Showing of Patriotic Sacrifice, or Attempt to Increase AntiWar Rhetoric?
From CentreDaily.com via the DrudgeReportABC newsman Ted Koppel's plan to devote tonight's "Nightline" to reading the names of the more than 700 U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq has stirred anger and praise, and prompted one media company to bar its stations from airing the program.
Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group said Thursday that the unique program is politically motivated and ordered its seven ABC affiliates, including WGGB in Springfield, Mass., not to air it.
Mark's Remarks
This could go either way. It is either an attempt to memorialize our war dead in good taste, to show the American people the folks who are dying for freedom. Or, it could be an effort to demoralize the support for the war, and to provide further aid and comfort to the enemy. Ted Koppel on GMA made it sound like the former, that he was trying to show Americans what they might be missing in not keeping up with the war, that some Americans are not as connected to the war. I just don't know. I think Sinclair may be on to something, but I do not think I would preempt the show, as it would get criticism from all sides, which it has; including from John McCain.I just have to ask: if this is meant to honor our troops and is not some type of ploy, why was it moved up to April Sweeps from the May 30 date it was set to air? Why are we just focusing on Iraq? Why don't we memorialize the dead in Afghanistan? Kosovo? Is it because Iraq is what the public is focused on, or is it a further attempt to separate Iraq from the larger War on Terror? I am not sure.
I do agree with Rush Limbaugh. In addition to memorializing and honoring our noble dead, why aren't we honoring the living? Too often times we wait til someone dies to honor them. Why aren't we showing pictures of the living, as well as the dead? Could this "memorializing" be an attempt at the Vietnam era tactic of bodycounting by the Partisan press to turn people against the war? I don't know.
All I do know is this. I don't wait til someone dies anymore to thank them. I see a member of our military out and about, I thank them....I don't just nod my head. I walk up to them and thank them for their service and for protecting us. We should be doing more of that, and when our noble soldiers come home, we need to honor them just as much as those who gave all.
