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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Picture of the Day






This is twenty coffins. There have been thirty-seven US fatalities in the first twelve days of this month.

(picture source - The Memory Hole)

posted by mikevotes at 6:39 AM

9 Comments:

  • If you took a standard 4X6 photo of every American coffin and laid them end to end, you would cover the length of four football fields.

    If you stacked every American coffin end to end, they would rise to a height equal to fifteen World Trade Center towers. They would span from sea level, to the summit of Pikes Peak, and continue for another thousand feet.

    By Blogger -epm, at 11:20 PM  

  • this month is starting horrible. Iraqi deaths are way up as well, i think

    By Blogger Graeme, at 12:41 AM  

  • Yet the ignorance continues. Just this mornning callers to C-Span's Washington Journal, in open honesty, linked 9-11 to Saddam. Some told of buried WMD's. Others said that the soldiers died 'fighting to defend our nation from those who want to kill us all!'

    Ignorance is rampant and boundless.

    By Blogger liberal_dem, at 8:17 AM  

  • That's terrifying - epm. Late last year, I did a little mental calculation of the length of the walk to walk past the fatalities if they were graves laid side by side. It was sobering.

    Graeme, yeah, it's looking to be getting worse again. Last month was a low US toll but high Iraqi toll because the Us stopped routine patrols. Apparently, those targeting the US have changed tactics again.

    And, Lib Dem, I don't think that caller is going to change his mind. I wouldn't dare call him uninformed figuring that if he's calling Cspan he's probably up on the news. So, this belief is something that he/she believes regardless of the information presented. It's something they want to believe becaus if it's not true it violates some other more closely held truth.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:39 AM  

  • Ignorance is rampant and boundless.

    And it's intentional on the part of our profit driven news-tainment broadcast/cable media, and of course politicians with incompetence and crimes to hide.

    By Blogger -epm, at 9:07 AM  

  • I agree to a degree although I'm always prone to question the idea of direct conspiracy in media coverage. With the exception of outlets like foxnews or the WashTimes or whatever, where editorial influence on coverage is out front, I generally think that distortions of coverage are generally more a conspiracy of system.

    Look at promotions for example. You are far more likely to receive story assignments and promotions if you have contacts and report "responsibly" which means within the conventional wisdom. This system promotes to decision makers, editors, etc, people who are closer to what the "sources" want reported and who have a track record of staying within the lines in their reporting.

    So, I see it really as a systemic conspiracy built into the structure of the business rather than an overt effort to cover or not cover or to portray things a certain way.

    I mean, is Tim Russert, or Snuffleopogus, really the best forensic mind those networks have, or are they on their jobs for their contacts and their acceptability to the interviewees?

    Again,that's in the objective press, not the admittedly partisan news operations on the left or right.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:00 AM  

  • In true blogospher fashion, I overstated my feelings and painted the MSM with a broader brush that I should have.

    I do feel that the broadcast and cable networks are ambivalent toward thoughtful, hard journalism. The ignorance of the American public regarding the realities of the world beyond their personal sphere is due to lazy, shallow reporting, the regurgitation of White House press releases, and the spinning of the headlines in an effort to attract eyeballs and generate ad revenue. It's much more likely Americans will tune in to hear about the evil, nuke hungry Iranians (not that these guy's aren't whack jobs), than a story about their truth-challenged, war-thirsty president.

    I have slightly more respect for print media in general, but that respect is reserved for the journalists and doesn't much spread to the editors and publishers.

    By Blogger -epm, at 11:56 AM  

  • I think we're in agreement, but I've gotta say this, I just saw on the 11AM CNNI intrusion into CNN a 5 minute story on how Israel's nuclear weapons act as a lever to force Iran and others to want Nukes of their own.

    They actually closed the story bys asying that until Israel gives up its nukes, no one should expect Iran to do the same.

    My jaw dropped. That truth is so far outside the mainstream narrative...

    I think that CNNi show Your World Today is the best news program on television right now.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 12:00 PM  

  • Wow. That is a compelling counter example of television journalism.

    Honestly, I haven't had cable for over seven years when I gave up on the entire concept as an incredible waste of money, so perhaps my opinions are jaded...

    By Blogger -epm, at 12:13 PM  

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