OBSESSION

THAT is what 'sells'. Obsession with any and every human tragedy,...except the largest, most embracing ones.

OBSESS with a white pregnant woman gone missing.
OBSESS with a black football player whose ex-wife was murdered.
OBSESS with pretty female WV soldier 'saved' from an Iraq hospital.
OBSESS with a busted steam pipe in NY.
OBSESS with bus load of players off a ramp.
OBSESS with a brain-dead woman whose husband let her go.
OBSESS with a fallen bridge in Minneapolios.
OBSESS with a woman lost in,....on,...a vacation island.
OBSESS with a "pro" wrestler who went wacko.
OBSESS with any single event that fails to fall into the "perfect world",...

WHILE IGNORING THE ABUSES AGAINST THE AMERICAN POPULACE AND HUMANITY ACROSS THE GLOBE!!!!

OBSESSION.

This junta SUCKS off it while the media USES it to attack every American brain cell, for profit.

This country,...its experiment in democracy,...its "soul" has been bought,...and we are paying and will pay for generations.

OBSESSION.

I am relieved to know my niece who lives in St. Paul is okay, but profoundly sad as I watch this tragedy unfold.

Yes, the abuses against the American populace and humanity across the globe are horrendous and of course disturbing and not lost on those of us who are aware of the realities of our time. But sometimes tragic events close to home are horrendous, as well and capture our attention.

Peace and blessings to all.

Tired Old Cynic

A tragedy isn't always a "distraction from what is really important"...sometimes it IS part of what is really important.

Katrina, for example. One could say the media were "obsessed" with it. But it wasn't unimportant compared to the larger scheme of things...it WAS, and continues to be, part of what matters. Not just a trivial diversion.

You are right on, and may I say I LOVE Keith Olbermann. He and DU help keep me sane and grounded!

I believe I can emphasize perspective on how the state of ALL OUR LIVES are being impacted by those who are bleeding us for every cent OBSESS on "events" that are clearly, quite clearly,...localized.

Am I being,...confusing?

There are "local" tragedies every single day.

Every single day,...across this world,...humanity faces loss. Humanity also faces joyful moments.

My point is HOW humanity is the OBJECT of abuse, EVERY DAMN DAY!!!

WHERE IS THAT PERSPECTIVE?!?!?!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1457005

"Localized" indeed.

Life lost due to an accident in this country is so much more tragic than lives lost due to an aggressive, profiteering war on people who ALSO did nothing wrong or bad,...who DID NOT DESERVE TRAGEDY.

The difference,....

,...well,...

Do you see the difference? Or,...not?

Is it 'obsession' with a single tragic event in OUR country that draws you,...or not?

There is an ongoing tragedy going on now in our country. There are people on this board who are worried sick that they have not heard from loved ones in the area.

And you have to post how people are "obsessed" with this hours old tragedy and nobody here ever pays attention to Iraq or Katrina. Shame on you.

Preaching to the choir?

We are talking PAST one another, I guess.

Listen, please,...please LISTEN!!!!

Imagine IF every Iraqi death were reported with as much IMPORTANCE as the these innocents.

IMAGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!

"preaching to the choir"?????? I fucking WONDER about THAT assertion!!!!!

No, I don't wonder about that assertion. It is clear to me what is important to THAT "choir".

There are a minimum of seven fatalities.

There are 60 confirmed injuries.

There are 50 cars in the river. Not all of them have been searched.

There are two million people in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The cell phone system was down for hours, and many, many people were unable to determine if their friends and relatives were dead or alive.

And you think that less than a dozen people have suffered?

What,...are YOU talking about?

OH!

OUR LIVES are,...what,...more valuable or what, what?

THEIR LIVES WERE LOST TO VIOLENCE,...violent deaths.

Is THAT loss somehow,....LESS a loss than an event in our country?

:shrug:

Am I offending you by respecting the lives of those who did not live in this country and who DID die at the hand of human will?

:shrug:

Most people can multitask.

Most people can process more than one item at a time.

Perhaps you are not one of them.

Are you offending me? No. Actually, I feel sorry for you. Apparently, you cannot understand how it is possible to be concerned about issues in Iraq and be concerned about loved ones in Minneapolis at the same time, and that is sad.

YOU feel sorry for me?

pfft

I can't imagine YOU "feeling" sorry.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

You seem to think that news channels should not show news from America, only news from Iraq? Are you that hyper-focused that nothing else matters to you?

For goodness sake my big brother is in that shithole and I wouldn't even want non-stop Iraq only coverage. I want to know when shit like a bridge collapse happens. I do not want my total news to be "my local news" and "War news".

If you do not want to see it, then shut off the damn tv and just read your news on the internet.

WTF? Why not fire off a letter or two to the Corporate Media instead of screaming at DU'ers?

Now there's an idea.

We're not your children, your students, your subjects or anything else subject to your demands.

I am personally close to three people in the Twin Cities that I have not heard from yet.

On the other hand, I ask: "Do you have the capacity to attend to EVERY HUMAN TRAGEDY, if reported, or ONLY the ones reported by this media?"

Do You?

Do you have the capacity to attend every human tragedy in Iraq or Darfur or under the bridges of every metropolitan city in the U.S.A.?

How many human beings died needlessly, today? Do you pay attention to that?

Please, do NOT accuse me of being insensitive while you are being especially sensitive to one event in one place in this country.

That would be, OBSESSIVE,...wouldn't it?

:shrug:

What is the point of accusing them of obsession with one or another? All tragedy matters. Accusing people of caring too much about one, and not enough about another, is insensitive, when all of them matter but no one person can possibly give all of them their due.

And where a hell of a lot of DU'ers I care about live.

Piss off with your obsession screeching - a lot of us are worried about people we care about. What a load of crap this is anyway - you people who think people can only care about one thing at a time. What a small world you must inhabit when you only have enough compassion for a finite amount of tragedies.

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd?
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend

How can people be so heartless
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to give in
Easy to help out

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who say they care about social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

and it is a great song. There were many great songs in Hair.

the larger social problems we are facing in a concise context.

We need to connect to stories to truly feel the weight of a larger issue.

Problem is, too many people never make that connection.

Blessings!

But I am going to fucking obsess until every last one of the people I care about in Minneapolis are accounted for.

Don't like the news coverage? Use your brain and your fucking index finger and turn off the fucking idjit box.

I have family in Minneapolis, and I was fortunate enough to learn a short time ago that they are safe. I understand what you're going through.

I hope that your loved ones prove to be safe, as well. The best to you.

I know my sanity is above reproach at the moment.

I just needed to call the OP on his/her insensitivity.

I think the OP needs to work on his/her multitasking abilities. And perhaps his/her compassion for others.

:hug:

:)

http://www.startribune.com/

:(

x(

This could have been prevented.

As long as`we can focus on the distraction du jour, we don't have to think about how fucked up we are and can continue to pretend it is all the fault of "them".

What planet have I landed on?

Of course the bridge collapsing is news, but it is hardly a catastrophe unless you know or are related to one of the victims. Most of the other events mentioned are the same thing, local tragedies that have tremendous impact on those involved, but I believe the point is that we are living in a nation where the media is selling obsession with relatively inconsequential events while ignoring the ongoing, monumental, tragedies and appalling indifference that pervade our lives.

How many homeless people will you ignore today? How many of them have lived on the streets since a hurricane took all but their lives 2 years ago? How many were forced into the streets because they happened to be poor and living in an area that was targeted for "gentrification" by their city and the developers that own it? How many with mental illness that they have suffered with since returning from some war or other, only to have the whole nation turn their backs on them? What about the 50 or more people that will die today and tomorrow and every day for no other reason than being poor and having no access to the most basic health care?

When was the last time you saw a report on the fact that our money is nearly worthless, or that the DOW being at 14,000 is still lower, in real value, than it was in 1999? How about the fact that our national infrastructure has been utterly neglected for 30 years or more and is literally crumbling?

No, it is much better to keep the sheep distracted with the pharmaceutical proclivities of an uber-wealthy scion/pseudo-celebrity.

It was written in the very unfolding of the event, and it was insensitive to those here worried about friends and relatives in Minnesota.

Also, your definition of catastrophe is different from mine. This certainly qualifies in terms of scope. You say this is a only local story, and then that our national infrastructure is literally crumbling. Confusing.

There is, indeed, a fundamental truth to the OP and the timing of making it during the beginning of the inevitable media circus, that will lead to nothing but will generate the illusion of concern, is a perfect example of the marketing of a temporary obsession in place of genuine concern. Whether this was intended by the OP, or not, I have no way of knowing.

It allows us to continue to neglect the real issue, (the utter negligence of our vital infrastructure in the name of short-term profits for the ruling class) while congratulating ourselves on our humanity, yet doing nothing to fix the very real problem. Of course this is a tragedy and, if the story I've heard turns out to be true, the Republik governor is the sole cause of it, yet I will bet money that he will not get the blame.

As for the definition of catastrophe, there is colloquial meaning to support your definition, I was referring to the classic definition rooted in the Greek word Katastophe; meaning a dramatic or fundamental overturning, a sea-change if you will.

One could even say that America has become the ultimate example of the Roman strategy of "bread and circuses".

"you summarily dismiss other's lives?", says she, yet when it comes to the wrestler's family, the white pregnant woman gone missing, the woman woman lost 'in,....on,...a vacation island'... one can't pay attention to those deaths as well? Those are not "the real issue" to her, and she accuses us at DU of ignoring everything going on in Iraq and with Katrina, and I just don't buy it:

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Well the point may have been unintentional, or I misinterpreted it, but I still think there is validity in the general observation.

Some of the issues you listed are of considerable importance, though you don't see it.

Some very directly and personally impact people.

And, finally, it is human nature to be interested in the small stories - it always has been. It's why Anne Frank is moving in ways that lists of the Holocaust dead don't match. It's why newspapers run Human Interest stories. Anyone who has successfully worked with moving people can tell you that it's the stories of individuals - not sweeping numbers - that most incite our passion and compassion.