The Negative Voice
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2003-03-23 - 3:49 p.m.

Hype

Watching war coverage makes me crazy. I should have gone into broadcasting. Then maybe there could be one anchor on a twenty four hour news network who understood such basic concepts as the difference between a mortar attack and an airstrike.

I admire the Pentagon's genius in coming up with the concept of embedding journalists in the midst of small units. The media laps up all this live coverage of mechanized movement across the desert or company-level urban fighting in Umm Qasr. They like it so much that they overlook the almost total abscence of real information on the progress of the campaign. I certainly don't expect live video from the very front lines of the attack, since standing up with a camera in a combat zone can get you killed posthaste. I just think the media loves the live footage it does get so much that they've lost track of their own ignorance.

Meanwhile, several protesters interviewed yesterday managed to completely piss me off. I can respect people against the war. I can respect people who believe that the war will cost more in international ill-will than it will ever gain. Just don't try to tell me that you oppose the war because the money should be getting spent on better health care. Does anyone really believe that the only reason we don't have socialized medicine is the defense budget? And if so, what are they smoking?

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