I have a question - I wonder if you can help answer.

[astonamous]

Forgive me, I am fairly new here. Been reading DU for a while, but haven't really posted much.

I was just watching a couple of the Sunday Morning Talking Heads and they are recalling the results of various polls concerning Katrina, Iraq and the President's approval rating.

Katrina seems to be more important to American's than Iraq as far as what this country should be spending money and concentrating effort on. The gulf coast is more important that spending money on the war on terror.

My questions are:

Do you think that because Americans have been able to see and have been watching the images of the disaster in the gulf coast (NOLA), including the bodies of some of the victims, they are or feel they are more connected to the events? Americans have not been shown the images from Iraq. The destruction and death. There isn't even a true "official" body count of American soldiers or Iraqi citizens.

If American's were shown the images of war from the very beginning of it, would there have been a cry to bring our soldiers home sooner? Would there have been more questions asked about why we invaded in the first place and more demands for real answers? Would people in America have paid closer attention to Iraq and demand our government account for every last death and every last dollar spent?

[NYCGirl]

1. First of all, the war in Iraq has little or nothing to do with the "war on

terror."

[BrklynLiberal]

2. but..but..Dimson PROMISED to keep us safe here at home! If he can't

keep us safe from a hurricane how can he keep us safe from a terrorist attack?

:sarcasm:

[hopeisaplace]

3. yes I think

that if americans were shown some of the vivid reality of the war on Iraq...TRUTH would have had a better shot...no pun intended. :)

(I'm new to posting too, hi!..been reading for a year on this board though)

[astonamous]

12. Welcome to DU to you too.

I check in here a couple of times a day. I love the back and forth banter and ideas that are exchanged here. Educational and entertaining.

[SmokingJacket]

4. I think so, except that I think non-Americans will never be as

important to the US as our own people are. (The more "different" people are from how we think of ourselves, the less connected we feel. That's why we get all up in arms about a missing middle class white girl, but feel not much for a dead Iraqi woman.)

[astonamous]

13. Very true, but I wish it wasn't that way. eom

[Ezlivin]

5. Without the cultural/language barrier, it's easier to understand

If every American could fully understand what the people of Iraq were saying and if there were fearless reporters all over Iraq, the war's impact on public consciousness would have been much larger.

If supplies fail to reach some remote area of Iraq, we aren't going to hear about it. If hundreds of people starve or die from dehydration, we're not going to hear about it. If hundreds of Iraqis protest, we can't understand the language and so we don't hear it.

It's hard to get upset over things you never hear about.

[mcscajun]

6. BushCo understands the power of imagery all too well.

It was the television news coverage that turned the massive weight of public opinion against the Vietnam War. The Neo-Cons didn't want a repeat of that so, yes, they deliberately suppressed much of the grittier elements, including the return of bodies, from the nightly news.

If the American people had a full-in-the-face view of the injuries, destruction, and death this war has caused, opposition to our involvement and continued presence in Iraq would be larger and much louder.

Same goes for Katrina coverage; the foreign press has been showing images few Americans have seen, because our corporate media has shied away from putting those images on air, but mostly because of military-FEMA restrictions on press being admitted to the area at this point. The early imagery is what led to the huge public outcry against Bush's indifference and inaction.

[abluelady]

7. My Thoughts

Bush has not been able to "hide" from this catastrophe. It is all over the tv. Even MSM is finally questioning the administration the way they should have. For the past five years, Bush has been given a pass. Hopefully this is the end of his free ride and more and more will be questioned. At that point Americans who only get their news from MSM will, perhaps, start questioning the war.

The real test will come this weekend to see how much the protest is covered!

[leftofthedial]

8. most murkans don't care about foreigners

we could show Iraqi devastation and death 24X7 with no effect on Murkan public opinion.

If they showed the dead Murkans, it might have an effect.

[Seansky]

9. it seems to me that

media plays such a big role in society, that whatever it says/shows/present automatically influences the social thought. Therefore, I think, yes, if MSM had been honest and truthful in its reporting to the war facts from the beginning,by the time Katrina hit, the country would have taking the proper actions and Katrina wouldn't have had the devastating impact it has had.

At times it seems that the images now shown are a bit too little too late in regards to the priceless cost of life. Everyone that has died has been one too many and it seems to me that MSM is greatly responsible for that and for not assuming the responsibility for which it exists...

[Greyhound]

10. Of course, what do you think the reason for the blackout was?

Anybody in their right mind that has seen the horrors of war opposes it except in the the most extreme circumstances.
"All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers." - Francois Fenelon

[izzie]

11. And this. Blair does not like BBC showing New orleans dead.

Said the paper hates the US. So I would say that our fearless leaders feel that dead bodies really make a difference. At one time in the second world war i read the president wanted dead bodies of Am. shows to make us feel nearer to the fighting. Yes seeing dead bodies count I think.

[cynatnite]

14. bush has denied Americans the right to mourn their dead

When the flag draped coffins would come home in wars passed, Americans had the opportunity not just to mourn their dead, but also to consider if the war is worth the heavy price.

Not only were we denied that right, Americans were also denied the right to think about the high costs without such powerful imagery.

The bush administration was given a double whammy when Katrina hit. It shifted American priorities to such a degree that the sentiment against the war increased and the desire to work on problems here at home rose as well.

[pitohui]

15. no because the katrina dead are being hidden

we are not seeing the katrina dead on teevee nor are we getting an accurate count of the dead at this time

so it is not the images, which most ppl are not seeing, but the reality that ppl are waking up to of not having gas in their cars or coffee in their cups if we abandon the northern gulf of mexico

also because of the size of the disaster & the mobility of this nation, a great many families, across the nation, are affected by a cousin or a child or a grandmother showing up at the door to live w. them

it is not the dead but the living that have been a human face on this disaster

[kittykitty]

16. If this war was covered like the Vietnam War, it might be different

News coverage during the Vietnam war was much more graphic--many shots of wounded Americans being treated in combat, and Medivaced out. Dead Vietnamese shown. It was much more graphic and honest. And of course that helped generate to growing protests during that war that finally ended it.