Thursday, November 18, 2004

This country has its priorities all fucked up

Everyday our soldiers and innocent Iraqis are dying in a war with no discernible objective and no reasonable plan for obtaining that objective if we even had one, other than "it takes as long as it takes" and it's "hard work," but not only are Americans not outraged by that, they seem to be just fine with it, and even supportive of the administration that has put us in that position. I have no doubt that the soldier who was captured on video killing an injured Iraqi wasn't just doing it because he could and because it was easier than helping him. I'm sure he was worried that the Iraqi was an insurgent that may throw a grenade when his back is turned. However, no matter what the circumstances, we should still be bothered by this either way. Whether you think the was is justified and necessary or not, we should all have a health disgust for the horrors of war, which I just don't see.

On the other hand, if a white woman jumps naked into the arms of a black man on network television, as in the intro to Monday Night Football this week, then people can't contain thier outrage. I hate to think that the race of the people involved had anything to do with people's reactions, but since there is no rational reason for this outrage, I have to consider that it may be motivated by such an irrational reason. Whether or not people were truly and honestly offended (which I doubt many people actually were), you should ask yourself, what harm this could have possibly caused. If you were getting ready to watch the football game with your children and this came on and you were not expecting it, I can understand feeling it is inappropriate, but honestly, is it that much different than anything you will see during the course of the game with shots of cheerleaders, and beer commercials? If you weren't going to watch the game and were just surfing by and saw the intro and were offended, then honestly, how long does it take to change the channel again, a second or two? How much could you have actually seen to be offended by? And finally, if you were worried about your children watching without your knowledge, and you think this is something that is not appropriate for them to see, then you really need to be more closely monitoring what they watch, because this is far from the worst thing they will see if they are watching television unsupervised. And honestly, what harm is going to come to your children from seeing something like this? I can understand not wanting them to see it, but if they happen to see it by accident, is it really such a tragedy that you need to immeadiately call, email or write ABC and the NFL? Please try to have some perspective. Nothing bad is going to happen to your children if they see a naked breast.

If people were able to get have as outraged about violence and death in real life as they do about the possibility of sexual innuendo on television, then maybe we could make some meaningful changes in the world.

Personally, I was far more offended by the fact that the Cowboys came out and played like a Pop Warner team on defense, than by anything that happened in the intro. Maybe if TO had stayed in the locker room, they would have looked a little better.

Posted by

5 comments:

John Howard said...

Oh, I ws just browsing randomly through blogs (with that addictive Next Blog button) and saw yours with your address and thought it was a little unusual, so I thought I would mention that t wasn't a good idea. If it posted more than once, that's Blogger's fault, sorry.

John Howard said...

I agree. What I find the most troublesome though, is people not being able to see this and voting against their own (and especially their children's) best interests.

John Howard said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mia said...

First off, thanks for dropping to my blog. Good blog, the whole thing is sad. I've found out, its hard to try and control what our kids watch and listen to, when you can't be there 24/7. One can only try to guide them and pray that they will come out ok, no matter what happens in their life. In the big picture, I know there's nothing we can do about it, really where does all this war get us?

Keep on blogging!! :)

John Howard said...

Thanks for your comment, Miranda. I agree, it's hard to control what your kids see or hear. What you need to do is teach them the right values to know how to handle it when they see or hear something they shouldn't. That's not easy either, but trying to raise them in some sheltered existence where nothing bad ever invades their space is just unrealistic, and will leave them less equipped to handle it when they are adults and can no longer be sheltered.

Not that I'm saying people should let their kids do or watch whatever they want, but there's no reason to throw a fit if they accidentally see something you think they shouldn't. And by the way, I didn't see anything in that MNF opening that I would care if my kids saw, no matter their age.

I have no idea what the war gains us. Nothing, in my opinion. If everything goes well, I suppose things will be better for the Iraqi people in the long run, but I don't have enough confidence in the administration even for that to happen. But either way, I don't see any benefit for Americans.