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From: Tom in NYC
Re: Hood-winked -- Sick of it yet?
Date: Dec. 19, 2006
Have you had enough of the Mt. Hood story?
Granted, it is a tragedy for the families involved. It is cause for great sadness among friends and family of the climbers, and I do not minimize their personal and heartfelt sorrow.
But this thing has been leading a number of newscasts for well over a week. Last night it led on the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News. ABC found more pressing matters with which to begin their litany, which placed Mt. Hood in second place. We have not only the story itself, but also news conferences, endless speculation, interviews and statements by experts.
On radio, CBS was flogging the story, which led almost every hourly for a week, at least those to which I listened, and I listen alot.
I suppose there are some who bring another aspect to the story, but I haven't heard them yet. If I had, they would say something about the selfishness of those who court danger without thought of others who are then put at risk. I am talking about all the (wo)man hours spent on a high-tech search in foul weather, the cost of such an effort, and the danger it brings to those good Samaritans who are thrown into the search.
Contrast this to the efforts recently that went into the ill-starred James Kim only a couple of weeks earlier. Kim had gone out on foot after his car, with wife and child inside, stalled in an Oregon snowstorm. He was found dead days later after an all-out search by dozens of volunteers, a victim of circumstances not of his own making.
The Mt. Hood climbers, presumably attempting to conquer the mountain "because it's there" did not take the bad weather seriously enough to delay their excursion. You may recall video of another search last winter in snow country which showed the crash of a search helicopter.
In collateral damage, the hours of air time on both radio and tv (never mind the internet!) have, by definition, crowded out more important news, because the networks love the "human interest" stuff, of which there already is far too much on the Evening "News"; just watch the evening news and count all the stories that don't belong there, that are more appropriately placed on the magazine programs, which are already stuffed with "human interest".
And if we wonder what news might be missing on the evening "news", ponder a few "what ifs": Investigative journalism is almost non-existent. It is just possible that the resources of news departments (both electronic and print) might have caught the Enron story before the lives of almost all its employees were changed dramatically by the company's financial explosion. What about questionable deals in the Iraq war by Halliburton and others (there were others?) What about the secret dealings of governments in the matters of energy? Medicare? Stem cell research? The rejection of science in favor of "faith" based decisions? Tax relief for the wealthy? Cronyism? The trashing of our national parks by logging interests? Industry advocates placed in charge of the regulations of those industries?
All these, and much, much more might have been looked into by a cowed and fearful media, made so by an administration that has played them with arrogant virtuosity. The result is a bland pablum of "news" consisting of adventures of The Donald, Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise; weekly movie box office figures (thanks, Jack Valenti), and the adventures of rock music figures, no matter how obscure.
And let us not forget that this administration is eager to fill the endless hours of news with its own versions, i.e., the planting of Jeff Gannon in the White House press room yet, where he threw softball questions at the press secretary means more diversion from important stuff. And the government's phony tv stories by phony reporters, packaged and sent to tv stations with no reference to their tainted sources.
Especially memorable were the voices of those who began to beg for "good news", forgetting the definition of news itself. We've got "good news" in the form of a president who until very recently has been telling us that we're "making progress" in Iraq, that all is well, that we should trust his leadership.
As I write this, WCBS Radio is reporting the appearance of the Virgin Mary in a tree stump in Passaic, NJ. It aired with a reporter on the scene describing the scene and included an actuality of one person who explained the sequence of events from a religious viewpoint. No doubt there will be more "news" coming from Passaic.
But let me bring this epistle to a conclusion, because there is always the possibility that you, gentle reader, might otherwise find more important things to read and watch than a rant about important things to read and watch.
From: Marc Perkel
Re: The coming year / the Iraq mess
Date: Dec. 18, 2006
It's that time of the year to make predictions for the new coming year.
What will the year 2007 bring? What will 2007 be known for?
My prediction is that 2007 will be the year of the meltdown.
I predict that when 2007 is over that the word "meltdown" will be the word that describes the year. But in the long run it will be a good thing because America has turned it's back on reality and melting down is part of the healing process.
Everyone is also asking the question, "How do we win that war in Iraq?"
Shall we pull out? Shall we send in more troops? Do we side with the Shiites or the Sunnis?
We aren't going to win this war because the war is not winnable. We're asking the wrong question. What we should be asking is, "How do we win the peace?" War has failed, It's time to give peace a chance. We need a plan for peace, not a plan for war. War is the problem and war isn't solved by more war. War is solved by a plan for peace.
I'm Marc Perkel... and I approved this message!