I wasn't there, but I sure know what happened.
And if I have any questions, I can bet that I find answers in made for TV movies.
I watched with everyone else. I made up my mind like everyone else. My opinion is set like everyone else. I believe what I see that is fed through a tiny lens like everyone else.
Remember the riots in San Francisco back when we went to war in Iraq to defeat the terrorists? I was there. I worked in downtown SFO. I watched the news coverage. I had to. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that there were riots in downtown San Francisco.
What role in the polarizing of this nation has the news media played?
Like our own indiviual lobbyist, a simple nationwide news report can set a our viewpoint. The light that our media chooses to shine on something can make or break it. An off the cuff comment made to 100million viewers can change America's opinion overnight.
Imagine the responsibility. Now, see if you can think of any nationwide news organizations that aren't interested in generating ratings and selling ad time, but instead are interested in just the facts as they happen.
So it's been almost 5 years since Sept 11. Is my life different? sure. Have the terrorists won? To some degree. I've had to give up some freedoms because of what they did.
Try flying on an airplane and see how that's changed in 5 years. Try driving across the border to Canada and back, see how that's changed in 5 years. Try watching an objective news program on any network, see how that's changed. OK, that hasn't changed. Both sides are still pointing fingers at the other side and blaming it all on them.
Did you see this week that the U.S. Army has decided to start following the Geneva Convention with our prisoners? Hello? I missed that. When did we stop? apparently even that changed 5 years ago.
Oh well. I think I'll go hop in my shiny car, turn my iPod up to 11 and drive somewhere for dinner, being thankful all of the time that I get good gas mileage and regularly recycle my soda bottles, so I can't be part of the real problem. Maybe there'll be a new episode of Psych on iTunes tonight.
