I hate the media
Sep. 12th, 2002 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsumikI almost forgot I wanted to write about it today. *sigh*
NOTE: If 9/11 and the events surround it scared you DO NOT read ahead
So I hate the media. What good is it but to scare people into a panicking, foaming at the mouth riot? ABC did some special where they basically smuggled a depleted uranium cylinder about the size of a narrow coffee can into the US from some place near the former soviet union. They showed all the various places they didn't get searched, all the detectors and scanners they fooled, etc. etc. Now what bothers me about this is in all honesty the CIA, nsa, FBI, and just about every other security organization in the US pretty much knows. If a terrorist had nuclear bomb material there is more then a likely chance that they are going to be able to get it into the US. I mean making a nuclear bomb doesn't take a rocket scientist. Heck one of my physics projects in high school was to design a nuclear device that would fit into a car, be undetectable by any sort of sensor, and be enough to level 50 square miles. HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS! Of course they don't even mention the fact taking a depleted uranium slug and making it into a bomb grade enriched core takes alot more then anything that's readily available. Nor do they mention that obtaining uranium material period is damn near impossible. All the media does it make everyone, who can't do anything but fear and worry, panic even more. And it's not like a lot of these security measures they are openly going to tell you about. I mean think of GPS. I know for a fact at least 15 years ago they could put a guidance system on a fighter dropped bomb to go through a space of a few centimeters. I KNEW that at 10 years old. Now think about what they can really do. It's all chaos theory really. We can't design the perfect system. If they're going to do damage to us there eventually they're going to be able to do it. But I don't see the sense in making people scared for there lives by playing over and over the worst case scenarios on the news no matter what the smallest fraction of it can be. And the worst problem is most people don't pay super attention to the news and get only partial information from the half truths they tell on TV. One of my friends is scared to death of this so called "dirty nuclear bomb" No if you didn't know anything you'd think it was a nuclear bomb on crack or something. All it really is, is a regular bomb that throws nuclear material up. It DOES NOT incite a nuclear explosion all it does is throw radiated particals into the air. It's still kills alot of people. But the difference is a few hundred versus hundres of thousands. But CNN doesn't make that super clear do they? They just want to make you piss your pants your so scared. GRRR! All they want is viewer ship and they could care less how many people they scare. It's one thing to inform the public but it's entire different thing to make something sound like the end of the world and not explain why most things are pretty damn improbable. GRRR AGAIN! I just wish they would just report the news, report all sides, and stop making news a drama event. (/vent)
NOTE: If 9/11 and the events surround it scared you DO NOT read ahead
So I hate the media. What good is it but to scare people into a panicking, foaming at the mouth riot? ABC did some special where they basically smuggled a depleted uranium cylinder about the size of a narrow coffee can into the US from some place near the former soviet union. They showed all the various places they didn't get searched, all the detectors and scanners they fooled, etc. etc. Now what bothers me about this is in all honesty the CIA, nsa, FBI, and just about every other security organization in the US pretty much knows. If a terrorist had nuclear bomb material there is more then a likely chance that they are going to be able to get it into the US. I mean making a nuclear bomb doesn't take a rocket scientist. Heck one of my physics projects in high school was to design a nuclear device that would fit into a car, be undetectable by any sort of sensor, and be enough to level 50 square miles. HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS! Of course they don't even mention the fact taking a depleted uranium slug and making it into a bomb grade enriched core takes alot more then anything that's readily available. Nor do they mention that obtaining uranium material period is damn near impossible. All the media does it make everyone, who can't do anything but fear and worry, panic even more. And it's not like a lot of these security measures they are openly going to tell you about. I mean think of GPS. I know for a fact at least 15 years ago they could put a guidance system on a fighter dropped bomb to go through a space of a few centimeters. I KNEW that at 10 years old. Now think about what they can really do. It's all chaos theory really. We can't design the perfect system. If they're going to do damage to us there eventually they're going to be able to do it. But I don't see the sense in making people scared for there lives by playing over and over the worst case scenarios on the news no matter what the smallest fraction of it can be. And the worst problem is most people don't pay super attention to the news and get only partial information from the half truths they tell on TV. One of my friends is scared to death of this so called "dirty nuclear bomb" No if you didn't know anything you'd think it was a nuclear bomb on crack or something. All it really is, is a regular bomb that throws nuclear material up. It DOES NOT incite a nuclear explosion all it does is throw radiated particals into the air. It's still kills alot of people. But the difference is a few hundred versus hundres of thousands. But CNN doesn't make that super clear do they? They just want to make you piss your pants your so scared. GRRR! All they want is viewer ship and they could care less how many people they scare. It's one thing to inform the public but it's entire different thing to make something sound like the end of the world and not explain why most things are pretty damn improbable. GRRR AGAIN! I just wish they would just report the news, report all sides, and stop making news a drama event. (/vent)
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I wholeheartedly agree
Date: 2002-09-12 03:19 pm (UTC)In fact, here in Victoria there is a good example of something on the other side of the spectrum, media censorship. Our local paper, the Times Colonist, is on strike and no one, not the mainland papers, not other Island papers, are reporting on the strike because all the papers are owned by the mega-corporation that the strikers from the Times Colonist are fighting against. So in this case, instead of over the top, too much news, we've got no news at all on a big issue.
I understand the worry over war and terrorism and all that. But most people these days don't even know what those words mean. You can't really do anything about it anyway, with a government that makes your country's decisions for you. So why worry about a nuclear war? Live your life well and happily so when you do get blown to bits, your soul will at least go to a better place.