Tugging at Loose Threads
I didn't expect a week away from the keyboard (gratefully riding waterslides with my kids) to change very much, and I sure wasn't disappointed. There are real news stories out there, such as the impending consistutional deadline in Iraq and Israel's unilateral pullout from Gaza, but the media seems to be fixated on the kind of stories that make so many of us cry "enough already."
First, of course, is the difficult case of Cindy Sheehan, a woman who lost a son in the Iraq war and who has decided to voice her displeasure with the administration by pitching a tent outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX. I'm not surprised the media is on this so hard--after all, isn't it great when a story comes directly to you, a story you don't have to pound the pavement to pin down?
I don't have a problem with Sheehan sitting there and grieving in this way. Let her protest and scream until she turns blue--she's earned it. What I do mind is the way the media seems to be treating her as if she represented some kind of "tipping point" (and man, am I sick to death of this term) that will turn Americans en masse against the President. And they have done this in an uncritical way: I believe Americans would have tired of this story by now, tired of all the questions about whether or not Bush will come and speak with her, if they were at all informed that the President has already met with her and her family; and while at this meeting she certainly was not converted to a pro-war point of view, she decided not to use it as a platform to vent her anger.
Since this article was first unearthed by the Drudge Report, all sorts of left-wing outfits have attacked the disclosure as if there were some sort of distortion. RawStory accuses Drudge of "gross distortion" even though he linked back to the original article in its entirety. Arianna Huffington (whose tedious Huffington Post ravings seem now to be available via Yahoo! News, for all love) goes on and on with the same sort of spleen she accuses people like Rush Limbaugh of using...all while implying that it's a "sleazeball" thing to do to learn the truth.
And if you have any doubt whose side the media prefers, here's a Washington Post headline for you: Mom's Protest Riles Gun-Toting Neighbor. "Gun-toting" indeed. The man discharges his shotgun on his own property and not in the direction of anyone, and he gets labeled with a term generally reserved for crackpots. Frankly, this man makes more sense to me than anyone else, because I find his reaction very understandable. Perhaps that will shock my gentle readers, but his desire for all these people to get their asses away from his land feels very authentic. I wouldn't have fired a shotgun to get their attention, but then I don't live in Texas.
I've also had quite enough of the garment-rending that's accompanied--last week's!-- death of Peter Jennings. I understand that it should be an item of some interest, and I certainly am not happy at the news of anyone's death, but the obsession (and that's what it is) in the media for this story is really getting to me.
It's a phenomenon we've all seen before: if a news story involves the media, suddenly they drop everything and focus all their energies on it. My God, he wasn't the Pope or a President or anything, he was a news reader. I have to believe if Gerald Ford, for instance, had died the same day, they'd receive the same level of coverage (and perhaps Ford's memory would even be slighted). Understandable media behavior, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
First, of course, is the difficult case of Cindy Sheehan, a woman who lost a son in the Iraq war and who has decided to voice her displeasure with the administration by pitching a tent outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, TX. I'm not surprised the media is on this so hard--after all, isn't it great when a story comes directly to you, a story you don't have to pound the pavement to pin down?
I don't have a problem with Sheehan sitting there and grieving in this way. Let her protest and scream until she turns blue--she's earned it. What I do mind is the way the media seems to be treating her as if she represented some kind of "tipping point" (and man, am I sick to death of this term) that will turn Americans en masse against the President. And they have done this in an uncritical way: I believe Americans would have tired of this story by now, tired of all the questions about whether or not Bush will come and speak with her, if they were at all informed that the President has already met with her and her family; and while at this meeting she certainly was not converted to a pro-war point of view, she decided not to use it as a platform to vent her anger.
Since this article was first unearthed by the Drudge Report, all sorts of left-wing outfits have attacked the disclosure as if there were some sort of distortion. RawStory accuses Drudge of "gross distortion" even though he linked back to the original article in its entirety. Arianna Huffington (whose tedious Huffington Post ravings seem now to be available via Yahoo! News, for all love) goes on and on with the same sort of spleen she accuses people like Rush Limbaugh of using...all while implying that it's a "sleazeball" thing to do to learn the truth.
And if you have any doubt whose side the media prefers, here's a Washington Post headline for you: Mom's Protest Riles Gun-Toting Neighbor. "Gun-toting" indeed. The man discharges his shotgun on his own property and not in the direction of anyone, and he gets labeled with a term generally reserved for crackpots. Frankly, this man makes more sense to me than anyone else, because I find his reaction very understandable. Perhaps that will shock my gentle readers, but his desire for all these people to get their asses away from his land feels very authentic. I wouldn't have fired a shotgun to get their attention, but then I don't live in Texas.
While about 60 in Sheehan's group held a religious service Sunday morning, a nearby landowner, Larry Mattlage, fired his shotgun twice into the air. Sheriff's deputies and Secret Service agents rushed to his house but did not arrest him.
"I ain't threatening nobody, and I ain't pointing a gun at nobody," Mattlage said. "This is Texas."
I've also had quite enough of the garment-rending that's accompanied--last week's!-- death of Peter Jennings. I understand that it should be an item of some interest, and I certainly am not happy at the news of anyone's death, but the obsession (and that's what it is) in the media for this story is really getting to me.
It's a phenomenon we've all seen before: if a news story involves the media, suddenly they drop everything and focus all their energies on it. My God, he wasn't the Pope or a President or anything, he was a news reader. I have to believe if Gerald Ford, for instance, had died the same day, they'd receive the same level of coverage (and perhaps Ford's memory would even be slighted). Understandable media behavior, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
posted by Jeff at 7:34 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home