Thursday, November 18, 2004
Missing explosives
Hey, by the way, does anyone remember all them missing explosives? The ones that were threatening to start a firestorm that could have finally derailed the president's reelection bid? The ones that got tossed off the front page by Osama bin Laden's little video??
What ever happened to those?
Come to think of it, what ever happened to bin Laden?
I think it's extremely revealing what Americans find truly important (read: Nicolette Sheridan). The most revealing thing was how the press corps (and the rest of us, it seemed) reacted to bin Laden's video -- HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE ELECTION?!??! It became almost comical. Had the earth been hit by a gigantic meteor, ending the prospect of life as we know it within a month, MSNBC pundits would have breathlessly wondered how it would affect the election.
The point is, nobody at all seemed to really care whether Osama bin Laden was really a threat. Nor did they seem to care about the explosives. Nor does anyone really seem to care about what's going on in Iraq. Frankly, I think people wouldn't mind a background war over the next several years, with say 50 deaths a year. It's so much noise.
The real point is - now that the election is over, is it a story or not? If so, it really does need to be followed up on - the democrats have to demand an audit of what was looted, when, etc. And of civilians killed, at least post-occupation. I mean, we own the country, we track every single death in our country, the administration just doesn't want to track civilian deaths in Iraq. So they won't.
If it's not a story, then it needs to be debunked so that in the future we are better able to understand how media influences elections. But ignoring (a google news search turns up nothing) is really pathetic.
What ever happened to those?
Come to think of it, what ever happened to bin Laden?
I think it's extremely revealing what Americans find truly important (read: Nicolette Sheridan). The most revealing thing was how the press corps (and the rest of us, it seemed) reacted to bin Laden's video -- HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE ELECTION?!??! It became almost comical. Had the earth been hit by a gigantic meteor, ending the prospect of life as we know it within a month, MSNBC pundits would have breathlessly wondered how it would affect the election.
The point is, nobody at all seemed to really care whether Osama bin Laden was really a threat. Nor did they seem to care about the explosives. Nor does anyone really seem to care about what's going on in Iraq. Frankly, I think people wouldn't mind a background war over the next several years, with say 50 deaths a year. It's so much noise.
The real point is - now that the election is over, is it a story or not? If so, it really does need to be followed up on - the democrats have to demand an audit of what was looted, when, etc. And of civilians killed, at least post-occupation. I mean, we own the country, we track every single death in our country, the administration just doesn't want to track civilian deaths in Iraq. So they won't.
If it's not a story, then it needs to be debunked so that in the future we are better able to understand how media influences elections. But ignoring (a google news search turns up nothing) is really pathetic.
