I’ve mentioned our plan to move up the road to Rozelle before. Now, in addition to a dishwasher and a view, the Girlie wants a home with a bomb shelter. And she’s pretty serious.
While I have to take some responsibility (talking about nuclear winters over dinner was arguably unecessary), this is a deeply sad development. As one who grew up as the Cold War cooled, I still remember a fascinating book that lay around ours telling us what to do in event of nuclear attack.
Such books were a feature in many households. It had all sort of illustrations about how you could make a shelter beneath the stairs with mattresses. We didn’t have any stairs so that wasn’t very helpful. It also showed what you could do if you were caught outside – roll into a ditch, or if one wasn’t handy just roll up in a ball. Fallout was shown in the form of a bright red glowing dust cloud.
We thought that was all history and kids could grow up without having to worry about nuclear armageddon, but it’s all coming charging back.
Still, a little insecurity never did us any harm, did it? I’m sure she’ll adjust.
In the interests of becoming a better parent I have consulted online sources that suggest the best way to talk to your kids about war is to work it out through play.
So last night we booted up Command and Conquer on the PSII. Unfortunately there isn’t an Iraq version yet so we could only blow away a few thousand damned commies.
But it seemed to work. The Girlie seems a lot more settled.
As to the war coverage – over here it’s incessant. After all this is a war to defend Australia. We all know that Iraq was behind the Bali bombing. We are on the front lines defending freedom etc etc. The only problem is I never realised war on TV could be so boring. You end up watching the same piece of film over and over and over - seen Baghdad bombed once and you’ve seen it a million times.
Here's a suggestion. Tommy Franks should be booted out and his responsibilities should be transferred to Kerry Packer. He can then work TV magic as he did with one day cricket - brighten the uniforms up a bit, get in a few sponsors. Baddabing baddaboom.
We can all recognise hypocrisy when we see it and we are now seeing plenty. The issue of televising POWs is a striking example. Hypocrisy, I think, is why the world hates America. Bush and his cronies are masters of hypocrisy.
This is a PR war. Spin is rampant, the so called free press is cowed. The regime barks, the media folds.
And that is what increasingly makes journalists a target in the field. If they become tools of propaganda, any propaganda, they may as well just put on a uniform and pick up a gun. Many have already donned the uniform.
But what nobody has noted, as far as I can see, is that showing the Al Jazeera segment of the dead Americans is not by any stretch a breach of the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention was not established to protect the dead. There isn’t even a vague legal case against showing the segment of the dead soldiers, as we have already seen plenty of pictures of dead Iraqi fighters.
But are the networks fighting for their freedoms? No. They are timidly handing them over to Donald Rumsfeld. Why not just invite the Pentagon in to edit the programs directly?
It isn’t just the US media that’s meek and gutless. Over here Channel 7 has refused to show the Al Jazeera film. When taken to task on the issue by a viewer this morning, presenter David Koch launched into a diatribe about what a “sick puppy” that viewer was. They should go and watch another network, he pronounced.
That’s how little issues such as freedom of speech and the obligations of the media get discussed these days.