We have lost the ability to discern fact from fiction because of an obsession with people who are not worth looking up to, not worth knowing their names. Yet, everyone knows who the Kardashian's are, everyone knows more athletes names than historians, everyone knows countless names of pop stars, yet not one current historian doing groundbreaking work, or one current author doing more to transform our understanding of life, dignity, and humanity is on peoples lips.
Reverence for humanity should be the common goal of a just society, a just world. History shows us countless examples of the complete failure to succeed, yet history also shows countless examples of striving for success. The struggle for success is the journey forward.
Reverence for humanity should be in every humans heart, yet there are countless examples of cold, calculating heartless humans gaining power and using every means to suppress humanities nature which should be the goal of every faith. Yet, we continue to allow faith to be used to suppress humanity and spit in the face of what we know to be the intention of belief or faith. Faith is something to be cherished, revered, and held tightly, given to those that represent the highest, humblest, quest for its awesome burden.
Anger can be useful if used wisely to squash tireless attempts at deluding truth with murky whataboutisms. Anger, personified, can cloud judgement, can focus on rage and create destruction of the soul's ability to see clearly, compassionately. This journey is murky and difficult, peppered with tremendous pitfalls in a perfectionist world. Yet, we strive for humanities touch and grace.
When compassion, love, respect, and humility are considered weaknesses, you have a society devoid of growth, hardened by coldness and tribalism that seeks conformity to set norms of hierarchy that devour those not deemed strong enough. Mocked, spit on, kicked while screaming for them to try harder to rise up to the privileged status of those within the tribal confines, cloaked in blood soaked mercenary suppression while claiming freedom's graceful opulence.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Friday, November 2, 2018
First Iraq War, CNN, and the death of the protected reporter
To this day I have a strong remembrance of where I was, how I felt, and that I was experiencing something special in news coverage in 1990. That was watching day after day, hour after hour of CNN reporters in Iraq. Groundbreaking is an understatement as this was the first time and the last time we have ever seen 24 hour coverage of war as it was happening, unfiltered day after day.
War correspondent Peter Arnett began his career in Vietnam pre war 1960 for the Associated Press in Saigon. I had no idea, but he was in the very city my wife was born in close to the end of the war. I love the serendipity of lives passing in the night. CNN's hiring of Arnett and Christiane Amanpoor became history in the making. We see Amanpoor often today, but scarcely discuss the great Peter Arnett who is 83.
Arnett and Amanpoor became household names transforming journalism from the coveted control room seat on the 3 major networks of CBS, NBC, and ABC, where those before aspired to land, to the death defying frontlines in your living room tv. I felt I new Arnett and Amanpoor personally. I still feel warmth and respect everytime I see Amanpoor on TV, like my aunt just walked into the room. We could take heed by her words in 1996 about whataboutism/bothsideism today.
"There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing."
NY Times "Five Years Later, the Gulf War Story is Still Being Told", May 12, 1996.
Not enough is said about the women behind the mostly male war zone reporter. And there were several. A Private War just coming to theaters is a good start. We should support this movie and the sanctity of journalism. Our fabric will tear if we do not.
I believe this pivotal time changed the landscape for reporters. The government today, under Trump, has struck back hard against this wonderful progression of truth. Historically, the government of the United States always had a rein on what information was deemed necessary for public consumption to a point, with the occasional leak that never quite rocked the boat hard enough immediately, and gave time to establish a collective response.
The first gulf war changed that dialog between news media and governmental control, that involved a level of mutual respect and a code of honor about the safety of reporters. We saw George W. Bush change that when he refused to allow/restrict/protect reporters in the second gulf war. Slowly, that erosion has had devastating consequences today.
We are now desensitized as we are separated from war's scurvy. The government is separated from the devastation they create by a comfy war "room" with buttons pushed and videos of detonations far removed from any emotion connection. Fast forward to 2018 with the right's attack on the media they deem "fake news" and you see how the world has been turned upside down.
"Fake news" was the byproduct of a populous fed on just that for a couple of decades plastered in front of you at the checkout lines of grocery stores. Syndicated non-stop programs of the worst of human behavior and deception from morning till late night, saturating the minds of tired overworked people who just wanted to be able to escape for a few hours. Escape they did, and continue to do, without discernible care about reality or truth. The drama is more important to fed the addiction of apathy.
It's no surprise that the death of variety shows saw the birth of flash entertainment news such as Entertainment Tonight, etc. The birth of endless channels and endless news gave way to lots of mindless nothing. Critical news took a second seat to Entertainment and delusion of truth with mags like the National Enquirer. What was truth anyway, right?
Today we have reached the head of the pimple because of untethered access to information on social media which is being attacked vigorously. We have a chance at grasping that CNN groundbreaking dialog between worlds. Interesting how CNN is Trump's nemesis.
It's no surprise we are seeing the birth of dictatorships, totalitarianism, and fascism. This is about control in an uncontrollable world. We can't let that happen.
Clearly, I don't have the answers, but knowing where we came from helps us learn from the past, correct course, and build, with reverence and humility, a world worth living in and fighting for.
So say we all.....Adama
War correspondent Peter Arnett began his career in Vietnam pre war 1960 for the Associated Press in Saigon. I had no idea, but he was in the very city my wife was born in close to the end of the war. I love the serendipity of lives passing in the night. CNN's hiring of Arnett and Christiane Amanpoor became history in the making. We see Amanpoor often today, but scarcely discuss the great Peter Arnett who is 83.
Arnett and Amanpoor became household names transforming journalism from the coveted control room seat on the 3 major networks of CBS, NBC, and ABC, where those before aspired to land, to the death defying frontlines in your living room tv. I felt I new Arnett and Amanpoor personally. I still feel warmth and respect everytime I see Amanpoor on TV, like my aunt just walked into the room. We could take heed by her words in 1996 about whataboutism/bothsideism today.
"There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing."
NY Times "Five Years Later, the Gulf War Story is Still Being Told", May 12, 1996.
Not enough is said about the women behind the mostly male war zone reporter. And there were several. A Private War just coming to theaters is a good start. We should support this movie and the sanctity of journalism. Our fabric will tear if we do not.
The first gulf war changed that dialog between news media and governmental control, that involved a level of mutual respect and a code of honor about the safety of reporters. We saw George W. Bush change that when he refused to allow/restrict/protect reporters in the second gulf war. Slowly, that erosion has had devastating consequences today.
We are now desensitized as we are separated from war's scurvy. The government is separated from the devastation they create by a comfy war "room" with buttons pushed and videos of detonations far removed from any emotion connection. Fast forward to 2018 with the right's attack on the media they deem "fake news" and you see how the world has been turned upside down.
"Fake news" was the byproduct of a populous fed on just that for a couple of decades plastered in front of you at the checkout lines of grocery stores. Syndicated non-stop programs of the worst of human behavior and deception from morning till late night, saturating the minds of tired overworked people who just wanted to be able to escape for a few hours. Escape they did, and continue to do, without discernible care about reality or truth. The drama is more important to fed the addiction of apathy.
It's no surprise that the death of variety shows saw the birth of flash entertainment news such as Entertainment Tonight, etc. The birth of endless channels and endless news gave way to lots of mindless nothing. Critical news took a second seat to Entertainment and delusion of truth with mags like the National Enquirer. What was truth anyway, right?
Today we have reached the head of the pimple because of untethered access to information on social media which is being attacked vigorously. We have a chance at grasping that CNN groundbreaking dialog between worlds. Interesting how CNN is Trump's nemesis.
It's no surprise we are seeing the birth of dictatorships, totalitarianism, and fascism. This is about control in an uncontrollable world. We can't let that happen.
Clearly, I don't have the answers, but knowing where we came from helps us learn from the past, correct course, and build, with reverence and humility, a world worth living in and fighting for.
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