Media's Reality is NOT Reality...

We see the war in Iraq through the lens of the media. What we see is what we get. We take-in the disturbing visuals, listen to the commentary, and than interpret the meaning of it all in ways that it is being fed to us. But do we REALLY know what’s going on over there, or are we simply brainwashed by what the media wants us to believe? Reality of the matter isn’t what is being exposed on the news, REALITY comes from the true stories of men who live it EVERYDAY! To an extent, I know the reality of the matter. It’s devastating and scary and usually hard to swallow. Most of the time I ask questions, but am turned down with answers; Brett feels the need to protect my heart. Regardless, what I hear from Brett and what I gather from the media are two TOTALLY different stories. What does that say about the medias intentions? What are the motives of the media and whom exactly are they trying to convince? Is the exposure of the Democratic opposition to the war simply an election tactic, or are they genuinely passionate about the subject?

Even certain news stations, such as MSNBC, FOX, and CNN etc. are all politically charged with different intentions. FOX tends to be more conservative and CNN more liberal. News is news. Facts are facts. When did our country sacrifice the truth for viewer ship purposes?

For the purpose of our morale about the war, I wish people had a “Brett” in their lives; someone who would ground the situation, rather than spin it with intentional value.

Can't Be Good For Our Morale...

This week, we celebrate the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq: 24,000+ U.S. soldiers wounded and 30,000-100,000 Iraqis killed. Who would have ever imagined that our sense of obligation to a country, would have lasted this long? I spent a fair amount of time today navigating through the news today, trying to find an article or story glorified the soldiers overseas. All I came upon was Bush bashing entries. I am appalled by some of the things I heard.

Here are a couple lines just to name a few.

“"Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam.”
"By going to war in Iraq, President Bush squandered the immense good will of the world community that we had won in the wake of 9/11,"
"Now, one year later, combat deaths are more than five times that of a year ago when our president celebrated 'mission accomplished',"
"Young lives cut short in a pointless conflict and all the president can say is that it 'has been a tough couple of weeks.”

I am trying so hard to understand why it is that the media would rather report on what everyone already knows, than a story that could potentially touch people’s heart instead. The four anniversary should have been a day of commemoration or a day to somber those that have sacrificed for our country. Instead it was spent restating thoughts about our president that we already knew.

I am in fury with how the media handles the news coverage. It is one thing to not support our president, but it is another thing to completely ridicule a man who leads our country. There is something wrong our country when we can go on public television and feel okay about laughing in the face of our leader.

Here for example is a clip from MSNBC entitled “Is Bush an Idiot?”

Watch it and than ask yourselves, can this really be good for our country?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkQcnDCjyuQ

The Reality of the Matter...

Ramadi, Iraq!

A Normal Civilian :)

Doesn't That Put Your Heart at Rest?

Not Always Easy...

One of hardest parts about being in a military relationship is the struggle to accept and combine two polar opposite worlds. Being in a college environment where life revolves around class, schoolwork, internships, Greek life, and the social scene doesn’t always mix perfectly with lifestyle that revolves around fighting for the actual safety of life. At times I crave a type of relationship where our lives meet in the middle. A life where his worries rely merely on an upcoming test or a presentation. I can remember far more mornings of Brett leaving at 4am just to make roll call at 7am, than the mornings of us waking up together. I’ve never walked to class with Brett or met up for lunch on a Monday afternoon. My spring break never worked out with his leave time and nights when I wanted to go out with him and my friends were always dampered by early wake up calls. But for the two years that we’ve been together, none of that mattered because there has always been so much good to weigh out the bad. Brett made more sacrifices for this relationship than I could possibly ask for. He could not have done a better job of making this abnormal relationship, normal for me.

I look at friends who have “normal” college relationships and wonder why I didn’t follow in the same path; why I was thrown this curve ball. But in the end, I am thankful for challenge that’s been given to me. It has made me the strong, enduring person that I am today. I didn’t sign up to be in a military relationship but with the man comes the package right? Whether or not Brett and I stay together forever, I will have learned the most valuable lesson of all- with love comes sacrifice and with sacrifice comes strength.

President Bush has now authorized 4,700 more troops for Iraq in addition to the 21,500 he ordered with his announcement of an escalation of military force in January. He is also ordering an additional 3,500 troops into Afghanistan. Stretching ourselves a little too thin? When did the rest of the world become our first priority? From Iraq to Iran and now to Afghanistan, our military is being dangerously subjugated for reasons even the general public is unaware of. It is our general public whose sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, etc. whose paying the consequence for HIS decision.

As I am writing this entry, I am dumbfounded on how my views have completely altered in the course of months. But I have a question for President Bush: How strong is your fate that peace will actually be the outcome of this war. To have world peace, it would require everyone in the world, fundamentally, to respect every other human being in the world. But today many religions are teaching intolerance rather than respect — and in some cases, advocating violence against others who do not share their beliefs. If a group does not respect the right of another group to exist, obviously the two groups will never be at peace; if people do not respect the rights of other people to live and believe differently, there will always be the threat of oppression in the future. So, until these religions start teaching respect instead of intolerance, or until they fade away because people realize the inhumanity of what they are teaching, we will never achieve true world peace. Is the cost of death worth the SLIGHT chance of resolution?

Other Casualities of War...

A huge misunderstanding about war is that war is simply about life and death. But one must understand that death isn’t always the most destructive cause of being over seas. Of course my worries subside in my fear that he may never come home, but I also fear that he may never come back the same. I fear that every time Brett looks in the mirror, he sees a casualty of war. And that every time he goes to bed, he is awaken by the horror of his past. If these post affects of war weren’t so common, I may sleep better at night. The fact is that they are every bit as common as the studies on them indicate.

A little background info on the syndrome. PTSD is a psychological response to the experience of intense traumatic events, particularly those that threaten life. It can affect people of any age, culture or gender. It is often times a result of men in the military who have been in life and death situations and who have seen things that most people never see. Feelings of the traumatic event can intrude into the lives of individuals around them (me). They may have nightmares of the event or other frightening themes. Movement, excessive sweating, and sometimes even acting out the dream while still asleep may accompany these nightmares. PTSD can cause depression, anxiety, problems with family and friends (me), the need/want to connect or communicate with others (me).

Brett continues to tell me that he is the same and that he has not allowed his environment to alter his way of thinking, but statistics say that 1 in 8 men returning from Iraq suffer from PTSD. Scary scary thought! Just another reason why this war isn't on my side and I'm not on its'!

For more information on the syndrome and how to cope visit:

http://www.iraqwarveterans.org/ptsd.htm

Subjects of War...

Morning after morning I wake up to here about the progress in Iraq, or the lack there of. First, I am overwhelmed with distress but I'm quickly overcome with anger. Most of my anger is directed towards our president. The rest is directed towards the fact that I, ALONE, can do nothing about it. How much more war must the world see to know it is painful, destructive and in many cases deemed "evil"? And yet, we have wars; prepare for war, negotiate for and against war, clean up after war, discuss war, photograph war, write about war, sing about war and even watch war on TV. Throughout history man has actually gone to war to fight for peace! Its as if war is a part of mans condition in the universe and perhaps that is why we understand and yearn for peace. We fight for life because we understand the pain and darkness of death. Interesting question to ask yourself- can we know peace without war?

Divided We Stand...

Don’t you find it disturbingly ironic that CHURCH, the holiest and purest sanctity in the Christian religion, had the nerve to flaunt this foul and malice comment? How can a place where all Christians gather to worship, post such a despicable and disgusting comment about a fellow Christian? I may not agree with the Presidents plan to troop surge, but these sort of comments are what divides our country and causes us to be susceptible to our enemies. While stirring up potential blog posts, I can’t help but conclude JUST HOW distorted our society can be.

How Unfortunate...

It is impossible to overstate the media's importance. They are, in a very real sense, the gatekeepers of reality for most Americans. For people who don't read blogs or alternative publications, the media are their sole source of information and interpretation of what's going on in our community, our state, our country and our WORLD. Which gets me to my main point. How is it that only few hours after Anna Nicole Smiths death, her name and face were plastered all over the news, internet and the radio but yet there is almost NO media attention to our fallen or returning soldiers from Iraq. There are soldiers dying for your country every damn day and they get a brief …"Four Marines Killed in Iraq…”…”Another Plane Shot Down Killing 3 American Soldiers,” and does anyone bother to make note of these men and women dying for OUR country? What is wrong with the media...with our country...with our priorites? There are 3000+ men and women dying at much younger ages doing much bigger and better things than selling trim spa. Can the media, for once, set aside viewership numbers and concentrate on what REALLY matters? Our people are dying for the good of our country and who ALSO dont get proper goodbyes. People need to start recognizing who the REAL heroes are in this country and STOP feeding into the insensitive B.S that the media is cluttering our minds with. I don’t want to hear the name Hilton for a month…unless of course I’m checking into one.