I'm watching a reporter broadcast live from the passenger seat of a HUMVEE that is following a tank brigade as they speed across the Iraqi desert. The video and audio are both as tolerable as watching broadband video on a DSL modem.
Simply amazing.
I've witnessed a lot of remarkable events live on television, but the logistics and technology required to pull this particular broadcast is just too damn cool. I wonder how long it will be before we will be able to send video to friends and family from across town or across the world as it happens.
'Reality' television be damned.
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That being David Bloom from NBC? I've been watching him as well. The quality is amazing, and the images are captivating. I only hope he has the common sense to abandon the project before they roll into Basra or Baghdad. He's a good reporter, and this war isn't worth him losing his life over for a few front-line reports.
I was watching some guy on FOX and I too hope they have the sense to turn off these warcams as they approach real combat. Watching live combat requires training and experience that I certainly do not have.
I must aggree with that, but even when they are not in combat they keep saying that they can't tell you everything because of "operational security", but these people are reporters and I don't think they can be trusted, if not for just their instincts. My other problem is they are still giving a large amount of information such as we are going 20mph, and we left from so and so. The Iraqis could very well use that information.
You know what pisses me off more than watching people eat meat off of a bone? Politically correct “Seattillians†in their 20's who consume their information in dosages too easily digestible to contain any nourishment. Ok, enough with the "carnivore" analogies- let me get to the marrow. Specifically, my complaint malingers with the affinity my generation seems to hold for "reality" television. The lack of interest they have in history, current events or political genres seems to be satiated with a half hour program focusing on the woes of dating or factors of fear. As the first generation to witness war no other way than as a bad replay of the wide-screen version of some Bruce Willis movie- we find the notion of true “reality television†too much to take. Are we too desensitized to even have an inkling of interest in watching the news, reading about the war or self educating about trade policies occurring in Iraq?
I believe you are right in saying many are "too desensitized" but I might point it in another direction. Desensitization to evil is one of the chief aims of the enemy. Horrible at first, then less so next time. In short order it's commonplace.
I would guess the same holds true to the good side of the spectrum. A true glorious good loses its luster the second time around. It's a sad statement to the adaptability of humans, for good or for evil.
David Bloom, dead at 39.