Bob Lives! (...but the prognosis is bleak)
As implied in a post last week, I was skeptical that an anonymous comment from a online MSNBC blog reader named "Bob" was real.
The MSNBC reporter in Baghdad, Jane Arraf, who originally wanted Bob to reveal himself, has posted an update. It turns out that Bob is an actual person, who "works for a U.S. contractor teaching English to Iraqis in the aviation industry and he lives on a military base." His work is commendable, and I'm happy that there are men and women like him who risk their lives to make a positive contribution to the situation in Iraq.
The trouble is that this situation is far larger than can be distilled down and summarized by Bob's Good Works; this situation cannot simply be rectified by merely reporting "both sides" of the story, as if each side weighted equally will then reflect the reality on the ground. Suggestions that traditional media need to report the "progress" are fine, but this cannot be reported in a vacuum: Even in Bob's own recounting of the progress he has witnessed in Iraq, there are undercurrents of the very problems that have propelled the country into civil war:
To acknowledge this isn't pessimistic, it's realistic. In other words, Bob: Keep telling it like you see it. Reporters: Print Bob in context of reality.
America: Get off the couch, get some exercise, and start thinking critically.
The MSNBC reporter in Baghdad, Jane Arraf, who originally wanted Bob to reveal himself, has posted an update. It turns out that Bob is an actual person, who "works for a U.S. contractor teaching English to Iraqis in the aviation industry and he lives on a military base." His work is commendable, and I'm happy that there are men and women like him who risk their lives to make a positive contribution to the situation in Iraq.
The trouble is that this situation is far larger than can be distilled down and summarized by Bob's Good Works; this situation cannot simply be rectified by merely reporting "both sides" of the story, as if each side weighted equally will then reflect the reality on the ground. Suggestions that traditional media need to report the "progress" are fine, but this cannot be reported in a vacuum: Even in Bob's own recounting of the progress he has witnessed in Iraq, there are undercurrents of the very problems that have propelled the country into civil war:
"...On my first day of class while I was calling the roll I had a first for me. Keep in mind I have taught in eight different countries as of right now but this is my first war zone. As I was calling out the names one student was absent but it was explained to me that he had been kidnapped. OK that was a negative but two days later he was freed and six days later he was in class and even though he has a broken foot and has to drive over 180 Km [110 miles] he was in class every day and can't get enough!"Simply illuminating a few moments of a patient smiling may be inspiring on the surface, but it does not change the reality that the patient has an inoperable tumor and the prognosis is bleak.
To acknowledge this isn't pessimistic, it's realistic. In other words, Bob: Keep telling it like you see it. Reporters: Print Bob in context of reality.
America: Get off the couch, get some exercise, and start thinking critically.
posted by non_seq at 5:39 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the news. I hadn't heard or read about Bob before.
It's like that escapist "happy news" site. Yeah. Great. Happy news for the reality-challenged. Just 'cause your head feels good in the sand it doen't mean that what you're avoiding will go away. How about getting rid of the reason why you need the happy news in the first place?
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