So somewhere in the chain of the Reuters graphics process some photos got doctored to make some smoke look more dramatic. RWers are in a tizzy saying this is another sign of the mainstream media's anti-Israel bias. :eyes: LWers suspect a Dan Rather style setup intended to cast FUD on the Qana story.
Nothing can be further from the truth. Are you ready for it? Fair warning -- It'll hurt.
The photos were doctored not by some political agenda, but for one simple reason: sensationalism sells. The corporate media are vying to show us the biggest explosions, the most dramatic twists of plots, the fastest action in this...
...
our latest sporting event.
Dutifully the American viewer has pulled up the armchair and broken out the bowl of cheezits, watching intently as half a world away people die on both sides. What do they draw from this? Are they, between beers, forming an educated opinion on the relative merits of the politics of Hezbollah or Isreal? Are they, during commercial-break trips to the can, perhaps, trying to discern the impact that this will have on the world going forward, and how the events here can be learned from to create lasting peace? Nope.
What we as a people are getting out of this is
entertainment. And unlike a football game or the Tour de France, we don't have to make excuses for wasting our time glued to the TV and web over it. After all -- this is important stuff. People are dying over there. So if we are a bit distracted don't blame us for not doing the dishes, refinancing the mortgage, or re-registering to vote. Don't point a finger at us for failing to improve ourselves and our country -- we had weighty things on our mind. In such times of crisis, it's only natural that we be a little distracted.
Passive entertainment you don't have to make excuses for. What could be better?
By the way, if the death and violence and environmental and economic devestation just aren't doing it for you, here's a little trick to pimp your war lust: pick a side. Which one? We don't care! Base it on your preconceptions, prejudices, or heck just flip a coin. It doesn't matter. The corporate media will make sure that there is plenty of back-and-forth in this game. No, of course they aren't able to give you a real view of what's going on strategically -- neither side would let reporters near them were they to broadcast sensitive tactical information like that. But what they will provide is an ebb and flow. One side will be said to have brought the other to the ropes, and then in a surprise surge of strength, the underdog will regain the initiative. Over and over and over.
And if you just can't bring yourself to watch the gore, you can always watch the cheerleaders. Yes, fight about which of them are biased and which are not, and the relative merits of their pom-poms. Just whatever you do, remain transfixed. Don't take your eye off the misery over there. You might accidentally notice the misery in your own back yard and the next thing you know, you'll be on your lawn with a rake, sweating profusely, trying to comb the filth from America's own soil.
We wouldn't want that. You might get dehydrated.
So sit back. Enjoy the show. You have to. This is a real groundshaking cacaphony of human misery here that the corporate media have duly coopted to ensure their quarterly market share goes back up. To not pay attention would be being out of touch. Yes, there are plenty of other things going on in the world, but this one is important, because it's the one the corporate media has a monopoly on -- and so much better than Iraq, which is tapped out and too full of influential toes to step on.
My point is not, of course, that the ME is of no import. It is simply this: crisis are everywhere. You get to pick which ones you address, and some of them are closer to you than others. If you feel obliged to do something about the ME, then join a call for peace, do your part, and be done with it. Nobody will think worse of you if you only do a small bit -- you are half a world away. Just remember that nobody will think better of you this time around if you find yourself posting your photo on "sorryeveryone2006", because that crisis was in your own back yard, and
you were the schmoe that was supposed to take care of that one.
In parting, some lyrics from an album as important to listen to today, as it was back in 1992:
Water pistol man full of ammunition
squirtin' at fires on a worldwide mission
but did you ever think to stop to squirt the flowers
in your own backyard(
Album info)