Monday, August 25, 2003
There's no business like showbusiness
This Atrios post excerpting an Eric Alterman entry and some others have commented on the blood the media has on their hands in failing to do their jobs and criticize the Bush war machine before the bombs started falling in March.
How is the public who don't rely on the media for opinions but facts supposed to take it if the prominent line becomes that Bush completely fabricated the case for war? The media is an independent odd entity in this whole war mess. Their motivation for subsuming the legitimate realist criticisms of this war and marginalizing the massive protests was not because the media felt this war was the best way to combat terrorism. They got all stirred up because a war is so cool!
I've got a scenario playing in my mind about how unsensationalized a failure to go to war because of the lack of a UN mandate would be. All the photo montages of Saddam and stuff and then the heart-pounding music slowing down and abrubtly cutting off like a broken record.
"And proper deference was given to the governing body of the world, folks decided it really wasn't necessary to invade Iraq, and I guess we'll keep these sanctions going and kill civilians in a more long-term far less exciting way. Ho hum. Now with an in-depth analysis of the Bush tax cut plan with boring charts and stuffy white guys."
That ain't and was never going to happen! Sure some families somewhere, probably which might not watch much TV, don't have cable, or too busy spending time with eachother or working might have some real in the flesh soldiers that are close to them die, but DAMN what a lame news cycle it would be if we didn't have some awesome war footage.
That's it. I don't rant very well.
