littleboxes
Extreme Vigilance and Opportunity
London. God damn. Fucking terrorists. Innocent people dead.
We had CNN on in the office this morning. Most of us agreed that it felt a bit odd watching this one on the news. It felt like gawking. The interviews with people who were there with questions like "Would you describe the situation immediately after as filled with panic?" It's never clear whether the person they are interviewing really wants to be on television or even should be on television. The way the media just jumps on these stories feels more and more like transparent attempts to get ratings as opposed to attempts to report the news in a responsible way.
Meanwhile, Miles O'Brien on CNN could be heard waxing on about how in the summer of 2001 the U.S. was also preoccupied with shark attacks and tales of missing women. He went onto say that this complacency would likely end now. Literally 30 secounds later CNN goes to commercial and airs an advertisement for a CNN program on Sunday about Natalie Halloway.
Meanwhile, George W. Bush, coincidentally in Europe, was on television telling americans to be extremely vigilant on their way to work. That is so unhelpful. We guess he couldn't really bring himself to promise safety in case something actually did happen in the U.S. It is just sounds so empty now to suggest that commuters be really, really careful and watchful. As if prior to his remarks this was going to be national wear a blindfold during your commute day. People are saying "Damn, and here I was, even after those terrorist attacks, wearing my blindfold. Thank God the president said something!" Maybe we are being too harsh as we are unsure as to what we would say in the same situation.
Bush also went on to say things about how the leaders at the G8 summit were there talking about cleaning up the environment, eradicating AIDs, and alleviating poverty while the terrorists were there killing innocent people. We (and that's all of us here) would like to think that these are not just empty words. It would be pretty amazing if the G8 leaders used this incident to make some profound gesture to the people of the world so as to draw the starkest contrast possible with terrorism. We're talking something a bit unprecedented that they actually follow through on. That would be beautiful. It probably won't happen.
We had CNN on in the office this morning. Most of us agreed that it felt a bit odd watching this one on the news. It felt like gawking. The interviews with people who were there with questions like "Would you describe the situation immediately after as filled with panic?" It's never clear whether the person they are interviewing really wants to be on television or even should be on television. The way the media just jumps on these stories feels more and more like transparent attempts to get ratings as opposed to attempts to report the news in a responsible way.
Meanwhile, Miles O'Brien on CNN could be heard waxing on about how in the summer of 2001 the U.S. was also preoccupied with shark attacks and tales of missing women. He went onto say that this complacency would likely end now. Literally 30 secounds later CNN goes to commercial and airs an advertisement for a CNN program on Sunday about Natalie Halloway.
Meanwhile, George W. Bush, coincidentally in Europe, was on television telling americans to be extremely vigilant on their way to work. That is so unhelpful. We guess he couldn't really bring himself to promise safety in case something actually did happen in the U.S. It is just sounds so empty now to suggest that commuters be really, really careful and watchful. As if prior to his remarks this was going to be national wear a blindfold during your commute day. People are saying "Damn, and here I was, even after those terrorist attacks, wearing my blindfold. Thank God the president said something!" Maybe we are being too harsh as we are unsure as to what we would say in the same situation.
Bush also went on to say things about how the leaders at the G8 summit were there talking about cleaning up the environment, eradicating AIDs, and alleviating poverty while the terrorists were there killing innocent people. We (and that's all of us here) would like to think that these are not just empty words. It would be pretty amazing if the G8 leaders used this incident to make some profound gesture to the people of the world so as to draw the starkest contrast possible with terrorism. We're talking something a bit unprecedented that they actually follow through on. That would be beautiful. It probably won't happen.
posted by littleboxes at 11:37 AM
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