameras rolling, we were outraged at the news
media's carelessness. That incident was just a local situation. How do you think America will react if, on live TV, a group of our brave and valiant soldiers are killed? Is that what it’s going to take to send them a wake up call? I pray that it’s not.
Operation Iraq Freedom, Target Iraq, Attack on Iraq, or War with Iraq. It doesn’t matter what dramatic name you choose to give it, this is a war where Americans are dying and it’s a hard enough pill to swallow without chasing it down with a glass of water in real time live.
The Shrub Speaks - I need to be able to move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate. -- South Bend, Indiana, Oct. 31, 2002
|
