Too right Maureen. Inline below... > -----Original Message----- > From: Maureen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 10:08 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: We bombed ourselves again :-( > > > I think a lot of that would depend on the intestinal fortitude of people > making the discussions. If they are wimps who bow to every > public opinion > wind that blows, like some of the current crop, then public knowledge of > some of the war actions could have greatly impacted the outcome. > If they > were more like Harry Truman, who didn't give a rodent's posterior > what the > media said or the people thought, probably wouldn't have made > much difference.
Well, that hurt Harry too. When he tried to take control of the steel mills (stopping strikes during the Korean War) it backfired. But I agree with the gist of your comments. We are not a democracy, we are a republic. What has changed the landscape so much is that we have nearly instantaneous access to our political leaders. PACs and lobbying groups can greatly influence decisions, even with a small minority of the "people" involved, mainly the "money" people. > > It's fairly well accepted that public opinion began to turn > against the war > in Vietnam when the major networks began broadcasting images of civilian > casualties. That and the losses Maureen. No one saw how we were going to win the war. What was the strategy? It was not like WWII with a clear mission. > > As for today's climate, I think the media is hurting for hard news, so > they're filling with whatever talking head they can put on the > screen, and > they have long since lost the concept of differentiating between news and > opinion. That seems sad to me when there is 'news' every where. Frankly, I think that what is happening is that the politicians and businesses, over the last 30 years, have figured out how to control the media. One way was by buying it, literally. Next is by controlling what gets out. Arie does not like the questions you ask, you don't get called on anymore. > > I have a sibling who works for a major new gathering > organization. We have > some heated debates about what passes for 'news'. Cool. -Gary > > At 10:52 AM 12/5/01 Michael wrote: > >Really I Would like to know, what things have been like when we > fought WW1 > >& WW2 knowing every min. of every day, what was going on.... If we had > >this ability to critique every like its bits thing that happened. If we > >new of every single friendly fire accident.........if the news was > >"warped, to blind the truth...", Sometimes having too much access to > >info, can be a bad thing...... we lose sight of the big picture.... > > > >I would bet that if things were the same for them as it is for us now, > >things wouldn't have gone the way they did....... > > > > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/05/01 10:48AM >>> > >CNN had a retired major general on this morning discussing what > >happened. He said it was most likely a targeting error based on > faulty GPS > >coordinates. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
