Hero Worship

This past Monday, 11/11, was Veterans day, an American federal holiday which originated as Armistice day, a day to remember the end of the first world war. Veterans day is a day to remember the veterans of America, the heroes who put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we Americans take for granted. The only problem I see with this is that we haven’t had to protect our freedom for more than sixty years, we have been the dominant force in the world since World War II and we have used that position to bully and push our “freedom” on countries not seeking it. Of course, we have done great things for the world, but most of it doesn’t involve invading countries on the other side of the world or killing democratically elected leaders who happen to not be willing to bow to American feet, and those invasions and assassinations have done little than to show us as a bully that believes itself above the rules.  All of this isn’t to say that we should blame our troops for mistakes, but it is to say that the soldier worship so evident in america is unhealthy, and altogether unhelpful, it glorifies war and makes questioning the government nearly treasonous. We should consider who benefits when we consider every veteran a hero. Not the veterans, no, they have record numbers of suicides, they make up 13% of the homeless population, despite only accounting for less than 1% of the total population, they have mental illnesses that often go untreated, or even get them dishonorably discharged, preventing them from even trying to get treatment. No, the people who benefit the most from this hero-worship are the policy makers, the leaders, the public sees the veterans as heroes, and heroes couldn’t be fighting an unjust war, no,  the war has to be right, or else why would we be involved. The American public hasn’t exactly enjoyed the two wars we have been involved in for the past twelve years, but despite the ridiculous length of the war, there has been no movements, nothing even approaching the feelings felt during the Vietnam war, but what gives, the world is now more connected than ever, we can see images and names from the war whenever we want, why isn’t there the reaction that Vietnam incurred, where is the outrage, we have been at war for 12 years! Finally we are withdrawing, but still, the policy makers managed to declare war against an IDEA! the idea of terrorism, and they fought it, to little success, despite what they will tell you, yes, we got Osama, congrats, what about the billions spent in the war, what about the lives lost, what about the countries destroyed and destabilized, was the cost worth it in the end? according to the government the answer is yes, and we should just stand their and pledge ourselves to the flag and weep with patriotic pride. We commemorate the lost heroes and sanctify men and women who did a service, who fought a brutal, useless, war, who put their lives on the line for the not quite so honest leaders of this country who lead them into battle for little reason. We should always think before we consider such as brutal profession as inherently heroic, as its insults the true heroes, and benefits the wrong people.

Al Jazeera in America

In light of Al Jazeera’s recent debut in the United States, I figured I’d talk about my thoughts on this brilliant news network.I learned about this news network a number of years ago, but I didn’t start using it seriously until I found their app on the Android Market. I have since stopped using their app (if you need a news app, I highly recommend Huff Post), but I’ll be watching them on TV as much as possible now. I recommend you all read Al Jazeera’s saga as a news network on Wikipedia. They are a provocative news network that is unafraid to say what it needs to of who it wants to. But they are also “unbiased, fact-based, [with] in-depth news.” Their record proves it.

Al Jazeera was born in 1996 straight out of Qatari government funds. I will grant that the network is biased in favor of Qatar, but then again, what news network isn’t biased somehow? The network argues it is not, of course, but with the chairman of the news network being apart of the royal family, I won’t believe. Its original Arabic motto was “the opinion and the other opinion.” It immediately drew criticism – from boycotting to official government censorship – when it put Israelis speaking Hebrew on live TV in the Arab world. This was never done before, and the network had officially made its mark on the history of journalism.

Just two years after beginning, Al Jazeera filmed Operation Desert Fox when no one else would. Just a year later, it became the most popular Arab news network in the region, without Saudi funding. That’s a pretty big accomplishment. in 2001, it received footage from Osama Bin Laden, and it aired the footage. People use this as grounds to criticize Al Jazeera, but imagine if the world never knew who committed the 9/11 attacks ? CNN and many other Western news outlets showed the footage too…after it received it from Al Jazeera. When war broke out in Afghanistan, they already had a station up and running in Kabul that dared to film what would go on during the war.

But of course the United States couldn’t stand that. Their station in Kabul was bombed (luckily know one was hurt), and according to the then managing director Mohammed Jassim al-Ali, “This office has been known by everybody, the American airplanes know the location of the office, they know we are broadcasting from there.” But perhaps I am speculating too much. Then again, the United States also fired on their office in Baghdad, killing one of their journalists and injuring a cameraman. The Qatari government provided the United States a map of Baghdad with the location of their office, but I guess they “forgot”. After all, the United States has a habit of killing brave journalists.

But true journalism prevailed. The network has continued to film war footage – whether it is the United States or the Taliban doing the bombing. The network has continued to film war footage in Syria, showing the public what is really going on, graphic content and all. The world deserves to know.

The network has been amid controversy since their founding, as every good news outlet ought too. Former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell wanted it shut down, current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it’s quite unbiased. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is “delighted” it’s come to the West.

They’ve aired Jews and Bin Laden, Tony Blair and the Taliban. They’ve been censored in Palestine for being pro-Israeli, and sanctioned in Israel for favoring Hamas. China threw them out of Beijing, and Saudi Arabia made their own media to fight back. Iraq bans them every once in a while, and Spain threw one of their journalists in jail for seven years.

What are their motives, therir views, true opinions? Who knows. But they are provocative, insightful, and they certainly make me think. And that’s what media ought to be. They are the fifth most influential global brand in the world, and their story has only just begun.