“Gulf War (3):
Glitterdome”
Leonard’s commentary on war coverage turned entertainment on
TV during the first Gulf War. His message is less about censorship and more
about how a partnership between TV networks and the US Military have
collaborated to turn meaningful war correspondence into a fireworks display or
sporting event.
He writes, “…since 1856 the basic story has been reporters
trying to do their job and governments trying to shut them up. There has never,
however, been a war that looks like this one.” All talking heads (“…Hertz
rent-a Generals”) and long shots of smart bombs and tracers, “…all that’s
missing is the game itself. Sudden death in overtime.”
His point is that by giving up on the type of reporting that
brought us the war on the ground in Viet Nam “into our living rooms” …“We miss
not only the action, but the meaning.”
Shock and Awe:
New word: columbarium = niches for the storage of cremation
urns.
New
learning: Martha Gellhorn is one of the most respected war correspondents of
the 20th Century (and Hemingway’s 3rd wife). She covered
every war from the Spanish Civil War in 1939 to the US invasion of Panama in
1989 at the age of 79. She was one of the first correspondents to report on the
true nature of the war in Viet Nam.
Gellhorn and Hemingway in China:
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