Another Scream Unheard, Another Corpse Unseen, Another Day of News

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As Iraq-war-fatigue infects our Wolfs and Katies and Brians and Tims and Times and Newsweeks and all our daily papers, too -- with the percentage of news-time devoted to the war now shaved to a pitiful 3% -- the same flu-like torpor is filtering down to viewers and readers: when U.S. deaths passed 4,000 last month, only one in four Americans knew about -- much less mourned -- that hideous landmark. Three quarters of us, when asked to guess the carnage, were at least a thousand corpses off.

And if it seems to you like war coverage is way, way down, you're right: just as recently as last July, coverage of the war -- distorted as it may have been by the work of lazy, corrupt, or too-cozily embedded "reporters" -- was five times greater than now, according to The Project for Excellence in Journalism. And it's surely no coincidence that back then, twice as many Americans were able to answer that same ghoulish poll-question -- how many American soldiers have died in Iraq? -- within a thousand, give or take a couple of dead bodies.

In other words, we're becoming stupider and stupider about the war in direct proportion to the programming we receive from the mainstream media.

The dead are receding into a haze of doubletalk, false-talk, or no talk at all. This kind of ignorance -- which is not even bliss -- dishonors those we claim to revere most. But we all have a vague sense of why we're losing track of the story; nowadays it's presented to us as way too complex -- Shia-on-Shia, Sadr City, Basra, Maliki -- it's all come to seem like some ancient, esoteric sport played in dismal foreign stadiums, by weird-looking strangers, according to byzantine yet uninteresting rules.

And, of course, thanks to the Bush-Cheney Doctrine, we see no flag-draped coffins. Not one, much less four thousand. No buglers playing Taps to refresh our memories. We see not one split-open gut, much less tens of thousands. No, unlike the war-deaths of the quaint and bygone twentieth century, all these deaths take place off-stage. And, to its eternal discredit, the American media -- not wanting to risk losing those precious "embeds" -- surely the most nauseatingly coy term in the history of reporting -- plays along with this clever piece of Pentagon stagecraft.

If we did see war photos -- if we did see the coffins -- more of us would know, maybe even down to the very last dead soldier, the latest casualty figures.

But, of course, the question that the Pew Research Center did not even bother to ask the American public is: how many Iraqis have we killed, as of today?

Ever since the Pentagon public-relations people smartened up, post-Viet Nam, and stopped estimating "enemy" dead -- i.e. non-Caucasian corpses -- and ever since a compliant press stopped asking (bad form!), that's a statistic that need not worry the pretty little talking-heads of the networks. But surprisingly enough, and much to his credit, David Letterman raised the subject last week to none other than that serial-reality-denier John McCain, who got predictably flustered when Letterman said: "Untold Iraqis dead. We rarely hear that number. What would that number be? A quarter of a million? Half a million?"

"It's hard to make these estimates," McCain said, "but it's in the hundreds of thousands, obviously."

Well, it's doubtful that even round-the-clock fatality counts blazing in electric lights against the night sky, like the Deaths from Smoking billboards in L.A., would help a mind like McCain's in its daily battle against denial and/or dementia, but according to the best recent estimates, here's the figure, John, and here's the figure, American news outlets, if you're interested:

1,196,514.

That's an educated guess, of course, pieced together by the few who still care, based on figures from The Lancet, the British medical journal. Too bad it can't be fixed with the same grim statistical purity as our own casualty figures; but then death is a sloppier business over there, underneath the rubble, in the bombed restaurants and devastated apartments and blood-soaked schools.

And, of course, you can't expect American reporters--I'm sorry, embeds -- to roam around counting up every dead Iraqi child.

It's too dangerous over there!

And there isn't really an audience for that kind of news.

Comments

[shreveportrose]

I will never, ever understand the apathy, the lack of concern or curiosity, the passiveness of the American public about the pure destructiveness of this immoral war. The thousands of American kids killed, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed (they do count, don't they?). I often discuss this with my oldest daughter, who incidentally is on active duty in the U.S. Army, and she is as stymied as I am. Its the "what if they gave a war and nobody cared" syndrome times a thousand. And those lives that are lost forever, why doesn't it break all of our hearts? (Nothing that a good, old-fashioned draft wouldn't cure, I suppose.)

What was it that Kipling said, when the loss of his son brutally brought him out of his fantasy of war as a glamorous high drama? Something about we died because our fathers lied. What would it take for Americans to care about these kids of ours dying in Iraq?

[Meatball1]

I know that serving in the United States Marine Corps and being called a "kid" offended me. War is not glamorous and nobody seriously wishes for it. They might say they do, but they are scared like anyone else would be and will say what they need to in order to "prove" their courage.

We all know that courage is something that can only be proven after the fact. I understand how a mother would dislike the war in Iraq. (My mother has the same thoughts) However, I know that this war cannot be taken away and, in my opinion will do great things, not only for Iraq,but for the rest of the world. To "drop out" of this war would be the same as putting a bucket of meat in front of a bunch of rabid pit-bulls! Iran, Siria, Saudi Arabia and a host of others would send in money, weapons and fighters who (unlike the United States) don't care how many civilians they kill or torture.

You may disagree with me but I have experience and knowledge that you do not. Please change your opinion for the sake of Our Great Nation and the lives of the Iraqi People and our own.

[Meatball1]

You all have very strong opinions about our war in Iraq. You are all very conserned about the number of deaths both ours and theirs. What nobody considers in their posts though is that we cannot go back and unstart the war in Iraq. If the Unites States were to just pull out of Iraq, how many millions will die due to the power vacumme left behind. Remember what happened when we pulled out of Vietnam? The war protesters of the time or of today don't like to talk about it but the killing increase exponentially!

Since many of you posted your poems, I have one to share:

IT IS THE SOLDIER

IT IS THE SOLDIER, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.

IT IS THE SOLDIER, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

IT IS THE SOLDIER, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.

IT IS THE SOLDIER, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

IT IS THE SOLDIER, who salutes the flag.
Who serves under the flag and
Whose coffin is draped by the flag
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

- Charles M. Province

[protagonia]

The MSM has NO respect for us at all. Their bosses hate us all, but for a tiny few.

[Durango]

In the run up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq there was NOT ONE SINGLE PROGRAM on TV devoted to the history, social,political, religious and cultural makeup of the countries we were invading. NOT ONE.

The region of the world where civilization BEGAN and the American media could not possibly give any context to the current problems.

The closest shows I saw were on the Travel Channel, for God's sake.

Had I been a television producer I would have scoured the world looking for film, even home movies about Iraq and Afghanistan. I would have shown everything I could find. I would have put on college professors who were experts, Arabs, Iranians and Afghans who could explain their history and culture.
Islamic scholars and experts to explain their faith to the American people.

None of that happened.

So I don't know why we would expect anything to be better now.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

Thank you Eskow,

I am sorry to see only 9 people responded to a long over due Wake up to all of American to what is important or should I say what should be important instead of the soap opera style media forums on all subject matters.

when the war was on TV, we saw the truth of soldiers were going through. We were physically in our elected official faces. Now the new generations say that style of protest is obsolete, Just sitting on your ass using your blackberry or applepod to blog your protest. That is the new way to tell old baby boomer that refuse to retire but just die on the job in an elected office and let their spouse take their jobs without being elected.

By now if you would have used the Entertainment tonight style or added naked women, thousand would have logged in. American of all race, and ages clearly are their own worst enemy.

Perhaps you should remind them what Bin Laden's mission is like it was for Russia to bankrupt us.
Bring down the super power. By now is more like stupider power.

Again thanks.

[TheWesternBreed]

"In the spring the war was always there, but we did not go anymore." (Ernest Hemingway, "In Another Country")

[pfc1369]

The correct line is: "In the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more."

[JohnEskow]

Thank you for that. I had almost forgotten that incredible line. It was never as appropriate as now.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

"The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing." - John Adams

[Disparaged]

After the MSM ran 24/7 loops for 2+ weeks of Rev. Wright's sound bites ( and still discussing this topic), our family decided that there absolutely had to be other noteworthy news during that time frame. And, sure enough, after searching the net, we saw other major events such as severe flooding in the midwest, Iraqi, home foreclosures, etc., had indeed occurred. At that time, we decided that enough was absolutely enough. If the aim of the MSM was to disseminate garbage in an attempt to wound or kill our chosen Democratic candidate (Obama), as well as dishonor a distinguished military member and great pastor (Wright), then we would no longer view (or contribute to the salaries of) the MSM. No longer is the MSM on our t.v. at any time since those sound bites. If we cannot find our news via the net, then we can live without their news. We, as citizens of this country, in unity, need to DEMAND that the MSM go back to the old days of true journalism and report the "FACTS AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS". If we all turned our t.v.'s off or to any other channels but the MSM in unison, perhaps they would listen to our demands. What say you all?

[Liberal2]

"...[We] need to DEMAND that the MSM go back to the old days of true journalism and report the "FACTS AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS..."

Yeah, and we need jobs and pay increases too.

See all the ads on TV and even HuffPost? That's where the money comes from to produce TV and HuffPost. Viewers and readers contribute nothing. Until advertisers see a connection between presentation of facts and their sales revenue...ain't gonna be no freakin' change.

Convince advertisers that they must demand change. OTOH, TV viewers prefer "Survivor" to broadcast/cable Nightly news. Get the point?

[lgillooly]

The media is owned by 5 or 6 megacorporations that believe in War and in the pocket of the GOP.Until we have a REAL media we will never be a Democracy. Goering (Hitler's boy) said all you need are 3 components and it will work any where. 1,Always have a perceived enemy 2, wrap it in the flag and 3. Control the message. HE WAS RIGHT!

[BBackSoon]

Kind of like one of the video games one step removed. We see numbers and computer-generated stats not blood soaked humvees, APC's or choppers. Perhaps the best thing the next president could do is to show the carnage. Let us see how horrible war is. We know how many billions and billions we have spent, now let's do so math, how much have we spent per corpse, on both sides? How much does a limb cost? What is the profit per death?