If you’ve been watching and reading the mainstream media, you have to be struck with the incongruity between the demand for blood on the one hand and the enormous sense of compassion on the other. It seems that the closer to the devastation, the higher the level of compassion and, conversely, the further from the epicenter, the higher the bloodlust.
The broadcasters—with the exception of today’s passive observation of a day of remembrance—have taken it upon themselves to whip the citizenry into a frenzy that will seemingly only be quelled by heads on pikes. According to the mainstream media, the only questions we need to be asking is, “where are the bastards” and “how many ways can we punish them.”
These are, unfortunately, the wrong questions. The main question we need to be asking ourselves is, “what did we ever do to piss someone off badly enough to do something like this.” Collectively we’re demanding revenge and retribution, but we’ve not bothered to examine that maybe—just maybe—Tuesday’s events were someone else’s misguided attempt at revenge and retribution.
The one thing I find the most disturbing about this weeks events—aside from the devastation—is the sense that any dissent with regard to President Bush’s call to begin the first world war of the millennium is met with charges of unpatriotism and even treason. If we continue in this manner, whoever is responsible for the most recent carnage will have won.
I’m finding that I’m getting qualitatively better, more balanced, and more accurate information from sources outside the mainstream. Here’s some of the best:
Michael Moore, as always, is asking difficult questions. We may not like the answers, but that doesn’t make them any less vital.
AlterNet.org and its contributors offer some of the most level-headed commentary available.
Dave Winer’s Scripting News has become one of the best sources of accurate and timely information.
Doc Searls is asking the hard questions and was among the first to come out of the pacifist closet.
It’s given me a lot of hope to watch Robert Scoble temper his original position over time.
What’s important is that we all try to keep asking the tough questions. And that we keep listening to the answers. Maybe—just maybe—we’ll come out of this better for having come through it.
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