If You Want Medical Stories
Then why not some stories about Iraq war double or triple amputees? TMcD responded to my previous post, in comments, thus: you are way off on this one. I'm not a big horseracing guy, but Barbaro was a hell of a horse, winning the Derby by the largest margin in 60 years. His Preakness stumble was excruciating. I had nothing invested, and I found it really wrenching anyway.
Barbaro was (is?) a hell of a horse. But some really great men and women are suffering, greatly, because of grevious wounds suffered in Bush's war . . . and most of them haven't received one second of network television coverage. But I've seen Barbaro's x-rays, heard interiews with his surgeon and with veterinary experts, listened in amazement as even more "serious" programs, like the NewsHour, provide updates on . . . a horse's medical condition. Something is wrong here, very wrong. A horse is a horse, of course, unless . . . no, a horse is a horse.
For all the talk we will hear this Memorial Day weekend of sacrifice and bravery, our society apparently likes the results of sacrifice to be out of sight, out of mind. But a horse coming up lame in a horse race? Can't get enough of that. Maybe it's that we can find a horse's travails wrenching, without putting ourselves or our loved ones in the place of the horse. That's harder when it's a human being. But it's more important when it's a human being, and the official policy of our government to create more disabled veterans.
This is not to say that this aspect of the Iraq war hasn't received any attention from the networks. I haven't seen "Baghdad ER" yet, but I hear that it's great (that's HBO, though). And Tammy Duckworth, double amputee and congressional candidate, gets some press. But my point is that there is one Barbaro, and he is, again, a race horse. At teh same time, there are literally thousands of disabled Iraq war veterans. If you want "human interest," that's the place to look.
But, then, that would take networks that were willing to stand up to the administration. I suspect that we'll see those stories this weekend. It is Memorial Day. But these things are happening every day.
posted by Number Three @ 6:35 AM
2 Comments:
Thank you, Debbie Downer. That's what I want on the news. Iraq Iraq Iraq. Iraq Iraq IRAQQQQQQ!!!!
I think my newsjunkie and Bushhater credentials are pretty solid, but, good God man!, some days you've just got to give it a rest and find refuge in something else. Didn't you see Seabiscuit? Or were you too mad that people in the 1930s weren't spending every waking moment reflecting on how they were in a "great Depression," and my wasn't that "baaaad"!?
Of course, if you thought about it, you might recognize that there are often psychological connections between things seemingly unrelated. I'll spare you the Seabiscuit voiceover, but did it occur to you that one reason people reacted the way they did to Barbaro is that the incident was a good (and unstated) metaphor for our times?--the wonderhorse that comes up lame, and in a backwater nobody expected (the Preakness being the weak sister of the Triple Crown).
So, yes, the media should do some reporting on the actual human beings who have become casualties in Iraq. You may not have noticed, but Nightline and the CBS Evening News were both doing that, albeit in their tepid ways, for years. The approval ratings for Bush and his GOP Congress are at record lows. Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly think that the country is "on the wrong track." We KNOW the political situation sucks. What's wrong with experiencing that failure in indirect and vicarious ways for a brief moment?
Iraq Iraq Iraq. That would do it. I'm constantly amazed at how little reporting actually comes out of Iraq. Most of what we do see is (a) focused on the political process, which appears to be mostly irreleant; and (b) focused on the U.S point of view in the conflict. I can't remember the last time I saw an INTERESTING story out of Iraq.
I'll confess to being a debbie downer--although I would prefer danny downer, thank you very much--but I don't see the connection b/w Seab--er, Barbaro and our contemporary politics. If anything, the MSM is trying its damnedest to hide our contemporary situation from us.
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