And the Beat Goes On
The first and last thing I do these days � sometimes hours apart � is check for the latest war news. We have some accesses you don�t have, but the Internet is stil the best of all.
When the war started, The Pilot News, like so many newspapers, stuffed everything else in a "tomorrow" folder and went with a war front page.
We deal in Local, Local, Local, of
course, so our front page has been
somewhat different in the days since. We have a local front page with an anchored local war story and then dive inside to Page 3
with the latest
updates, the same 6 a.m. udpates the
national news shows will have but later updates than any other print medium.
It is safe to say I have been studying war coverage.
That first week, the news sites I use for updates were all war, all the time.
By the end of the first week, the main news site had a leadoff of "Some Body Fat is Good For You" followed by "What The New Miss Indiana Thinks" and NCAA headlines.
The War was still there, off to one side, neato color graphic (they don�t even make black and white monitors anymore) but still off to one side.
"And men still keep on marching off to war;
�Electrically they keep a baseball score.
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on."
Those are lyrics from a song which topped the charts in 1967. It�s not that we are becoming immune to news about The War. But, to use the newest terminology, it is imbedded in us, always there if not always noticed.
You can still easily generate discussion about The War. I happened to be in Hobart the same day it was announced a young warrior from that hometown had been killed by a sniper as he road astride a rolling tank, wind in his hair, sun on his shoulders and then, shot to the head at age 22. His own father had died of a massive heart attack at age 37.
The local drug store in his hometown had a �Thank You� sign to him on its marquee, rolling right in there with the daily bottled water and diet supplement specials. Aside from the fact he probably isn�t reading any signs, his death had become, overnight, a sign used to draw customers.
The War is now part of us. I am addicted to it as others are to pro wrestling or Hollywood or body fat readings.
The Battle for Baghdad will be large. But we have been told we will win and so we shall. We have been told it will cost a lot and so it shall. But it is already diminishing in importance.
That�s the way we all view things these days.
Don�t agree?
Then tell me, quickly, without using the Internet, who is William McCool and why was he really important to you in the weeks before The War . . .
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