Why can Americans as a whole become absorbed with a mass college shooting and Imus but...

[jerryme1]

for all intents and purposes, go about our daily business when it comes to Iraq? 80-110 U.S. soldiers are being killed there monthly with countless others being wounded and maimed. America is the but for cause of so many Iraqi deaths on a daily and monthly basis. Why isn't the media focusing on Iraq 24/7? As an Iraq Vet, I'm perplexed and infuriated to no end.

[Subdivisions]

1. Because the American media is no more

than a propoganda machine for Bush and the corrupt government. Thank you for your service to our country and welcome to DU.

[katsy]

2. This is not your momma's media.

These are corporatists.

They do not report the news. They do not investigate. They propogandize. They spin. They distract. They divide. They ignore.

There are only a couple of qualified reporters/news people. They are there as token professionals.

[Straight Shooter]

3. I wish I had an answer for you.

Basically, I think it's collective attention deficit disorder. If there were massacres on campus every month, it wouldn't take long for Americans to tune that out, either. :(

[jerryme1]

7. Exactly. Much of America is bored with Iraq. Time to shop.

[Parisle]

4. The danger of abstraction

--- Your same complaint could be made with respect to the federal debt,... the top-heavy electoral system,... or the corporate dismantling of America's economic manufacturing base. And then there's the criminal war fiasco. It's hard to believe that these things are too abstract for the public-at-large,.... but maybe they are.

[amitten]

5. Simple: Out of sight, out of mind. It's because it's overseas.

And people purposefully put it out of their minds.

[Esra Star]

6. The media is self absorbed. It does not reflect how people think.

It is deadline based.

[Venus Dog]

8. The media is manipulative

There is a concerted effort between the WH & corporate media to keep the war out of our living rooms. They saw what that did during Vietnam and they won't let that happen again. So, they keep us distracted with homegrown sex and violence and we just eat it up.:puke:

[rasputin1952]

9. Well...Iraq is distant, no threat to the good folks here in the

country, whereas the bizarre seems to attach itself to the psyche. We've been trained to look for "celebrity" happenings, when war hits, we expect casualties, (sadly).

We are an odd people, our society is built upon that which we can get the moost from, close by. And w/bush, this has become more apparent...it is all about today; little thought about the future...:(

[acmavm]

10. How can they spew their support the troops crap and then see them

left over there in the kill zone without adequate food, ammunition, armor, water, medical attention, and being sent back again and again and again.

I will repeat what I said the other day about America and Americans. The majority are idiots. Self-absorbed greedy idiots.

They won't miss their weekly dose of American Idol but won't move off the couch and go to their computers and troll for the truth about what's happening in their own country. For that you have to go to the foreign press or the blogs. That would be work.

All they have to do is pick up their cell and vote for this week's winner on AI. They can do that. How many MILLION a week watch that shit and vote? I guarantee you a hell of a lot more than take the time and trouble to find out what's really happening in the world they live in.

[karlrschneider]

11. Because most people have not been directly affected, and those who have been

are understandably loathe to admit their loved ones died in vain.

[stillcool]

12. looking for truth in the media...

is like looking to get an apple from a pear tree. Even when something of substance is mentioned, it is not the full version. Every issue is framed for the maximum effect desired.

[sandnsea]

13. Sense of control

People feel they have a sense of control about things that have a definitive beginning and end. We can grieve about the VT victims, recommend specific changes, resolve it and move on. Imus, same thing, even though its incredibly lame to talk about black culture while ignoring hate radio. Democrats are being so stupid about that.

War and all the garbage in the White House, it's just endless and no clear sense that any other Republican would do anything different than what this one is doing. People just don't know exactly what to get behind to change the big things. Al Gore and his 'change a lightbulb' was brilliant because it made people feel it was something they could personally manage, so that opened the door just enough to get them to learn more.

[napi21]

14. I hate to have to say this, but I think it's because the Iraq was

doesn't affect them at all. I was born in 1943 and although I don't remember much from when I was very small, my Mother told me about war bonds, ration stamps, how she always shopped at this one small butcher shop because he would slip he a little bacon or some other meat when she didn't have any stamps for them. She said everything was rationed, shoes, food, gasoline etc. Everywhere you went there were signs about the war and Uncle Sam. All my uncles served in the war, and EVERYBODY'S life was affected by it.

I remember most about Vietnam. I was engaged to be married and my fiance got his draft notice. Fortunately his # was high enough that he wasn't called to serve, and JFK had signed a law that entiled all married me A4 status (I think that's what it was) and we were married before they reached his draft #. I knew a LOT of guys who went to Nam though, and I remember all the marches and demonstrations against the war but most of the demonstrators were going to be drafted! THAT'S why there was so much involvement. NOW I think everybody just ignores the war in Iraq because nothing has changed for them.

Crazy as everybody thinks Charlie Rangel is for proposing a draft now, I understand why he's doing it. If there was a draft today and there were NO deferments, you'd see demonstrations and marches that would blow your mind!

It's a sad story, but I really think that's the reason. Nobody even thinks about Iraq unless they have a relative or close friend serving there.

[jerryme1]

18. I agree 100% with your thoughts on the draft.

[Straight Shooter]

19. Good commentary, napi21.

Now instead of rationing and war bonds and a sense of "we're all in this together," what we have are yellow magnets and empty platitudes like "support the troops" (without giving the support they need), and the American flag everywhere.

America is becoming a country of all style, no substance. Lots of light, no heat.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. propaganda media

really the headlines should have been about the torturous AG

[Captain Angry]

16. Because a lot of Americans still think that Iraq had it coming.

Because a lot of Americans can't find the place on a map.

As it's already been said, because the media isn't telling them it's important.

Because the enormity of it all makes it hard to comprehend for some.

Because when Bush speaks about it, they hear that things are improving.
Because when Cheney speaks about it, they hear that they're in the last throes.
Because when a general speaks about it, they repeat the line or end up stepping down.

[shraby]

17. Given their druthers, I think the people would druther

have the news about Gonzales, Iraq and other hearings than the tedium of the never ending saga about Baldwin, Imus and put the college shooting behind us and let the victim's families grieve in private.