Monday, January 10, 2011

Tragedy begets political derision.

First and foremost, I wish to express my sincerest condolences to all who lost loved ones in Tucson and to all who have been affected by the horrific event there.

The media, however, seems to lack the same sympathy that most U.S. Citizens are expressing in this moment of tragedy. The attack has only moved into the political spectrum for them. The media is focusing its reporting on "who is to blame" and making it a political thing. Not one news outlet is focusing on the lives affected by this tragedy.
Judge John M. Roll; a defender of the 10th Amendment and State's Rights, is among the victims.
Rep. Gabriella Giffords; another defender of the 10th Amendment as well as a defender of the 2nd Amendment. May she make a full recovery.
Then there is the 9-year-old little girl, Christina Green, whose father expressed his wishes that the government not use this tragedy as an excuse to further repress the U.S. population. Upon hearing John Green express that sentiment, a columnist by the name Jeanne Sager attacked the parents for their actions. I won't go into her scathing article, but will post it for you to read: Should Christina Taylor Green Parents Get Off TV?
The BBC is even reporting "The Febrile Politics" of this tragedy and helping build the fervor against everyone's favorite target; Sarah Palin.
The Left is pointing blame at Fox News and the Right is pointing blame at MSNBC. In fact, if you look at the majority of the articles put out by the mainstream media, you'll see them all pointing fingers at one another and crying; "inflammatory", "hate-baiting", "fear mongering"... All the while, they collectively fail to realize that they are all to blame for the derision in this country.
Which brings us to the real problem: Who is the enemy? Well, it could be the ratings-driven media. It could be the activist media. It could, even, be the apathy of the media.
Solution? Find a new way. Get rid of commentary and activist media. Report the news and only the news. Sounds simply enough, but then when you look at the empires of capitalism surrounding these media outlets, you start to see that it would be next to impossible to ask our journalists to step away from their "hard-hitting" "insightful" "commentary" "ratings-driven" money machines.
There is a watch group that could be a good model for the answer to mainstream media: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), but they too cater to "both activists and journalists". The "active" media seems to be at the root of the problem. Is it time to get away from that? I tend think so, especially after seeing how they have acted in the face of this tragedy.
As for where we should put the real blame for the Tucson Massacre? The man in custody known as Jared Lee Loughner.


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