h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very touching article, does anyone else see any actual or potential parallels with the Jessica Lynch story. The Media and the Army wanted a hero so they've turned her into one, I read an article in a broadsheet recently saying that she can't leave her base without being mobbed by well wishers and media.

Yes, but I think that her story was an invention of the media compared to Hayes. I read that she was "liberated" from a Iraqi hospital with no Iraqi troops around. When the Iraqi doctors wanted to hand her over so the U.S. troops, they were shot at by them in order to make it more dramatic looking for the media.

I'd have to say that I think *both* were created by the media. They both just were doing their job as best they knew. Neither of them were taking any more risks or being any more heroic than their comrades in arms. This isn't meant to belittle the real personal heroism of either of them - just to point out that Ira Hayes and Jessica Lynch were neither more nor less heroic than the people around them. In both cases, the military leadership of the US was looking around for someone to help them with their public relations.

Valid points, I do find it very disturbing that the powers that be can hijack a story and someone's life like that.

In the case of Private Lynch what the media reported was completely inaccurate she was injured in a RTA and was knocked out cold, she was then treated by the Iraqi hospital for those wounds and as already mentioned she wasn't guarded by any enemy soldiers. Although I am not denying that coming to in an Iraqi hospital must have been a scary experience.

On a personal level the pyschological wounds of going through a conflict are immense and then not been given a chance to heal in private, the mind boggles! At least Private Lynch is getting some money she's just sold her biography for $1 million although in the long term this isn't an awful lot of money considering she is so young.

I suspect her real battle has just begun.

I suspect you're right. And hope you're not.

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