Comments on: Insensitive Hard-boiled Iraq War Perspective http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/ A dissident twist of reality... Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:20:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Xman http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5035 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:26:10 +0000 http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5035 Thanks, Petulant. I read the Wiki you provided. It is on my list for my next visit to Powells World of Books. Joe, what you wrote jogged my memory about how the cia is constantly getting caught paying people to write their stories, issuing fake stories and videos...and now I recall the military was just caught doing that in Iraq. I have no idea what to believe anymore...except more and more often seems to benefit someones bank account. Basically, if I see someone expressing reasons to kill people and/or take their stuff or change their politics, etc....I doubt I am getting the real story and in fact, lean to the side of whatever person/tyrant is being demonized. Trying to do that with Darfur, but the info from the other side is so scarce. Thanks, Petulant.
I read the Wiki you provided.
It is on my list for my next visit to Powells World of Books.

Joe, what you wrote jogged my memory about how the cia is constantly getting caught paying people to write their stories, issuing fake stories and videos…and now I recall the military was just caught doing that in Iraq.
I have no idea what to believe anymore…except more and more often seems to benefit someones bank account.
Basically, if I see someone expressing reasons to kill people and/or take their stuff or change their politics, etc….I doubt I am getting the real story and in fact, lean to the side of whatever person/tyrant is being demonized.
Trying to do that with Darfur, but the info from the other side is so scarce.

]]> by: JoeC http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5033 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:10:26 +0000 http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5033 Hmmm...I'll have to check out Zamiatin's <em>WE</em>! As for the problem of news as entertainment, we've seen this happen before at the turn of the last century and the battle between Hearst and Pulitzer. I'm not sure how to predict the future of TV News from that era or "yellow journalism." As with Iraq, the sensationalised news back then led to the Spanish American War. But what of the media empires? The great depression finally hit and largely deflated their balloons. Hope it doesn't take another great depression to end the current reign of prime-time sensationalised entertainment journalism. Maybe more people will turn to the Internet and slanted network news will just fade away... Hmmm…I’ll have to check out Zamiatin’s WE!

As for the problem of news as entertainment, we’ve seen this happen before at the turn of the last century and the battle between Hearst and Pulitzer. I’m not sure how to predict the future of TV News from that era or “yellow journalism.” As with Iraq, the sensationalised news back then led to the Spanish American War. But what of the media empires? The great depression finally hit and largely deflated their balloons. Hope it doesn’t take another great depression to end the current reign of prime-time sensationalised entertainment journalism. Maybe more people will turn to the Internet and slanted network news will just fade away…

]]> by: petulant http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5027 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:41:00 +0000 http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5027 Of course the media drives the story, but they sustain it because ratings show there is an audience. I think the media and the general populi are to blame. MSM presents their story spin and the average viewer keeps the story alive by continually watching. Ratings drive the market. If anyone thinks News is about information they are grossly ignorant. The MSM will beat this story till every facet is unearthed. Once viewership loses interest they will shift gears. Welcome to Bush Country! Orwell is a good read, but I would also suggest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">WE</a> by Eugene Zamiatin, if you haven't read it already. Written in 1921, it was the inspiration for Orwell's 1984. Of course the media drives the story, but they sustain it because ratings show there is an audience. I think the media and the general populi are to blame. MSM presents their story spin and the average viewer keeps the story alive by continually watching. Ratings drive the market. If anyone thinks News is about information they are grossly ignorant. The MSM will beat this story till every facet is unearthed. Once viewership loses interest they will shift gears.

Welcome to Bush Country!

Orwell is a good read, but I would also suggest WE by Eugene Zamiatin, if you haven’t read it already. Written in 1921, it was the inspiration for Orwell’s 1984.

]]> by: Xman http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5026 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:38:10 +0000 http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5026 Petulant, You bring up a point I have been pondering. Is it really the public that wants every detail of the boys life, etc? It seems to me the media run under their own power on these kinds of things. It seems they actually create the market with their breathless and horrified theatrics. They repeat it all over and over, they set up cliff hanger after cliff hanger. They interview every misquito or fly that every flew in his airspace. Sure, we all have some level of curiosity, and I suppose there is a large audience who have been trained to love this sort of thing............well, I know I have my own perspective. I have watched 15 - 30 seconds or less each time I channel surf through fox and cnn. I'm just not that interested in what one crazy person does on one day, when we have a whole bunch of crazies so far worse everyday. The good news is there won't be a trial. I guess that is bad news for fox, court tv, etc. I need to go back and read my Orwell. Then I will take my pulse again and see how I feel. Petulant,
You bring up a point I have been pondering.
Is it really the public that wants every detail of the boys life, etc? It seems to me the media run under their own power on these kinds of things. It seems they actually create the market with their breathless and horrified theatrics. They repeat it all over and over, they set up cliff hanger after cliff hanger. They interview every misquito or fly that every flew in his airspace.
Sure, we all have some level of curiosity, and I suppose there is a large audience who have been trained to love this sort of thing…………well, I know I have my own perspective. I have watched 15 - 30 seconds or less each time I channel surf through fox and cnn.
I’m just not that interested in what one crazy person does on one day, when we have a whole bunch of crazies so far worse everyday.

The good news is there won’t be a trial. I guess that is bad news for fox, court tv, etc.

I need to go back and read my Orwell. Then I will take my pulse again and see how I feel.

]]> by: JoeC http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5003 Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:55:09 +0000 http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/2007/04/17/insensitive-hard-boiled-iraq-war-perspective/#comment-5003 Petulant: I've thought about this a lot over the past couple of days. My conclusion: <ul> <li>We can't fix what happened at VT, or do anything about the shooter now.</li> <li>There are many things we can do (protest, write letters, speak out...) to help end the bloodshed in occupied Iraq.</li> </ul> So, wanting to take the easiest course...most Americans consciously and subconsciously would rather focus on the VT shooter. Thinking about the "unfixable" VT shooter instead of the potentially "fixable" Iraq situation just makes our inaction feel less guilty. Anyway, that's my theory. Petulant: I’ve thought about this a lot over the past couple of days. My conclusion:

  • We can’t fix what happened at VT, or do anything about the shooter now.
  • There are many things we can do (protest, write letters, speak out…) to help end the bloodshed in occupied Iraq.

So, wanting to take the easiest course…most Americans consciously and subconsciously would rather focus on the VT shooter. Thinking about the “unfixable” VT shooter instead of the potentially “fixable” Iraq situation just makes our inaction feel less guilty.

Anyway, that’s my theory.

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