The story of 'Living Room' an emerging Melbourne church & other Miscellaneous rants
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Had a conversation with a friend a few days back about the media coverage of the War. He had read an article in a journal in the past week that reported that the day after the war broke out here in Australia - the amount of people that took sick days off work was over double the normal rate! The analysis of the data was that many Australians actually took time off work to stay at home in front of their televisions watching the 24 hour coverage of the bombings of Iraq.
I was staggered by these figures. The live, blow by blow, reports from reporters 'embedded' with troops on the front line and on the scene in Baghdad have added a new element to this war. As I caught a snippet of such coverage this morning and saw the multi million dollar set that the Coalition forces give their media briefings from I asked myself - "is there an element of Entertainment in what I'm watching?" As I watched the bombs hit in the darkness of Baghdad I had to remind myself that I wasn't watching a harmless fireworks display but rather I could be watching the demise of fellow human beings live on air right before my eyes.
I wonder if their could be some correlation between the way this war is being reported and the changing public opinion of the war. Since the day it officially began there has been a rise in Aussies supporting the war. The polls say our country is still split almost evenly on the issue but there has been increasing support for our PM's stance.
I wonder if perhaps for some, watching the conflict live has had some sort of a 'numbing' experience which has influeced their opinion.
Posted by Darren at April 2, 2003 10:55 AMIf one is willing to believe what is being reported and if it is anything like we're watching in the U.S., it could change someone's viewpoint a little. I have tried to get some balance by reading what the folks at znet, Christian Peacemaker Teams, The Guardian, and others are reporting online. (Truthout is especially good.) Then I watch some of our networks and just can't believe many of the discrepancies. I think 'entertainment' is a good assessment of our corporate owned media shows. But then again, who am I? :)
Posted by: Laura at April 2, 2003 01:12 PMI agree with you Darren - I think its very sad that so many people are using the war to get their 'cheap thrills'. The way some of it is being portrayed is as if to use it as a 'look at my latest toys' type show. The technology, the power is being explained in such detail that I wonder if we are losing sight of the fact that hundreds, no thousands of people are dying.
Add to that the fact that this war will cost hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars. (I think I heard the latest estimate was 900billion!)
That fact makes me want to vommit.
Posted by: Pedro at April 2, 2003 04:30 PMI agree Darryl...garbage in, garbage out.
Television is a very desensitising media, it is far to easy to remove ourselves when militaries and government take an active interest in how or what is going to be covered. It is an active form of propaganda.
I believe because people are genuinely hungry for knowledge, the need can be exploited and people get hooked.
Media fasts every once in awhile are a good thing. If you get away from all print and electronics and are anxious, you need to get away more. Blog on!
In today's Bruderhof message:
"I fear that the most common long-term result of watching the war from our couches will not be increased compassion, but increasing boredom. For us, the greatest danger is not weapons of mass destruction, but a dulled conscience and a hardened heart." --Johann Christoph Arnold
I heard an interesting question yesterday at work. We were kind of slow & one of the ladies I work with asked, "Has anyone watched the war today?" I was amused (& disheartened) at how she put that..."watched the war"? I kind of lauged & gave a smart ass response & she realized what she had just said.
I love the quote, Laura. I agree. By far, most of us have no clue what it's like to have an army crawling across our front lawn. We have the luxury of watching this war from a distance...and risk only being affected by it in the same way as we were watching "Saving Private Ryan." We can watch a harrowing experience played out before our eyes, but "Dinner's ready" and we can turn it off to go eat.
God give us compassion.
Posted by: Matt at April 3, 2003 09:42 AM