Broken Brokaw

One might think that given the state of the NFL today I would be using this space to mourn the Colts' or Raiders' loss; however, NBC has aired an even more grievous segment today. Tom Brokaw has almost made me yearn for McCarthy and the days of the Hollywood Ten in which this type of tomfoolery would not only not be aired but result in the blacklisting of and possibly incarceration of the presumably guilty party. Brokaw threw away his own integrity (if he ever even had any) in a Robert C. Byrd-ly feeble attempt to proselytize America to his hippie sentimentalism. "Sentimentalism" is far more accurate than the typical words which would be used in that context - logic, sensiblities, etc. - because neither logic nor sensibility were used in constructing his argument against the war.
...on a side note: it's rather alarming how the war in Iraq has remained the be-all and end-all of the American political arena for the past few years. Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned partisan issues like abortion, taxes, slavery - oops, wrong century! - and censorship? And where the heck are some good dogfights over the politcal correctness of the Ten Commandments? My Presbyterian incisors are positively jonesing to sink into a piece of that fight! Anyway...
Brokaw aired a piece uncreatively named "To War and Back" about 7 friends from upstate New York who all went off to Iraq together. In the truly tragic story, Iraqi insurgents attack the vehicle carrying four of the young men with an RPG, injuring three and killing one. The piece showed (grantedly, tasteful) clips of the soldier's family and fiance grieving, as well as face-to-face interviews with the other six buddies. The shameful bit is how Brokaw minimized the bravery of these soldiers by exploiting their experience for his own cause. The mother of the dead soldier tearfully wonders how things could have been different if her son and his comrades had been traveling in an armed Humvee rather than an unaromored vehicle. Brokaw takes this opportunity to bring up the question of whether the troops are being allocated enough resources to be proctected - in the middle of his anti-war opus. I for one am having difficulty reconciling this red herring with the rest of the "documenatry." So which is it, Brokaw? War or no war? Spend or save? He wants more money for troops overseas while at the same time objecting to their very presence there, while meanwhile touting their story as a reason to halt the war entirely. Were this a middle-school dance, Brokaw would have thoroughly scuffed the Steve Madden kicks of his Democratic dance partner with his stumblings.
He continued his mess of a peacemonger's apologist by using a clip from a December of 2004 press conference wherein the (relative) safety of the troops overseas is publicly decried as insufficient. Brokaw fails to point out that that whole investigation was discredited by many sources, showing his true journalistic color. Yellow, it proves, is the name of the shade, and exploitation is the name of the game. It is, of course, an economic and strtegic impossibility to provide every single soldier in every single situation with impermeable protection; yet, this danger is what they signed up for. Brave men and women daily risk their lives in Iraq and other foreign situations (yes, some in even - gasp! - unarmored veihcles) for the sake of liberty, not for the benefit of a propagandistically pulp story created for a cause which deliberately undermines their sacrifice. It is never legitimate for a soldier to cry foul when sent off to battle because it was "unexpected;" people who enlist do so at their own risk and are made aware of the dangers inherent in being a hero. My little brother recently enlisted as a Marine and is proud to serve his country and her ideals on the battlefield; his heart yearns for the day in which he can physically do everything within his power to see America the Beautiful protected. If someone were to manipulate his story to make him a supporting example for a pacficistic movement, I have the feeling that he would put his training to good use in some good, therapuetic gunplay.
Brokaw has done each and every American overseas a disservice by misrepresenting the facts and then goes above and beyond the call of duty to of an atavistically self-serving bleeding-heart movement by failing to thank the surviving soldiers for their bravery and sacrifice. They stared one of the Four Horsemen in the eye and unblinkingly threw themselves into its path in order that it might be ultimately defeated, yet Brokaw and his compadres fail to give their nobility even a nod. Rather, they exploit the first of many freedoms which those same soldiers fight to preserve so that an agenda which belittles and/or seeks to eliminate both the efforts of both the soldiers and the First Amendment. Smell fishy? That's the odor of liberalism's rotten tactics. It's a pity to lump Brokaw on the same end of the political spectrum with such journalistic greats as the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, whose fiery monologues ramble in an intimate and entertaining first-person account of major political events, complete with footnotes, ednotes, citations, and quotes. Thompson was the king of gonzo journalism; Brokaw is the jester of the entire industry, which is saying a lot when peers include the entire nutty staff of The New York Times. For Brokaw to practice the same journalistic precision would require him to actually go to Iraq himself and see/experience the lives of the soldiers firsthand... something tells me this is against his doveish convictions, not to mention the possiblity of injury! His inattention to details - scratch that - reality - is a discredit to the Freeom of Speech. Though some abuse is inevitable, this isn't just abuse; it's flat-out looking the proverbial thoroughbred gift horse whose won a Triple Crown in the mouth and then shipping it immeditaely off to the proverbial glue factory. Sophomoric straw men should not be allowed to be labeled journalism, and yet... logic and the facts mean nothing in this day of postmodernist relativity. Brokaw uses logic as effectively as a Kennedy steering heavy machinery such as, oh, say - airplanes or automobiles - by cobbling a flimsy argument from the fruits of journalistic dumpster-diving and an emotional play for empathy. Rather than being informed, we are spoon-fed opinions in the form of misapplied information and smoke screens. Thanks for nothing, Tom Brokaw. Reporting be damned, you're the voice of the people! Accountability? Eh... that's for those ubermoral right-wingers and religious goons. Tom, the ulcer to which you along with copious amounts of Red Bull and booze have contributed burns nowhere near as badly as... well...you know... I'm probably not allowed to name that place here. But here's a hint: it ain't Heaven.
Just so you know and nobody gets incensed by my own lack of attention to research and objectivity, please note that this is a blog, devoted to the opinion of one cynical, chronically sleep-deprived devotee of bad puns, extreme politics, guns, and clever insults.
P.S. It ain't all bad - the blessed Colts still boast a magnificent 15-1 record which clinches them the home stadium in playoffs. Now they can bench their starters, play at half-power for a while, and then bitch-slap whoever tries to take them on in the SuperBowl. Neo-Hoosiers have been waiting for this forever (at least in our young minds), while classicists like my dad, who still root for the Chicago Bears and are living in 1985, take their small battles and hope for the best.
P.P.S. Upcoming topics (hopefully; I've had more time over break than anticipated, so maybe I'll finally put some thoughts down): College basketball (of course! <3), Christmas, Marriage... alll that other good stuff.