Can the American media be serious?
With all the urgent issues the media should be covering this election cycle, they really seem to be calling it in. The story about John Kerry's remarks for example is a total non-event. Rather than playing right into the Bush administration's hands and demanding apologies from Kerry for his alleged insult to the troops, the media should be jumping all over the white house for trying to misrepresent Kerry's comments: heads up guys, they're lying... again. How about covering that ?
A while ago I went to CNN in search of a story about the madrassa bombing in Pakistan yesterday, and do you think I could find it? Eventually, with the help of their search engine. This is major news, relegated to the metaphorical back page. I did however find an important item on their "Politics" page: "What Would Alex P Keaton Do?". "Alex P Keaton" was the staunch conservative character played by Michael J Fox on the old sitcom "Family Ties", and the article questions whether he would be in favour of the embryonic stem-cell research that Michael J Fox supports. "What Would Alex P Keaton Do?" Who gives a flying fuck what Alex P Keaton would do? Newsflash, CNN: Alex P Keaton is a fictional character. Asking whether "Alex P Keaton" would support stem-cell research makes about as much sense as pondering what exit strategy GI Joe might come up with in Iraq.
The media has so much reach and so much power to inform and shape the views of the nation, yet they squander it on this kind of goofiness. That they'd waste time contemplating the opinions of fictional characters while real soldiers are coming home from a real war in real body bags is the real insult to the troops.
A while ago I went to CNN in search of a story about the madrassa bombing in Pakistan yesterday, and do you think I could find it? Eventually, with the help of their search engine. This is major news, relegated to the metaphorical back page. I did however find an important item on their "Politics" page: "What Would Alex P Keaton Do?". "Alex P Keaton" was the staunch conservative character played by Michael J Fox on the old sitcom "Family Ties", and the article questions whether he would be in favour of the embryonic stem-cell research that Michael J Fox supports. "What Would Alex P Keaton Do?" Who gives a flying fuck what Alex P Keaton would do? Newsflash, CNN: Alex P Keaton is a fictional character. Asking whether "Alex P Keaton" would support stem-cell research makes about as much sense as pondering what exit strategy GI Joe might come up with in Iraq.
The media has so much reach and so much power to inform and shape the views of the nation, yet they squander it on this kind of goofiness. That they'd waste time contemplating the opinions of fictional characters while real soldiers are coming home from a real war in real body bags is the real insult to the troops.
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