U.S. Media

[btownmeggy]

Because they weren't Americans...

The only time there are ever significant news stories is when they involve Americans...

My friend and I were talking about something similar yesterday. He was watching the History Channel, a documentary about Mayan prophecies. All of the Mayan prophecies that people said had come true were about the U.S.--Kennedy's assassination, September 11th. The ancient Mayan prophets and astrologers apparently didn't care about the Mexican Revolution, or the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz, or things that actually might matter to future Mayans.

[Anarkistsdream]

Because they weren't Americans...

The only time there are ever significant news stories is when they involve Americans...

My friend and I were talking about something similar yesterday. He was watching the History Channel, a documentary about Mayan prophecies. All of the Mayan prophecies that people said had come true were about the U.S.--Kennedy's assassination, September 11th. The ancient Mayan prophets and astrologers apparently didn't care about the Mexican Revolution, or the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz, or things that actually might matter to future Mayans.

That is EXACTLY what I mean...

The U.S. has to take Nostradamus and everything else and turn it to us... It's like... WHAT!?!?!

[salr15]

Perhaps sally b/c you're drawing incorrect conclusions to every single thing I've written. Either you really are dumb, you're too young to comprehend, or you're arguing just to argue, or all of the above. Whichever it is, you're impossible to carry on a conversation with b/c of the reasons stated above. I'm not mad or angry, just have no further interest in talking to you.

Ok cupcake then stop writing in this thread. Before that though, go and read what you said and tell me what kind of conclusions you would come up with.

[foolish_yeti]

Then when I point out that you can't compare bombings to accidents, she says she was talking about drunk driving accidents. I still don't see the relationship between a bombing and drunk driving. When was the last time you saw a 150 people die in a drunk driving accident?

Both are intentional acts that destroy lives. Take a look at the statistics to drunk driving deaths in the states. In 2005 16,885 people died in the states due to alcohol related motor vehicle accidents. Statistics released by your own government for the same year report around 2000 deaths globally in terrorist attacks.

Then she took out a piece of what Alexwales said and agreed with him that the news will show what it believes the local people want to see. When I pointed out that he also stated he doesn't know anything about the US news coverage

Just because he is not familiar with US news coverage does not make his point invalid. The media is not in the business to report news- they are in the business to make money. That is not to say that people within the system don't care about the news, but the goal of the media is not to inform the public- it is to make money.

and that they have been showing the VT tragedy in Britain, she says that the VT tragedy is a local event in Britain (this is my understanding of what she said by basically disagreeing with me).

Last time I checked, VT wasn't local news in Britain.

Really? VT is a school with international students and faculty. At least one of the professors killed was British. The entire world is watching... and thinking about the security on their own campuses.

There are multiple points within her response. The first is that VT is a local event due to the physical presence of British citizens at the school (teachers and students). The second ties to what I said before- it is a local event for Western countries because the same thing can, and is happening at schools across the globe. Every educational facility in the country is currently thinking (and was even before this shooting) about similar scenarios and how to protect their students.

[salr15]

Thank you!! An actual response rather than name calling.

1- I definitely agree that drunk driving is a problem, but I don't think that was the point.

sally, more people died in the US in car crashes this past week than died at VT and in Iraq combined. Society is just "used" to hearing about crash fatalities, and unless it effects you personally, it's glossed over and soon forgotten. So are you therefore as inhumane as you claim we are because you were not on here mourning for all those lives lost? No. And for the same reason the Iraqi bombing "isn't a big deal" to many worldwide (not just in US)... we've become conditioned to it.

My point is that you can't compare a bombing that kills 150 people to accidents kill a few people over a period of time. Based on this logic, the VT shooting was just another murder. Wicked do you mourn over every person that gets murdered everyday? Surely there have been more people murdered across the country in the past 6 months than the 33 in VT. I think the real tragedy in VT was where it happened and the amount of people in one place. Just like you can't compare VT to any other murder, you can't compare a bombing to drunk driving.

And this isn't about VT and Iraq...this is about the US Media in general.

2- I didn't say what Alexwales said is invalid. I just said that she quoted the part she agreed with and completely ignored what he said at the end.

The news chooses to report more on events that happen in there country than anywhere else, because things that might happen here may affect people here.
I'm not saying that the Iraqi bombings are not as important, but the news, as it has been said throughout this read, show what they think is important to their people.
Also, the news stays on for an average of 30 mins in one program, they can not do an in-depth report on every story. It's just the way it is.

I cannot, however, say how bad the coverage is over in America, because I am Welsh, and live in Britian.

There has been a lot of coverage over the V.T tragedy on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five....
The papers have also reported on it, but they also have reports on the goings on elsewhere.

I think he makes a vaild point and I actually agree that of course local news is going to be covered more than non-local. But I am talking about the US Media and he clearly told us that he can't comment on the US Media. Just the fact that they are covering the VT tragedy so indepth and covering any other news shows that their news is less biase than the US. Just watch Fox News or MSNBC vs. BBC, I think it is pretty clear.

3- fair enough, I should have looked into her response in a bit more detail. That said, she could come back with a response like yours rather than:

Now it's obvious you're arguing just to argue. I said none of that. I'm done talking with someone who has no reading comprehension skills.

Anyway, back to the topic. I think this whole thing is getting a little out of hand.

[wicked]

My point is that you can't compare a bombing that kills 150 people to accidents kill a few people over a period of time.

I've highlighted the error in your post. Fatalities in car crashes kill more people than bombings, and yet society turns a blind eye to that. Society. Not the media. No the media does their job well in reporting on those.

[Anarchist]

Another reason for selective media coverage of violence is who it is perpetrated against. In a hierarchical system violence is only acceptable flowing down the chain. So for example when a police officer is killed it is all over the news and they get a huge state funeral. When a police officer kills someone else, it will be reported briefly then forgotten. Another example is terrorism. Terrorism is seen as so horrible because it is against the powerful and thus unacceptable. The insane amount of civilian deaths due the Iraq invasion (way more than Sept. 11) is seen as unfortunate but acceptable.

Yeti, are you a scholar or a philosopher?

Ive given up on american media, I dont care about britney spears, Anna Nicole Smith, or the week they spent hyping up the Oscars. 10 million dollar necklaces? No wonder we have such a high crime rate!

I also feel News should be uncensored, let the world see the children getting blown in half. Ofcourse that might cause more protests and we all know democrasies cant handle popular opinion.

[2dimes]

Ive given up on american media, I dont care about britney spears, Anna Nicole Smith.

Gay guy huh? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[foolish_yeti]

I've highlighted the error in your post. Fatalities in car crashes kill more people than bombings, and yet society turns a blind eye to that. Society. Not the media. No the media does their job well in reporting on those.

I disagree- the media does more than simply report events- they analyze them. They influence what public debate occurs in society- what people are talking about. The media (among other things) facilitates a vast amount of discussion and debate within a narrow acceptable range. There is also the case of sliding premises buy people- for example with Hitler- "So what can we do about the Jew problem?"...sliding the premise by people that there is a Jew problem- wait, who decided there was a problem?

Yeti, are you a scholar or a philosopher?

Ummmm- not sure exactly what you mean. I'm just really interested in critical questions in my life and the world rather than who the Leafs are looking into drafting, or celebrities, etc. So if by scholar you mean I read stuff and then think about it- then yes, I guess so...

[Anarchist]

Ive given up on american media, I dont care about britney spears, Anna Nicole Smith.

Gay guy huh? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

If thats the case i wouldnt be watching Bollywood movies

[2dimes]

Ive given up on american media, I dont care about britney spears, Anna Nicole Smith.

Gay guy huh? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

If thats the case i wouldnt be watching Bollywood movies

Ai ya ya ya ya ya ya ya.

[wicked]

you want to talk about media? everyone tune into NBC Nightly News at 6:30pm EDT... the psycho-shooter sent a package to NBC with his manifesto and they're going to air it.

[salr15]

My point is that you can't compare a bombing that kills 150 people to accidents kill a few people over a period of time.

I've highlighted the error in your post. Fatalities in car crashes kill more people than bombings, and yet society turns a blind eye to that. Society. Not the media. No the media does their job well in reporting on those.

Again, you are not getting my point. I am sure there are more fatalities by cars than bombs, thank god for that!! Just as there are more murders than the killings in VT. By that logic, VT was just another murder, why do you care so much?

I am just saying that the US Media has to many ties to political parties and self interest that they report what they want the public to hear and ignore what they don't want them to hear. Why don't we hear anything about the genocide going on in Africa? Just because its not "local" doesn't mean we should turn our back to it. Why should anyone ever be conditioned to believe that a bombing that kills over 100 people is just another routine day?

[Stopper]

I don't disagree with you, but I'd give it up, Salr. If you intend to persuade anyone of anything, you need to choose your battles.