We are at war, in case anybody out there didn't get the memo. Right now, on the other side of the world, United States Armed Forces and Iraqi National Guard forces are battling. And right now I'm at work, hardly paying attention. How does that work?
Ms. Kathleen Parker, commented on this phenomenon in her weekly column. She states "What was war like before real-time live feeds? How would George Patton have behaved with Wolf Blitzer holding a mike and 200 million Americans listening in? If there's no one there to film it, is there still a war? Without an interviewer, are there heroes?
We watch with a mixture of awe and angst, punching buttons on an electronic device that provides new angles and fresh commentary, all of which leaves me longing for a cleansing tub of soothing oils. The feeling isn't that I shouldn't be watching this, but that I shouldn't be doing this.
. . . The extraordinary so neatly juxtaposed against the ordinary robs the breath and weakens the knees. Horror transmutes to banality when perceived through the lens of artifice. How did we come to this, we should not stop asking."
It's a hard question. Are we doing our duty if we watch five-hours of news a day, following the war? How about if we just check on it every so often at MSNBC? Is that enough?
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