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Tired of Wall-to-Wall Reagan Mourning?

Read through this collection of links by Bill Connolly. How he gets all this reading done is beyond me, but more power to him. Of unique interest: Hugo Chavez is being recalled—with likely help from the BushAdmin, "regime change" by other means that, as this article notes, has been largely overlooked by our public watchdog, the newsmedia. Such news blackouts may contribute, in my view, to a uniquely high level of mental illness in my homeland—but that's just me being snarky. Oddly, Nigeria comes out the most mentally healthy, although such a statistical outcome is more likely due to a higher degree of embarassment and hence reluctance to admit mental illness in that country than elsewhere.

What drives me mad about our newsmedia is the short attention span it has for news stories. Consider the death of Pat Tillman. As Molly Ivins points out, Tillman's death was widely touted as an example of bravery in the face of hostile enemy action. As was less widely reported later on, Tillman's death was actually the result of "friendly fire"—which takes nothing away from Tillman's bravery or heroism. But it's frustrating that we have to wait for the Pentagon to correct the facts than rely upon independent investigative reporting to get off its ass. Sez Mz. Ivinz:

War is full of tragedy tinged with terrible irony. It's making stuff up afterward for public relations purposes that is so offensive. Jessica Lynch is a classic example.

As I have noted before, one of the most admirable traits of the American military is its commitment to going back after the firing has stopped and the dust has settled to figure out what actually happened, so it might be done better next time. (The after-report on the Grenada episode is a classic of the genre.)

We have just finished dedicating the memorial in Washington to "the Good War," and all honor to those who served in it. But they, too, had their tragedies and their ironies. The military understands, if the White House does not, that what is, finally, most important is to get it right.

Word. Again, all links courtesy of Bill Connolly's admirable ferretting. Go, read, enjoy.

Posted by kevinmoore at June 8, 2004 08:50 AM | TrackBack