One year later, media has not improved tactfulness

How much do we change in a year? Are we smarter, richer, healthier, happier, fatter? Do we feel things differently? Do we look at life differently? What is it that we are doing this year that we did not do last year? What is it about the last one that makes it so unforgettable to us? Is it the attitude? Is it the feeling? Or is it the images that you saw on your TV screen?

One year later; I find myself in the same posi-tion I was in a year ago, sitting in front of the

TV switching through the channels, hungry for news. What’s different though is that while a year ago I was in a daze; this year I am able to see things much more clearly. And what I see is that much of our American media is out there taking advantage of our famous short attention spans and making us angry and confused all over again. Pictures of the collisions, the towers coming down, the dust, the pain, and the tears are displayed again and again in clips and exposés that would bring tears to the hardest of hearts. It is not that we have forgotten; we could not even if we tried. But we have come to make peace with it and with our selves, and those pictures don’t help.

If you are not convinced, then think about it this way. Let’s say you have a grandmother who was stabbed to death and you have it on tape. Are you going to play it every now and then? I shudder just to think about it. So how could the media do it? Imagine how the families of the victims must feel. Honoring victims will always bring us pain—it is part of the process. It is just that the media has gone about in a completely detrimental and tasteless way.

Speaking of the media and September 11 brings up the subject of civil liberties. We are too young, naïve, and inex-perienced, I was told by an ex-CIA, to foresee the consequen-ces resulting from all the laws and regulations which have been passed in the past year. Access to your bank and credit accounts, stu-dent records, surveillance, and wire tap-ping have ta-ken on new meanings, in other words, they are now unlimited, unregulated, and 100 percent legal. You might say “I have nothing to hide, so let them spy.” So said others before you who were tried and found guilty but upon examination years later were found innocent. McCarthyism and the Japanese internment should ring a bell. If a former president is concerned, so should you. “Our country has become the foremost target of respected international organizations concerned about these basic principles of democratic life,” wrote Jimmy Carter in a Washington Post editorial on September 5.

We have to look beyond the lapel pins, the heart-flags, and the bumper stickers. We have to be vigilant yes, but please don’t get neurotic. As to those color-coded alerts, they seem to alternate between yellow and orange in an alarming pace. Are we really supposed to keep up with those things?

The media’s implication in all of this comes in with our depen-dence on it as a watch dog. But since it has been too occupied reporting on press releases for [not from] the State Department, and unearthing more of the old stuff about Iraq and its tyrant, there is no one to blame but us. It is up to us to get informed about these things and it has never been easier than now that we have the In-ternet.

Here is another thing that media does a lot: over-generalization. You might have noticed that I have done that above a lot of times. If you caught that, then you are above average, if you have not then you better work some more on your critical skills. And then again there goes the over-gen-eralization.

You might think that I am some sort of a media basher. However, what I am is a firm believer in the possibilities and the potential that our media has and proved it had at various times in our history. Forget about NBC, CNN, ABC, and CBS. Try some European outlet for a change. After a while you will be able to tell the difference between “real” and “fluff” news.

Yes, there are media outlets and organizations that are excellent, and with no small amount of pride I would include our own Polytechnic in that category. However, I urge you to be selective and to be a skeptic. Don’t believe everything out there and you can certainly begin here and now.

Before you go, here is another thing to think about: Tragedies seem to bring us together in a way that no celebration could do. But why does it have to be that way? Why do we have to be molded by sadness and not happiness? Call your friends, get together, and invite someone you don’t know very well, but let it be on a positive note.