Exactly 35 years later, how far we've fallen

[Connonym]

http://agylen.com/2007/06/11/35-years/

[eyepaddle]

1. Wow.

I'd actually think that'd represent an improvement--if only the worst thing in the world was a celebrity doing jail time.

If. Only. :(

[racaulk]

2. Did you read the replies? Snark7 really hit the nail on the head.

Thank you for posting this. :hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. I don't agree that the media are 'willing decoys'

This was posted in GD a few days ago and met with much the same response by people who seem to think the media are under the direction of the Wregime. If this were the case, why wouldn't we see daily features titled "The Good We're Doing in Iraq"?

There's no media conspiracy to divert our attentions from W's war, but there are business decisions to give the public what it wants — and the American public, by and large, loves its celebrities, especially when they've fallen. The media are more aware of this than anyone, and they're not about to let it get past them.

Oh, and this response is ludicrous:

i really don’t understand why Nick would take such an impacting photo like the first one and then and take a photo like the second.

Ut made the photo because he was assigned to do so. It's his job.

I won't even comment on "impacting." :eyes:

[Connonym]

6. Yes and no Oedi

I don't think it's a formal conspiracy per se and but I do think since 9/11 there has been a reluctance to criticize W for fear of sounding unpatriotic. There's also the factor that sleeze sells but you can't tell me that if the media REALLY covered the bullshit shenanigans going on in the White House that people wouldn't be glued to their TV the same way they were during the Watergate hearings? I don't think the public is generally as shallow as TV programming would seem to suggest. I think this is a self-perpetuating cycle of dumbing down leading to more dumbing down with the public and the media to blame.

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. You're right about the cycle

And about the reluctance to criticize the Wregime; no less than Dan Rather and others have admitted to that. It was the whole "in time of war" bit, they claimed, and journalism history certainly shows precedent for that. There wasn't much of a media spotlight on Vietnam, either, until we'd been there for several years.

The rub lies in the "If the media REALLY covered..." part. Most people reference Watergate right away, forgetting or not realizing that exposing the darker truths behind that took about two years of dogged, soul-breaking reporting. Woodward and Bernstein were singularly outstanding reporters (not so much writers, but reporters), the like of which was rare then and rarer still now. We simply will not see very much, if any, reporting like that again, because Capitol Hill learned from it and has become more and more secretive and guarded.

This is why I get so angry when people shoot the messengers. Many veteran reporters and some politicians agree that the Wregime is the most secretive administration they've ever seen, so all that "truth" that so many seem to think is there for the asking just ain't that easy to get to. In the meantime, our wonderful 24/7 news industry has to fill all that time with something, so we wind up with a lot of crap, because it's cheap and easy to find.

When you get right down to it, the problem is that the news — or, the companies that package and distribute it — is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, same as software and soybeans. Truth should never be marginalized.

[skygazer]

3. I was 11 years old in '72

That photo seared right into my brain. I could relate to those kids - they were kids like me. We need to see things like that - it helps us stay human. It helps us remember compassion and makes us work to find other ways to solve problems besides sheer firepower.

The media has (d)evolved into a Corps of Papparazzi.

[Connonym]

4. Yeah, we're worse off than ever in terms of war, torture, human rights, etc.

and what is the general public preoccupied with? It's really pretty awful. I'm certainly not entirely innocent of falling into the trap of eating up the soft-serve crap the media is feeding us but I hope that there's always a bigger part of me that cares about reality. Some days it's hard to not feel despair and unfortunately, those are the days I dive straight for the fluff news to distract me. I'm part of the problem and I really don't like that about myself.

[Maraya1969]

7. Truthfully going to jail for someone with claustrophobia and anxiety attacks

would be terrifying. I'd be hysterical too.

[Connonym]

9. but surely they would allow her to take her prescribed meds wouldn't they?

I don't imagine jail is fun for anyone regardless of mental health concerns (and god knows that a lot of people are in jail when they really should be getting mental health care). I'm not making light of it, anxiety attacks can make you feel like you're dying but there are plenty of meds like Xanax that can help that. If she's got a legit problem then I would think they'd let her have her medication in jail.

[Maraya1969]

10. In Florida I have one friend that was not given her diabetes medicine

for the entire weekend. And another with serious bipolar who was not given the meds he regularly took because they just gave everyone Lithium. He went straight from several weeks in jail to several weeks in a mental hospital.

I was more referring to her crying in the back seat of the car anyway. And I am sure she had medical treatment. I think they should have put her in the hospital part in the beginning rather than send her home.

[Connonym]

11. OMG, that's awful!

I've seen my mom go into diabetic shock. It doesn't take long and when it happens she's confused and combative. I shudder to think of what they'd do to a prisoner who started acting that way -- especially since it's their fault the patient didn't get medicated.

It's not the top of my agenda for what we need to fix first but our prison system is clearly fucked up.

[Maraya1969]

12. I think and I hope...that Florida is getting better and that they are worse

than the rest of the country. I can't find the page but years ago if you google'd Florida jail or Lee county jail...something like that. It would take you to a website set up for someone who died in custody and exposed the horrors going on.

It has been at least 5 years since these friends have been in jail and we know have a new sheriff so I hope and pray things are better.

And maybe that website had a big impact.

[Connonym]

13. My sister's best friend was a warden and tells the following horror story

She was assigned to take an inmate in labor to the hospital for delivery. During the drive the inmate began to feel the urge to push but her ankles were shackled. She pulled the vehicle over and unshackled the inmate and delivered the baby. It seems like the sort of thing that any caring human being would do right? She got suspended and put on disciplinary probation. Her supervisor told her that she should have left the inmate to deliver while shackled and if the infant died it wasn't their problem, rules were rules.

If it was me I wouldn't have been able to return to work at that job. Perhaps it's my liberal bleeding heart but I cannot imagine working in any type of job where I'm forced to look at other people as less than human. It would crush my soul.