Monday, May 14, 2007

CHANGING ATTITUDES

Well, I spent Mother's Day with my family at my mother-in-laws' house. All in all, I thought everything went rather well (which is a miracle since the gathering totaled at least 50 people). Just goes to show how much attention (or lack of attention) I was paying.

Seems that my youngest daughter was confronted by one of her uncles and his wife. They told her that she should never have let her husband return to Iraq for his second tour of duty and that all the soldiers were too stupid to do anything else but follow orders and listen to what Bush said. And that all the soldiers were committing war crimes.

This upset my daughter, though she didn't want to cause a big scene at her grand-ma's house ... she held her feelings and her tongue. My wife is livid and will have it out with her brother next time she sees him. I will vent on this blog, because I try to stay out of fights with the in-laws.

Why would a man call his niece and her husband stupid for serving their country? Has the media and John Kerry so poisoned the minds of the American people that some Americans now look down on soldiers as some kind of sub-species?

The media need to balance their reporting with scenes of our soldiers building schools, protecting Iraqi civilians and all the other nation building projects that they are involved in (and proud of). But all we see ... night after night ... are pictures of the worst of the war (some of them taken from Arab media sources and not the most reliable).

I understand that the liberal media wants us to lose this war, but isn't journalism supposed to be fair?

Sphere: Related Content

6 comments:

Rice said...

I will need to preface my statements with the fact that I am a registered Independent and never voted for President Bush.
What happened to your daughter goes well beyond politics. People should be able to keep their opinions to themselves when it will obviously hurt a family member.The soldiers fighting the war are brave, smart and true to their mission. Your wife is absolutely entitled to rip her brother.
I don't agree with this war at all but I have nothing but respect for any soldier and his family who have sacrificed everything for their country.

Anonymous said...

Paul, the media is NOT going to be "fair and balanced" reporting from the war zones. Good news WILL NOT sell newspapers. One thing that is happening right now is the IRAQI government changing "the rules on reporting" ... they will no longer allow reporters or photographers in the HOT ZONE [bombing/killing areas] to report bad news.

cfs

Paul Champagne said...

Rice ... I too am a registered Independant (though I did vote for George Bush ... what choice did I have? John Kerry?), unfortunately we independants are usually not left with great choices when it comes to the General Election. Seems that both parties have been hi-jacked by the extreme wings. We are left voting for the candidate that disgusts us least.

politicom ... I don't agree with limiting access to the media (with the exception of Geraldo Rivera's bone-head sand map), reporters in the combat zone do a great service in letting the general public know what war is like ... just like sensationalism showed just how terrible the 9/11 attack was (do you remember the pics in the tabloids showing people jumping out of the World Trade Center to avoid burning to death?). I actually think there is a market out there for feel-good stories from the war ... look at the success of shows like "Extreme Make-Over Home Edition". People want to feel proud, maybe cry a little ... very therapeutic.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the IRAQi government made some changes to their rule of no reporters and no photographers. Now they will secure the scene for at least ONE HOUR prior to letting any reporter or photographer in the "crime scene."

cfs est nomen ejus

Paul Champagne said...

politicom ... is that enough time to alter the scene?

Anonymous said...

Paul, NO, the one hour rule is NOT enuff time to CHANGE the crime scene [but is enuff time to "sanitize" the area]. I understand that members of the Iraqi Security Apparatus are just trying to "honor the dead and protect the innocent."

cfs est nomen ejus