My Political Depression
Before the recent presidential election, I wasn't a domestic news junkie. I never knew the insider's political game and I never felt like I was missing something for not knowing it. If someone showed up on Meet the Press, I found out who they were; otherwise, who cared? Nowadays, I read way too much domestic news. It makes me depressed. Especially when it impinges on world affairs. I sincerely doubt that most voters who voted for Bush truly thought through the ramifications of another four years of neo-con foreign policy. When I was a wee lass studying international relations in college, I was always scared of Powell and his Doctrine because I thought it was the reactionary ravings of a Vietnam Vet. Little did I know how positively liberal he looks compared to Vulcans like Rice.
Right. This morning, the one article I finished was the Trib analysis with breakfast. (Side note: I really can't wait for the day when you pick up a razor thin tablet PC and your favorite morning paper automatically appears on the screen. I'm sure this could be done with current technology: it could be a touch screen addition to your home pc, connected via wireless high speed connection....it'd be so much nicer than a simple newspaper subscription b/c you could get all your news sources from one screen over morning coffee at the kitchen table...)
So, between that and the NBC News footage of a soldier shooting a wounded Iraqi and point blank range because the guy "was fucking faking being dead" and a retired General letting the home viewers know that without the embed photographic evidence, the soldier would have received an order to sleep for a few hours and a discussion on proper killing procedures before being sent back to combat, I really need a break from the 24/7 news cycle.
I'll be back later today to talk about Darfur and some other foreign places not on the front page, but for now I'm going to retreat into work mode. It's better that way.
Before the recent presidential election, I wasn't a domestic news junkie. I never knew the insider's political game and I never felt like I was missing something for not knowing it. If someone showed up on Meet the Press, I found out who they were; otherwise, who cared? Nowadays, I read way too much domestic news. It makes me depressed. Especially when it impinges on world affairs. I sincerely doubt that most voters who voted for Bush truly thought through the ramifications of another four years of neo-con foreign policy. When I was a wee lass studying international relations in college, I was always scared of Powell and his Doctrine because I thought it was the reactionary ravings of a Vietnam Vet. Little did I know how positively liberal he looks compared to Vulcans like Rice.
Right. This morning, the one article I finished was the Trib analysis with breakfast. (Side note: I really can't wait for the day when you pick up a razor thin tablet PC and your favorite morning paper automatically appears on the screen. I'm sure this could be done with current technology: it could be a touch screen addition to your home pc, connected via wireless high speed connection....it'd be so much nicer than a simple newspaper subscription b/c you could get all your news sources from one screen over morning coffee at the kitchen table...)
So, between that and the NBC News footage of a soldier shooting a wounded Iraqi and point blank range because the guy "was fucking faking being dead" and a retired General letting the home viewers know that without the embed photographic evidence, the soldier would have received an order to sleep for a few hours and a discussion on proper killing procedures before being sent back to combat, I really need a break from the 24/7 news cycle.
I'll be back later today to talk about Darfur and some other foreign places not on the front page, but for now I'm going to retreat into work mode. It's better that way.
