catapult magazine

has anyone else been keeping up with news coverage of the war in iraq? it’s really strange to have cameras in baghdad as it’s being bombed. last night, you could hear dogs barking and birds chirping as the bombs fell.

and then there are all of these reporters who are “embedded” in military units who are giving constant live reports. heck, saddam hussein could just watch CNN to see where everyone is coming from and when they’ll be arriving on his doorstep.

weird.

As I’ve thought about the war coverage more, I’ve gradually been changing my mind. Media coverage of the war has felt like another reality TV show. American Idol, or The Bachelor—only this time it’s “American Journalist.” Which journalist will get eliminated next week? Which journalist can give the best performance? Which journalist (and TV station) will claim to be the winner at the end? Tune in for live coverage of the results.

pardon my cynicism

i just tuned in to CNN to catch up a little on news and i saw the strangest thing in one of those text runners on the bottom of the screen:

“Push to Baghdad boosts Wall Street”

maybe this war isn’t all about oil, but some american somewhere will find a way to profit from it.

Aren’t we all benefiting from the war in some way, simply because we’re consumers?

An increase in the stock market isn’t just because of some mastermind finding a clever way to capitalize on the war. It really starts with the psychology of the buyer. They capitalize on our tried-and-true, historical spending habits; the war being a supporting actor. Our spirits flag and the future seems uncertain when rumors and talk of war are about. However, our psychology as a nation works that once we make an invasion, our hopes go up. America’s future seems bright and unending. So we spend more.

Obviously, companies will take advantage of this. However, your statement seemed a bit cynical and appeared to point a finger at some greedy capitalist looking to woo unsuspecting buyers. Consumers are to “blame,” too. But is that a bad thing? We refinance our homes to capitalize on the low interest rates. I just bought a 4-bedroom, 3-bath house (2 times the price of my current home) that will only cost me $400 more a month to own than my tiny two-bedroom, one bath ranch – thanks to incredibly low interest rates. Should I have waited to buy a house until interest rates were high again out of principle?

yeah, those comments were a bit flippant. i’m struggling a bit, though, with the idea that we should just be living life like absolutely nothing is going on halfway around the world. i live in a democracy (well, a republic actually), therefore i’m partially responsible for the lives being lost in iraq. i guess that idea is weighing heavily on me at the moment.

and i’m also more than a little cynical about US big business practices. i think they’ve shown over and over again how they’ll do anything to make just a little bit more money. so, in that sense, maybe trickle-down economics works . . .

yeah, your cynicism sounded like pure anti-American sentiment for a minute there, which is much worse and more dangerous than anti-war feelings. Americans didn’t invent the reality that people profit from war. What was the guy’s name in Josef Heller’s “Catch 22” who became rich selling eggs and other stuff back and forth during wartime? Man, what a tragic-comedic situation Heller presents there!

As far as the guilt that comes when you see Iraqi deaths mount as numbers on television: you could live a very depressed life if you thought this way about everything, i.e. if you were aware of how many people in the world are starving or dying right now because of steps your nation did or did not take, because you are able to eat until you are full and get the medicine you need.

I think it was the philosopher Pascal who said that, just by being born, you have committed a murder against the other. Your being takes up the space that might have belonged to another being. The possibilities you have made for yourself take someone else’s possibilities away. What a depressing thought. But it is a confession we as Christians must make daily. How great it is, though, that Christ’s life, death and resurrection make it possible for us not only to confess that we are miserable failures at being God, but also to accept that God is in control. War is a great reminder of human failings. But if we just wallow in our guilt, we’re not accepting the gift God graciously gave all human beings, the hope that God can work out His good even in this Hell on Earth.

During lunch today I thought about what else could have been done with the $75 billion dollars this war is costing. I calculated that if you dropped it in cash on Baghdad, each citizen in the city would get $15,000 (average income is about $1000/year). Talk about winning hearts and minds…

I mentioned this to friends at dinner and we mused over how many B-52 bombers it would take to deliver the $20 bills. My friend suggested perhaps dropping only $25 billion first, promising the rest after a successful uprising against Hussein. But then I thought about all the money that would end up in storm drains. I guess it’s better to use the money more wisely.

I’m not convinced dropping bombs would be more dangerous than dropping cash.

I’m with you, Norbert. Not to mention, I don’t think the Iraqi people have the resources to rise up undefended or unaided against Saddam Hussein. Oh wait … that’s why WE’RE THERE!

some interesting pictures being broadcast right now on just about every television station on the dial:
[ul]
[li]iraqi people and US forces toppling a statue of saddam hussein in the center of baghdad, directly in front of the palestine hotel (where a few journalists were killed yesterday).
[li]iraqi people dragging and riding on the head of the afore mentioned statue through the streets.
[li]intense fighting in south baghdad.
[/ul]
i’m still blown away by all of the things we’re seeing in this war because of modern technology and this whole embedded journalist thing.

it’s also interesting to see how things are being reported on the different news channels and on other countries’ news channels. CNN had an interesting report on the way events are being reported in china, russia, germany and france, compared to the way they’re being reported here. news is supposed to be objective, but the report made it obvious that news will always slanted by the news-giver (whomever that may be). makes you wonder who you can actually trust for information . . .

There was an interesting peice on ABC last week about the different networks and how they are covering the war. Who was attempting to stay objective, and who was slanting (whether liberally or not so). Interestingly enough, the peice placed it’s own network at the bottom of the. Stop to watch the titles of all of the networks if you get a chance…War With Iraq, War On Iraq, and then the government penned Operation Iraqi Freedom. Just something to throw into the ring here.