Media Induced Madness

I often wonder why Americans are so obsessed with rumors, myths and irrational explanations. The current hysteria about prisoners of war is an example of media induced madness.

Of course it is not a good idea to humiliate and punish prisoners of war. That goes without saying. However, the worldwide distribution of the photographs has caused most of the harm.

The charge is this:Humiliation and abuse is caused by making the men stripped naked in front of American GI's. The total number of persons who saw them undressed was ten to fifty persons. It was a private affair.

Because photos were illegally released by the press millions have seen the men without clothing. The media claim, of course, that "It is our duty to show these things so we broke the cover-up." The media induced shame in those men.

This is not true. The military was investigating the activities and the press have made the investigation much harder. A criminal case cannot be fairly made if media are involved.

Make no mistake. Media will sacrifice justice, honor or the future of Iraq to get a good story. CBS will sacrifice democracy to be the first on the block to show the men naked.

This is like the outlets that showed Janet Jackson's breast over and over again. They did it "only to serve the public's right to know". I am cynical about the media.

A few years ago I was involved in a situation where a little boy was sick with cancer. The media invaded the family's privacy, attempted to find out confidential information and generally acted like rats after a piece of meat.

Freedom of the press in America too often means freedom to crucify to sell my story. The Iraqi prisoners are humiliated a thousand times more intensively by running these stories and photos about how humiliated they were.

Now, when anyone protests their pure hypocrisy, the answer is, "The military would still be covering up if it were not for us. We are the heroes here. We are the saviors."

A lie. The military did not cover up. They were investigating the story in a clear manner. But American media and politicians demand a scapegoat. Hang em high is the motto of the media.

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We know the New York Times, USA Today and others regularly lie to us. CNN proudly admitted they covered up stories of Sadaam's abuse to curry favor with him. The media is more of a problem than the story in this case.

But, it will sell media time. Oh, it may get a lot of Americans killed but we can't worry about that. Freedom of press you know.

Gary Sweeten
www.lifewaycenters.com