Hide The Dead Soldiers!

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:27 PM

I agree with you Amos, but showing those entrails on TV does not make us any better than the ones sending our troops into such a situation.

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:18 PM

I am repeating here what I said in the other thread:

Well, I can appreciate the sensibility with which you write, Ron. But if I may say so what I find ghoulish is fomenting blind allegiance to an operation that spills the entrails of innocent humans into the sand and leaves them there smoking in the sun. What I find ghoulish is trying to persuade people that there is glory in invasion and virtue in throwing hot lead into other people's bodies. I find it ghoulish in the extreme that the insurgents of Iraq -- even if they are misguided -- are being identified as terrorists so that they will be identified as linked in some arcane evil way with the nurders of September 2001. I find it ghoulish that human beings can contemplate a unilateral war, all its horror and destruction and pain and bloodletting, and smile with patriotic pride rather than puke their guts out on the White House steps.

But maybe that's just me.

A

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:15 PM

People sometimes wonder why I start foaming at the mouth and resort to strong language about Bush and his &(*^&*#&*% militarism. Well... some people, anyway.

Here's why.

A

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:15 PM

I'm really torn on this one. As much as I abhor this occupation of Iraq, I also have respect for the privacy of the families and the dignity of the deceased.

Regardless of my feelings, I would not want my son or daughter's picture to be used as propaganda for either side of the issue.

While I detest the disregard for the freedom of the press, I am also disgusted by the way the media uses such images to push ratings and generate ad revenue.   The PBS approach is a dignified way of putting a human face on the war without stooping to low levels.   If ANYONE feels that what PBS is doing is a sign of their supposed "liberal" bias, I would ask how honoring these heroes could be considered as such?

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Peter T.
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:12 PM

Interesting about the Jim Lehrer hour.

I wonder if George W. will show up at the 60th anniversary of D-Day to mourn the fallen dead of long ago. (I don't wonder, I am sure he will, with knobs on).

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:07 PM

Well, there are photos and photos. I did a search on "Dead American Soldiers" in the images section of Google and found things like this gruesome page (it takes a long time to load, even on DSL). The point is taken, and there are angry responses at the bottom of the whole thing.

SRS

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 01:00 PM

By the way, speaking of "liberal media," don't miss NOW with Bill Moyers tonight. One of the stories compares the relationships between Bush and Congress and Blair and Parliament. Seems that if the Brits have a question they want answered, they're sometimes not quite as polite about it as Congress is. Not quite as easy for Blair to "stonewall" or ignore the issue. I'm looking forward to it. Check your local listings.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 12:42 PM

Sorry, Peter, I didn't see your thread when I posted this one a little later in the day. I've closed it and referred folks to this one. There are some media links in mine, though.

kat

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 12:23 PM

Right. Liberal meaning "free, or espousing freedom, or acting freely". A word not much beloved by control freaks, or by fascists, or by people who have reasons for hiding things. And, too, a word often slandered and distorted by mind-meld mass-think promoters, and also by some Republicans.


A

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 12:20 PM

On the Jim Lehrer News Hour (PBS), at the end of each program, they show photos (with name, branch of service, rank, age, and home town), in silence, of each of the soldiers who have been killed that day, or when their death becomes official and photos become available. In the early part of the Iraqi war, they were showing maybe one or two a day. A couple of nights ago, they showed eight.

This, of course, is the sort of thing that makes PBS one of the more blatant members of the "liberal news media."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 09:37 AM

Yep, our military learned some valuable lessons in Vietnam. Mainly, that if they want continued public support for a war they have to present the most sanitized version they can come up with.

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 09:15 AM

Maybe because it is a great name for a sad song.

A

Subject: RE: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Midchuck
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 08:23 AM

I agree with you.

But I don't see the music connection. Why's this in the music threads?

Peter.

Subject: Hide The Dead Soldiers!
From: Peter T.
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 08:17 AM

George Bush refuses to go to soldier's funerals, and now the Pentagon is upset about showing pictures of coffins of American soldiers. What do they think is going on over in Iraq -- picnics? Do they think there is no connection between their grand plans and dead soldiers? Where are the Veterans Associations? You have to shake your head.   

yours,

Peter T.