...regarding the Woodruff affair.. and other liberal delusions

I can see where they're coming from:

Some US troops question Woodruff coverage

By PAMELA HESS UPI Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The American media stood up and took notice when an improvised explosive device grievously injured an ABC News crew Sunday.

In Iraq, and throughout the military, there is sympathy and concern for anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, but there is also this question:

"Why do you think this is such a huge story?" wrote an officer stationed in Baqubah, Iraq, Monday via e-mail. "It's a bit stunning to us over here how absolutely dominant the story is on every network and front page. I mean, you'd think we lost the entire 1st Marine Division or something.

This past Monday, I woke up, and went downstairs and saw my wife watching Good Morning America, (which is her (unfortunate) habit every morning). This particular morning, it was wall to wall coverage of the Woodruff affair, in which the story received much the same coverage and treatment as would be accorded a terrorist bombing in London. Yes, they did intersperse quips every so often to the effect that they realize that soldiers go through the same thing day-in and day-out in Iraq, but just the same, since one of their own got it, it was all they could talk about.

Don't get me wrong... it's horrible that such an event happened to Bob Woodruff and his cameraman; and it's also horrible when it happens to one of our soldiers, as well as to innocent Iraqis, and the Iraqis that are fighting for their freedom alongside Americans. But IMO, it was childish, unprofessional, and self-centered (if not self-serving) to have wall-to-wall coverage of the story to the detriment of other more important stories that were happening.

There's an old saying I often go by:

Don't assume everyone shares your prejudices.

Too often, people in the media hold themselves in such high esteem, that they lull themselves into thinking everybody else in the world shares their belief that the whole world revolves around them; and that the world all of a sudden comes to a screeching halt when something happens with one of their own.

With a talk show, or a newspaper column, the host/writer, over a period of time, develops a personal relationship with listeners/readers via self-disclosure about opinions and lifestyle. Like him or not, Limbaugh's listeners, for example, feel that they actually know him personally, by knowing not only his political leanings, but also his passions (golf, flying, football, fine cigars). As much as anchors, etc., would like to think otherwise, hard news is not about the anchor or the reporter. Hard news is about the news. While there is no doubt a deep appreciation for newspeople that go into harms' way to report events, most people's personal reactions to a reporter being injured or killed in such an event is most likely one of detached sadness; much the same as when a nameless, faceless soldier suffers a similar fate.

However, with the liberal dominated MSM, as with many of the liberal persuasion, world events are secondary to their immediate self-needs, self-wants and self-grafitications. The "big picture" and others outside their circle are considered secondary afterthoughts at best when placed side-by-side with their own whims and agendae.

I had the chance to go to a wonderful conference the other week, in which one of the speakers gave a brilliant presentation on deficits in executive functioning and how it affects children with ADD. The speaker, a world reknown authority on the subject, made it a point to slam President Bush by showing a picture of Bush with a rod through his head. The speaker made the assumption that a room full of educators would share his liberal prejudices. When I commented regarding this, he retorted by saying, "Hey--you're in a blue state and I'm from a blue state."

The real problem with this "culture of self" so prevalent in the liberal MSM and among liberals in general, is that in being so self-absorbed, they engender the mistaken belief that, since everything revolves around them, everyone and everything else is naturally sucked in to their own little universe by their perceived sense of gravity.

Until the MSM and the entire "elite liberal" culture finally realize that "not everyone shares their prejudices," I'm afraid they will continue to alienate themselves, have continued downslides in ratings and newspaper circulation, and continue to lose elections.

And they still won't have the slightest clue as to why.


(Filed under limousine liberals, moonbat adventures)