The war hasn't registered because there isn't a draft.
The war hasn't registered because young people are apathetic.
The war hasn't registered due to a failure of the peace movement.
All the (false) claims above have been widely repeated. We're having a hard time thinking of anyone outside CounterSpin's Peter Hart who has challenged any of this nonsense. Noting the hand wringing and blaming of the American people when one poll (ONE POLL) found that those Americans polled could not correctly estimate the number of Iraqis who have been killed in the illegal war, Hart didn't join in the hand wringing, he rightly rejected it and place the blame squarely where it belonged: on the media.
Not yesterday, but the Saturday before last, an attack killed 4 US soldiers and 1 Iraqi translator and 3 US soldiers were missing -- presumably captured and, although offering no proof, an organization reportedly linked to al Qaeda claimed credit for the kidnappings.
If you don't know about it, we're sure it's because there's no draft, we're sure it's because of students level of participation and we're sure it's another sign of failure on the part of the peace movement. Except . . .
Did you know that a woman works a gondola in Venice? She does! Her name is Alexandra Hai! And doesn't that effect, alter and change your entire life!
Did you know that Oscar Pistorius (South Africa) runs with a prosthetic and some racing opposite him think it gives him an unfair edge? That's what we're told! And won't that put food on your table and provide you with health coverage!
Did you know that Bono says smoke from Billy Squier's fireplace "is drifting" into his own Central Park West co-op? Doesn't knowing that enrich your daily life?
Those are among the stories that The New York Times could not only cover last week, but also front page. The New York Times didn't front page the news of 4 dead US soldiers and 3 missing (don't bring up the translator, the paper doesn't care about Iraqis) until last Friday. Seven days later, it's finally front page news to the paper. Prior to that, there was time to waste on every topic no matter how minor.
Why does the illegal war not register to some Americans? Blame the media. Blame a media that thinks Bono 'suffering' from Billy Squier's smoke is bigger news than 4 dead and 3 missing US soldiers. Now this wasn't The New York Post. This was The New York Times and that's the best they could do.
That's something to think about, file away and remember the next time some blowhard starts pinning the blame elsewhere. Who's failing?
Not the students, not the peace movement, it's the media. Need another example? On Thursday, the 3400 mark for number of US service members killed in Iraq was passed. On Saturday, in The New York Times, readers got a sob-fest for contractors which noted that the body count for US service members was "almost" at 3400. The count on Saturday was 3415. However, if you made the mistake of assuming, "I get everything from The New York Times!" -- you were left uninformed. We're also not seeing, on Nightline, "Day 9: US Soldiers Missing."
We'll repeat: Who's failing? The media.
The illustration above includes the Bono front page story, the Venice front page story and, on Friday, 7 days later, 3 missing US soldiers is finally front page news.
Please also see:
"Other Items"
"NYT: Gives up even pretending to be in the news business"
"NYT: Bono's front page news while US soldiers get left on A10"
"NYT: Cave joins the cast of Scrubs and he can't do it all on his own, he's no Superman"
"Guest post by Mike"
"The Bono Times?"
"7 Days Later, NYT Front Pages the 3 Missing US Soldiers"
