Monday, April 26, 2004
Media Life In a Vacuum Tube
That's the only way I can explain this NPR story on the recent Doonesbury strips, in which longtime character B.D. gets his leg blown off in Iraq.
The commentator--a Cambridge, MA-based freelance radio producer named Dan Walker, says that "I know that B.D. is not a real person. I know that he's a cartoon character. But like I said, he's the only person I know in Iraq."
We've had over 300,000 people rotate through Iraq and Afghanistan, and this informed member of the media doesn't know a single one?
Dude, you have got to get out more.
You think media people might hang around one another too much?
After all, reserve and Guard units have been called up from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussetts, and New Hampshire already.
If he had an ROTC unit at his college, chances are excellent that he would indeed have gone to school with someone who served in Iraq. Well, that's a pretty big "if" in that part of the country.
But when a media figure in a media center has to turn to a cartoon to find his only personal connection to the war in Iraq, then one has to pause to consider the yawning gap between the warrior class and the media professionals whose job it is to cover them.
But it's not just Dan Walker.
Check out New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, who has something even more breathtaking to share:
"Robert Fogel of the University of Chicago argues that America is now experiencing a fourth Great Awakening, like the religious revivals that have periodically swept America in the last 300 years. Yet offhand, I can't think of a single evangelical working for a major news organization."
Well, actually, there are a few closeted evangelicals out there. Even in journalism, and even in New York. They just keep their mouths shut in the company of other journalists. It's bad for their careers. They know all about blue-state "tolerance."**)
But at least these two commentators understand that they're out of touch with significant segments of the population.
They understand their unknowns. These are their known unknowns.
But if they don't know a single deployed soldier, or a single evangelical, then imagine their unknown unknowns. The things they don't know they don't know.
Splash, out
Jason
**On Ash Wednesday, 2001, Ted Turner insulted CNN staffers observing Ash Wednesday at a retirement party for anchorman Bernard Shaw, saying "What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks? You should be working for FOX."
The commentator--a Cambridge, MA-based freelance radio producer named Dan Walker, says that "I know that B.D. is not a real person. I know that he's a cartoon character. But like I said, he's the only person I know in Iraq."
We've had over 300,000 people rotate through Iraq and Afghanistan, and this informed member of the media doesn't know a single one?
Dude, you have got to get out more.
You think media people might hang around one another too much?
After all, reserve and Guard units have been called up from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussetts, and New Hampshire already.
If he had an ROTC unit at his college, chances are excellent that he would indeed have gone to school with someone who served in Iraq. Well, that's a pretty big "if" in that part of the country.
But when a media figure in a media center has to turn to a cartoon to find his only personal connection to the war in Iraq, then one has to pause to consider the yawning gap between the warrior class and the media professionals whose job it is to cover them.
But it's not just Dan Walker.
Check out New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, who has something even more breathtaking to share:
"Robert Fogel of the University of Chicago argues that America is now experiencing a fourth Great Awakening, like the religious revivals that have periodically swept America in the last 300 years. Yet offhand, I can't think of a single evangelical working for a major news organization."
Well, actually, there are a few closeted evangelicals out there. Even in journalism, and even in New York. They just keep their mouths shut in the company of other journalists. It's bad for their careers. They know all about blue-state "tolerance."**)
But at least these two commentators understand that they're out of touch with significant segments of the population.
They understand their unknowns. These are their known unknowns.
But if they don't know a single deployed soldier, or a single evangelical, then imagine their unknown unknowns. The things they don't know they don't know.
Splash, out
Jason
**On Ash Wednesday, 2001, Ted Turner insulted CNN staffers observing Ash Wednesday at a retirement party for anchorman Bernard Shaw, saying "What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks? You should be working for FOX."
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