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

Is anyone else disturbed by sensationalist compaigns for cute kids? The most recent one surrounds Ali, the 12 year old who lost both arms and who was recently flown to Kuwait for treatment. But I can remember other similar campaigns.

I can see the virtue of personalising the issues - I can see the benefits for Ali - but does anyone other than me have the queasy feeling that the media have a ratings agenda here? And does that actually matter if Ali gets the best possible treatment?

Ben

I understand what you're saying. My own feelings were that Ali had been picked out by the media to represent the Human Face of war. Although it's good that he is getting treatment, I can't help feeling that others are being ignored (ie the many Iraqis now fighting for food because the armies that have rid them of Saddam forgot to take into account the humanitarian requirements of a population that has existed under tyranny and sanctions for over 10 years).

I have been bizarrely unmoved by it all, I must say. I have been far more disturbed by the fact that we still cannot be shown the true face of war, ie dead Iraqi soldiers in their dozens.

Ditto with the Blues Shark.

It's a little uneasy when people start saying "the wars over, lets go back to playing tennis on a Sunday now"...

I mean. There are numerous people dead : we haven't seen them. We saw the pictures of the Taliban being torn to pieces in Afghanistan. Bloody genitals and all. Why aren't we being shown exactly what OUR troops are doing?

Stupid media.

And as for Ali. I'm not stupid enough to fall for the charity case stories. There are no doubt orphaned children in Iraq, that are walking the streets looking for their parents, more often than not, bearing injuries similar to the kid on the news. Maybe even worse. He is being used to demonstrate how well the coalition are cleaning up after themselves : not for the true face of war. He won't have any more problems in life. Other Iraqi kids will.

>He won't have any more problems in life. Other Iraqi kids will.

Oh, I beg to differ. When the fun's over and everyone's lost interest, he be packed off back home- physically in one piece, but lacking things like a home, food, someone to back up the mental bits and pieces...

Physically in one piece aside from not having any arms, of course.

Well, we did say we intended to "disarm Iraq"...

H.

Nah. That's not true. Any bets he already has a line of rich benefactors queuing up to adopt him. After all, he lost his whooole family.

Well, unless they're going to give him his arms in a doggy bag, what's left of him will be in one piece...

Oh dear. Hoo, now you know that is incredibly un-PC of you.

On the whole, I'm quite pleased about the publicity Ali is getting as it makes more people aware of the problems the young in Iraq will be facing. What concerns me is that the majority (?) of people only react to what's dumped in front of their face - ie. on the TV.

We saw that happen with Princess Diana. Most were in the "oh what a tragedy" school as a famous and pretty woman died, but probably quickly forget stories in the local papers about kids being left orphans after nasty road accidents killed their 'nobody' parents. The media have too much power, but most people let them get away with it. They can only think what they're told to think.

You're a very naughty Hoo!

One remembers Kim Phuq, the little girl burned by napalm in Vietnam, who is dragged out in regular 'where are they now?' features. The media do feed - and continue to feed - off the stories that will sell papers. Whatever grand things they say about informing the public, that is always the bottom line...

I hope that the money people are sending to Ali - probably more than he needs - is used on rebuilding other lives as well. It's got to ber better than spending millions on flowers and teddies that will never bring back murdered children or blonde princesses...

too many interims - where you reading over my shoulder, spinks, or was I indisde your brain?

You always a find a queue of people queuing up to adopt orphaned children in wars - as long as they're cute, of course.


cynical? me?

Good point about that little girl with the napalm.

It did seem to focus attention. Before that photograph, no gave a flying Kim.

H.

It's not the media that feeds off these stories.

It's the people who read them.

Hmm: if there's manipulation going on:

do you think that

the public manipualte the media's agenda,
or
the media manipulate the public's emotional reactions?

I always feel a little unesy about these 'celebrity'cases, inasmuch as in a conflict there are always many casualties, and whereas Ali's injuries are horrific and he is no doubt deserving of aid, I have no doubt that there are many more children and adults who have similarly been affected. Helping Ali is a way for people to salve their consciences in my opinion, but will not help those heads of households who can no longer provide for their families for example. Who's going to help them, the Iraqi welfare state?

Well, if the public weren't stupid enough to fall for what certain sections of the media put out, then certain sections of the media wouldn't exist. Supply, and demand. I mean, look at how many people buy The Sun every day...

"Is anyone else disturbed by sensationalist compaigns for cute kids? "
Yes.

Why is it just one kid? If they were featuring half a dozen a day do they think the public would turn away?

In the case of the Rumanian orphanages we were shown dozens of distressed kids and the result was money for the orphanages - not for one particular child. I don't believe that the public has changed since then. So someone must think picking on one unique case sells more papers. Which is...cynical, at the very least.

"It's a little uneasy when people start saying "the wars over, lets go back to playing tennis on a Sunday now"...

I mean. There are numerous people dead : we haven't seen them. We saw the pictures of the Taliban being torn to pieces in Afghanistan. Bloody genitals and all. Why aren't we being shown exactly what OUR troops are doing?"

If by "our" you mean British troops, then the answer seems to be "a bl**dy good job". I haven't seen any UK missiles hitting marketplaces, we didn't shoot up any US APC's, and our troops have done a good job of trying to communicate with the Iraqis rather than pinning them down and pointing guns at their heads like the soldiers of a certain other country.

What *is* interesting is that the victims of the Saddam regime that so many seemed to think should have been "left alone" are starting to emerge. They've already found a mass-grave with 2000 or so dead bodies in it, and a lot of the civilians protesting to the American troops were demanding to know about their relatives who were "in underground prisons" (and I would imagine those places were for more than just incarceration).

Yes, war is brutal and horrible but the results of "peace" can often be far worse, as we shall find out in the following months when the other victims of the Saddam regime are uncovered.