Marketing Terror

Stardate 4298.0

Wage War on Media not Terror

I have been reading a lot and watching a lot of news over the last few years. It is hard not too. Of course, there ar emany different styles of news broadcasting, and many different points of view. Different media outlets have different affiliations and sponsors, so who's story is right? A while ago, I wrote a story called "Media Controlled Emotions" regarding the trends of media to "jump" on the next big thing. One so-called famous incident is quickly overshadowed by the next, bigger ratings event. Really, was Schiavo worth the attention the media gaver her? The US government? Everybody? Of course, when John Paul II died, everyone forgot about her so I guess not.

Now the fuel for the Terror that haunts so many people in the US, Europe and other places is the media. Of course, these thigns must be reported to raise awareness. After all, if I lived in London, I would want to know that the tube is dangerous, and why their are soldiers everywhere. But, does it go too far? When *every* newspaper has "LONDON UNDER ATTACK" on the cover, and *every* on-line news page has "SUSPECTS CAUGHT IN ATTACKS" and *every television broadcast shows people running for their lives, not only does it worsen the fear in people, but it fuels the fanatical terrorists onwards! They are winning this war, and every time a picture or a story is posted, it is another victory for them. Another person stays in their house, or has their eyes glued to CNN. Every time a politician stands up and condemns the latest attacks, it is a victory for them.

When the various agencies are hunting a serial killer, they feed wrong information to the press. Well, maybe not entirely, but to a large enough extent that they can filte rout all of the rubbish phone calls, pranks and copycats. They would have too. How many calls would they get about suspects? Gotta know the straight facts for sure. But if the press gets carried away reporting murders, what next? Your serial killer is suddenly a celebrity, getting a smuch air time as the President! You can see where this is going.

Now I am opposed to violent demonstration and terrorism. Don't get me wrong. The recent bombings in London and Egypt are terrible, and many innocent people have lost their lives and family members because of them. Even innocent people have been killed by Police. But for every guy they "nab", or kill, another one or two will pop up. The English have dealt with bombs from the Irish for decades. You never got MSN updates about those attacks though. Now, there is an official "War on Terror" though, and as soon as a Muslim Extremist blows up a car, it is all over every media outlet imagineable.

I say the media PROPOGATES fear and incites terrorists to new heights, and though a certain level of reporting is essential for safety, they are only making matters worse. And for what? The advertising buck? TO show what a great job the authorities are doing keeping society safe? Hogwash! The authorities can rarely do anything until AFTER something happens. Or they will lie about it. And what about the press?

The latest numbers reported by the press are that there are 25,000 civilian casualties in Iraq since the war started, with 9,000 being from coalition forces. The group reporting this is Iraq Body Count. Months ago, I took part in an event sponsored by a group called Counting the Cost. Their numbers are much higher, to the point of being over 4 times as many civilians! That's 100,000 casualties! or 36,000 caused by coalition forces... Now you tell me which number was mashed all over the media and on every web news page? Come on, three guesses here. The media will report what it wants, and that is rarely the entire truth.

Maybe, just maybe, if everyone in the western world stopped hearing about bombs going off, they might actually stop going off. I know it sounds naive, and probably quite insane, but maybe it's true. Most artists, actors and companies pay a LOT for advertising to get their song or product or message out. These guys are using OUR system against us...

After all, *everyone* wants to be a rock star.