St. Peter at The Gates:
“Okay, okay people. Stay organized, for God’s sake. All right, Next. Hey! You’re the 37,354th Iraqi to die from Desert Storm II, give you take a thousand. Who can bother to keep count of you people?”
There is a commotion near the back of the line. It looks like someone is pushing his or her way to the front.
“Come on people! What’s the hurry? I’m the only game in town, so I’ll get to you . . . Wait a minute . . . is that Sarge? The Thousandth Soldier. I saw your picture in the paper. You just come up here sir! I want to shake you hand. Move out of the way you hordes of AIDS victims, you Sudanese riffraff, you Chechen street dogs. Goddamned dead Caribbean hurricane scum. And I don’t want to hear another pip out you, emaciated, malnourished children.”
“Sarge, do you want anything to drink? What are your feelings on Ann Coulter and The War On French Culture? I hate those stuck-up French bastards, too. They stink up the place.”
“Why don’t you go right on through? There’s a sweet mansion on the highest cloud all blinged out specifically for you up there. Oh, and seventy-two virgins. Have fun! . . . What a fantastic guy. Next. Oh, great. Another load of Arabs.”
For you those of you about to cast shame on me: This is satirical. I would hope that this is obvious, but you never know. I would never trivialize death, especially American death. Especially white, American death. Especially attractive, white, American death. This is about “main-stream” coverage of current events. I would really be much happier, if I could get relevant news coverage of important events in the world without having to dig. It shocks and awes me that news organizations have “slow news” days wherein they insert local human-interest stories. For those of you that are sick to death of how depressing the news is, and really like the coverage of good news, like newborn kittens and good-looking firemen, turn it off. Don’t watch. Stay in your “Best of all possible worlds” cave. Or watch the 700 club. For me, I want to know when a country like South Korea elects a new President, and that he won on anti-American rhetoric. This is important stuff and we really don't care. I.E. what exactly happened in Jakarta? What's happening in Gaza, Sudan? Can we get as much time devoted to these stories as we get to John Kerry's Viet Nam Service? Quick answer: No, it doesn't sell here.
There is a commotion near the back of the line. It looks like someone is pushing his or her way to the front.
“Come on people! What’s the hurry? I’m the only game in town, so I’ll get to you . . . Wait a minute . . . is that Sarge? The Thousandth Soldier. I saw your picture in the paper. You just come up here sir! I want to shake you hand. Move out of the way you hordes of AIDS victims, you Sudanese riffraff, you Chechen street dogs. Goddamned dead Caribbean hurricane scum. And I don’t want to hear another pip out you, emaciated, malnourished children.”
“Sarge, do you want anything to drink? What are your feelings on Ann Coulter and The War On French Culture? I hate those stuck-up French bastards, too. They stink up the place.”
“Why don’t you go right on through? There’s a sweet mansion on the highest cloud all blinged out specifically for you up there. Oh, and seventy-two virgins. Have fun! . . . What a fantastic guy. Next. Oh, great. Another load of Arabs.”
For you those of you about to cast shame on me: This is satirical. I would hope that this is obvious, but you never know. I would never trivialize death, especially American death. Especially white, American death. Especially attractive, white, American death. This is about “main-stream” coverage of current events. I would really be much happier, if I could get relevant news coverage of important events in the world without having to dig. It shocks and awes me that news organizations have “slow news” days wherein they insert local human-interest stories. For those of you that are sick to death of how depressing the news is, and really like the coverage of good news, like newborn kittens and good-looking firemen, turn it off. Don’t watch. Stay in your “Best of all possible worlds” cave. Or watch the 700 club. For me, I want to know when a country like South Korea elects a new President, and that he won on anti-American rhetoric. This is important stuff and we really don't care. I.E. what exactly happened in Jakarta? What's happening in Gaza, Sudan? Can we get as much time devoted to these stories as we get to John Kerry's Viet Nam Service? Quick answer: No, it doesn't sell here.
posted by Stephen "Steve" at 9/09/2004 11:00:00 PM
3 Comments:
A World News Channel would be a great thing to put our lives in perspective. Have you heard anything about the movie Control Room? It sounds cool, and all I've read is it's about the war from the view of Al-Jazerra.
Cory, my friends saw Control Room, but didn't really like it. They said you have to watch through the same kind of filter you watch Fahrenheit 9/11 (and I say that as someone who is pretty much an avowed lefty-I just think Michael Moore is turning into the Left's Rush Limbaugh); that it has a specific agenda (because is Al-Jazeera really any better than Fox News?) and you have to draw out the facts through it.
I hate that no "documentary" can really be taken at face value anymore.
Although I hear there's a new documentary out called Uncovered: The War in Iraq, and it actually interviews a lot of people who work/used to work for the CIA and other information analysts talking about how one-sided and muddled the news coverage is in the U.S.
I used to listen to NPR everyday - morning and afternoon. But then we moved here to Savannah, and I stopped. You see, I only listened while in the car, which was actually a significant enough time. I loved it. So now I listen when I can get myself to think about it, which is rare.
I use to bore the hell out of people with anicdotes that always started with, "On NPR today . . ."
I'm sick of slanted "Documentaries". I'm reading that Lies Al Franken book right now, and am entertained but still doubting him due to the obvious bias.