Tsunami Nationalism
Having given my $40 to Red Cross International and my guilt thus assuaged, I felt like I could watch tsunami coverage on TV again today. As is my custom, I flipped between CNN and Fox to make sure that I could be both outraged by the obscene bias (Fox) and spineless pandering (CNN) that characterizes cable news. The tsunami, though, has brought out the true characteristics of both networks and shown me, once again, why I trust CNN more.
While Fox News has not, for one moment, shown anything regarding the tsunami that does not feature:
a) American soldiers
b) how Americans really are generous
c) sensationalistic "disaster" video footage
d) George W. Bush
e) American soldiers
CNN has risen to the occasion with truly global coverage. Today alone, I have seen:
a) fundraising for a Sri Lankan orphanage
b) a 15-minute interview with Sri Lanka's UN Ambassador
c) Scandinavian mourners
d) not a single American soldier
Small favors, eh? Fox also decided to do a feature on how this generation of young Americans are more in debt than any generation before them (Fox anchor: It's their fault! Guest: Actually, college is really expensive now, the government doesn't issue as many grants as it used to, and entry-level positions don't pay as well as they used to. Fox anchor: And they have credit cards!), which was just as asinine as their coverage of South East Asia.
Now, CNN still has more than its fair share of asshats (Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, Robert Novak, Lou Dobbs, Judy Woodruff, Paula Zahn, I'm looking at you, asshats), but at least it can recognize the greatest disaster of at least a decade as global in scope and devastating on a massive scale, even if it doesn't hit America. So, while Fox does another "Danger: Could a Tsunami Maybe Hit America's Heartland?" (quick answer: no, the people-who-vote-on-the-basis-of-fear have less to be afraid of than the people-who-vote-on-the-basis-of-bushenfruede) I'll be checking the Amazon totals for Red Cross donations through their site. In a little less than a week, Amazon.com has already raised almost what Bush pledged in the first 4 days!
Most generous nation on the Earth my ass. For now, it's Japan.
CONTORT YRSELF soundtrack for today: The Nels Cline Singers Instrumentals - Not a singer in the group, just fantastic L.A.-based avant-jazz guitarist Nels Cline accompanied by contrabass, drums, and some light electronics. A delicious record with sonic devastation and balm. This record was released in 2002, but he released another one this year, The Giant Pin that got a song on the 2004 songs list (Bright Moon). Instrumentals is a better record all around (even just for tracks "A Cause for Concern" and the staggeringly beautiful "Harbor Child"), but Nels has been busy recently what with his touring the world with Wilco. Not just for jazz freaks.
While Fox News has not, for one moment, shown anything regarding the tsunami that does not feature:
a) American soldiers
b) how Americans really are generous
c) sensationalistic "disaster" video footage
d) George W. Bush
e) American soldiers
CNN has risen to the occasion with truly global coverage. Today alone, I have seen:
a) fundraising for a Sri Lankan orphanage
b) a 15-minute interview with Sri Lanka's UN Ambassador
c) Scandinavian mourners
d) not a single American soldier
Small favors, eh? Fox also decided to do a feature on how this generation of young Americans are more in debt than any generation before them (Fox anchor: It's their fault! Guest: Actually, college is really expensive now, the government doesn't issue as many grants as it used to, and entry-level positions don't pay as well as they used to. Fox anchor: And they have credit cards!), which was just as asinine as their coverage of South East Asia.
Now, CNN still has more than its fair share of asshats (Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, Robert Novak, Lou Dobbs, Judy Woodruff, Paula Zahn, I'm looking at you, asshats), but at least it can recognize the greatest disaster of at least a decade as global in scope and devastating on a massive scale, even if it doesn't hit America. So, while Fox does another "Danger: Could a Tsunami Maybe Hit America's Heartland?" (quick answer: no, the people-who-vote-on-the-basis-of-fear have less to be afraid of than the people-who-vote-on-the-basis-of-bushenfruede) I'll be checking the Amazon totals for Red Cross donations through their site. In a little less than a week, Amazon.com has already raised almost what Bush pledged in the first 4 days!
Most generous nation on the Earth my ass. For now, it's Japan.
CONTORT YRSELF soundtrack for today: The Nels Cline Singers Instrumentals - Not a singer in the group, just fantastic L.A.-based avant-jazz guitarist Nels Cline accompanied by contrabass, drums, and some light electronics. A delicious record with sonic devastation and balm. This record was released in 2002, but he released another one this year, The Giant Pin that got a song on the 2004 songs list (Bright Moon). Instrumentals is a better record all around (even just for tracks "A Cause for Concern" and the staggeringly beautiful "Harbor Child"), but Nels has been busy recently what with his touring the world with Wilco. Not just for jazz freaks.
posted by P at 7:58 PM
3 Comments:
look man...i pretty much agree with your views on fox and CNN, but judy woodruff and paula zahn are babes so...anyway...got any advise on a volume pedal purchase, gonna make one tomorrow.
muscle shoals
paula zahn, maybe. judy woodruff is a cock-juggling thunder cunt.
i have no idea about the difference between volume pedals. boss, maybe? beats me. anyhow, i've got 500 for an amp. plus another 300 or so if i sell this vox, which i probably will. probably leaning toward the hot rod 2x12 - think i should go bigger?
i'd say a 2x12 should do you well. i mean if you go to a 4x12 you hit another level and something that becomes too much for some stages you know. you don't want something you have to crank too much to get the right tone, plus you don't want to carry that shit. in fact i think a 2x12 is the perfect size, it'll give you plenty of stage and rehearsal power without the mic and you can get the right tone with it. but then again it'd be bad ass to have a huge amp, but i'd take that extra cash and get something else. i just bought nick cave & the bad seed's double record Abattoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus...i'm about halfway through Abattoir and the first couple of tracks are fucking rockin. i also got eno's ambient 1/music for airports. currently checking into possible rehearsal spaces. looks like fountainbleau is all full up at the moment, but looking into alternatives if something there doesn't open in the next couple of weeks. you're right about judy, but you know you'd stay the night with her. don't deny it.
Post a Comment
<< Home