Are media abetting mediocrity?

Oct 17, 2001

The writer cannot take in some of the blabbering on TV about war

By Opiyo Oloya EVEN in the best of times, watching North American television is never easy for me. I find it too shallow, contrived and lacking any meaningful insight into the larger world out there. However, since September 11 when America was attacked, watching television has become a distinctly odious experience that numbs the mind and darkens the soul. What’s most infuriating is listening to self-appointed talking heads; the know-it-all experts who will attempt to explain even the most obvious point. For example, in the immediate wake of the attack, listeners were treated to around-the-clock commentaries of how tough it is to dig through the hot rubble that was once the World Trade Centre. I mean, any five year old who has ever played with sand and dirt can tell you that too much of the stuff becomes a real chore. But, no, we had to be spoon fed by the talking heads on the number of trucks and men needed to clear away the entire rubble. Apparently, too many trucks to be counted. In the meantime, there are the experts on Middle East politics whose job it is to reassure Americans by telling them that suicide bombers are brainwashed individuals who carry out the orders of evil maniacs like Osama bin Laden. I grant that what happened in New York was pure mass-murder, but behind that act was a cold calculating mind that adroitly exploited the general unhappiness among Arabs with American policy. By simplifying the mass murder of Americans as an act of evil perpetrated by crazed individuals, Americans are basically being told that life will be good again as soon as the evil Osama bin Laden is eliminated. In essence Americans are being fed Disney stuff whereby good always triumphs over evil. But this war without a frontline is far more complicated than any movie plot that Disney ever dreamed up-essentially, Americans need to work harder at understanding the world out there, and carefully using its might to bring about social justice for all. This is the kind of stuff Disney movies never talk about-it’s too hard for Americans who generally want answers in twenty seconds or less. What kills me even more are the so-called foreign journalists reporting from far-flung places like Kandahar, Jalalabad, Islamabad et cetera. They are so-called because you can see that they are not there to provide the viewers with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the numerous issues at hand, but because it makes for good TV to be seen walking in the hills of Afghanistan with bombs and mortars exploding in the background. “Behind that hill to my right, the Taliban are waiting for the Northern Alliance, and it’s anybody’s guess what will happen when the two sides meet in a face to face combat,” said a network reporter recently. Well, hello, what the heck does the reporter expect to happen when men armed with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades meet? Drink tea? Dance samba? Surely, everyone knows that somebody’s son, brother, father or grandfather is going to end up very dead. That’s what is going to happen, so don’t you stand there like an idiot telling me that nobody knows what’s going to happen. Essentially, if you need a better understanding of what’s really going on, you read a newspaper. Faced with the fact that they could never compete with CNN, which broadcasts every little aspect of the drama unfolding in America and in Afghanistan, newspapers are forced to dig a little deeper to see what really lies beneath the surface. Though some of these analyses are right wing propaganda aimed at boosting the war-effort, there is generally a lot of interesting stuff in the newspapers. Editors are working a lot harder to satisfy the reader’s curiosity with in-depth information that TV with its frenetic approach to news could never achieve. Consequently, for the discerning readers who wish to get beyond the razzmatazz of television, the newspaper is both entertaining and informative. Since the tragic event of September 11, I have only been mesmerised exactly twice by television. The first time was when I caught a truly exciting two-hour documentary on the legendary Cuban music group the Buena Vista Social Club. For the entire two hours, I could not take my eyes off the screen as these old men and a woman created some of the best music as ever come from that island. The other time I caught myself in front of a TV was yesterday when Emily stumbled on a documentary on dolphins. It was most amazing watching these extremely intelligent sea mammals in their natural habitats. After that, the news came on and some guy was talking about Pakistani riots in Islamabad. We turned off the TV and went to bed.

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