Like you stated Sol, the media taps into certain facets of the human psyche on purpose. It isn't just as simple as "oh, just ignore it" when you're talking about the people as a collective unit though.
Individually yes, we can say "well, wtf gives a damn about his broadcast?". On a larger whole though that isn't so easily done. You do something to incite anger and you'll see it the most in a collective, not so much in individuals even though individuals usually lead to starting the larger groups
It's a complicated thing overall. Our country has been doing this type of thing to it's people for a long time. It's easy to target a natural human emotion and exploit it. The media, tv companies and marketers have become experts at this.
Look at December of 1999 for example. Remember all the fear mongering going on by the media about Y2K? All the doomsday predictions and wild end of the world prophecies being proclaimed. I'm sure millions if not billions of dollars were made in the last half of that year. People were rushing out buying TONS of canned goods, water, gas masks, power generators etc...etc..
. I'm sure there are a few people on this board whose families were anticipating the worste. Like any of these items would have saved you from the end of the world anyways. Sure, if the Y2K bug happend it might have done something, but come on, lets be serious and recognize what really took place that year.
The news shows tons of horrible things happening supposedly in your own neighborhood all the time and people go out and buy firearms, home security systems, guard dogs
, just to feel safe when in fact if you're not living in a dangerous neighborhood to begin with, the chances of you being in grave danger is "almost" nil.
Anyways, this is all rant on my part. What I don't understand Sol, is why you've already agreed that this was a politically motivated move on the media and yet somehow this arguement continues on both sides. It's actually quite funny to read.
I think because you decided to echo the sentiments of the individuals side and say "If you don't pay attention to it, it won't matter". This works for some things, to have this philosophy, but regarding the media this is something I feel can't be applied. Atleast for the sake of the "Collective", because lets face it, you poke at something sensetive and it's going to spark controversy whether YOU like it or not.
The media or anyone for that matter should not be able to play off of this to further their own pseudo-political gains. To have a country resolved in finishing the job in Iraq and have that countries own media trying to destroy that resolve is the real evil IMO.
You would risk more lives being lost in the future having that country become a much larger cesspool then it already is then tolerate a few lives being lost today so that Iraq might potentially become a better place for all parties involved?
You would deminish the efforts and sacrifices made by our country's fighting forces not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan just for the sake of furthering your own agenda of continued intolerance and fear mongering?
You would exploit the dead and the families of the dead just so that you and those you work for can turn a huge profit without real regards or care for those you exploit?
This is the real problem and it shouldn't be ignored. It should make people angry and it should make them fuss about it. Not for the sake of stopping the war on terrorism, but for the sake that the media is allowed to play all of us for fools and make us react to images that scare us or their tear jerking propaganda so as to undermine that which men and woman have made the ultimate sacrifices for already.
They struggle to keep us in control and keep us thinking what they want us to think and they keep pumping us with these horrible images to make us see what most of us should already know are the results of war and expect us to be shocked into pushing for the war to end. It isn't just about us anymore though. We've pushed too deep into this conflict that we can't just pull up limp now.
Thats why Koppel doing this now was in poor taste (As Usual) and the whole situation in the middle east (the bigger picture) was not given the proper respect and treatment it deserved. Thats the shame of it all.
Quasi-ontopic: If we didn't have something to complain about Sol, you wouldn't have something to counter-complain about. Don't you just love the irony of it all?
Anyway, I was aware it was in addition to an allegation regarding an Iraqi girl being raped (see my parenthetical in the other post trying to make the disctinction, perhaps confusingly). In other news, the general sentiment on the Iraqi blogs I read is optimistic and most have put the scandal behind them and are appreciative with how it's been handled by the US. I see that as positive to the overall effort to get Iraq's fledgling Democracy buttoned up in time for June 30. I know they sense they have bigger issues to surmount in the short time left before regaining sovereignty.