No such thing as TMI in wartime
As he is often able to do, my friend Gregor got me thinking with his recent post … behind the lines. Over the weekend, I spent a significant amount of time reading warblogs and watching TV coverage of the war, mostly on CNN. From these experiences, I offer this food for thought …
No matter your political POV on the war in Iraq, no hawk or dove can deny that this conflict has been brewing for over a decade and will influence the world stage for decades to come. Much has been made about the advances in technology now on display by both the military and the media.
For ill or good, the world has unprecedented access to this war. Still, it is not enough. While TV images of war shock and awe us all, the overall impact (at least for me) is rather numbing. I cannot help feeling I am being fed sanitized images and information … not necessarily propaganda or outright misinformation … but a more palatable, ratings-friendly version of the war.
Case in point, the capture of U.S. soldiers and the display of related video on Iraqi TV. I understand and respect that we do not want to legitimize Iraqi violations of the Geneva convention and we wanted to wait so the families of our fallen and captured soldiers could be first notified. At the same time, I do not want to be spoon fed information about those in harm’s way, be they coalition soldiers or Iraqi citizens.
A common American witticism is “too much information” or TMI. TMI is often uttered when a friend or coworker shares something personal that one really did not want or need to know. Most often, it is said in jest. As citizen of the United States and the world, I think there should be no such thing as TMI in times of war.
Unless releasing information jeopardizes operational objectives or, more importantly places the lives of coalition soldiers at risk, war coverage should be open source. Kudos to Reuters.com for providing raw camera feeds. And, “embedded” journalists are doing a fine job reporting with decency and integrity while honoring the requests of the military designed at protecting coalition troops.
That said, give us more. And, don’t shield us from what you think we cannot handle. Don’t allow us to become complacent with the images on the TV. We are all adults. Without being voyeuristic, we need to see, hear and understand what is happening. We need a visceral understanding of the events of the day, even if it is illustrated in gruesome detail.
In this day of degenerate Reality TV, we need to see what is truly real in this war. So as supporter or protester, we can make informed decisions about our positions and fully understand the consequences of both action and inaction. The sooner we stop considering the bruised sensibilities of our detached pop culture, the sooner we will strengthen our resolve … one way or the other.
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Until we have live streams and open communication from every viable source, one option not available during the Gulf War is the humble blog. The following list contains several online journals. As I read and discover more, I will add them to this post and to my BlogRoll (bottom right).
Peace and Freedom for all. Sooner, rather than later.
