Silly Summer News and Iran's Slow Boil
The news tends to go small in the dog days of summer. At the White House today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded a half dozen questions (of various formulations) about the kind of beer President Obama would drink when he meets with Skip Gates and the embattled Cambridge Police Officer. (No clear answer. POTUS, who is not much of a drinker, drank Bud once.) Other (non)questions about the birthplace of Barack Obama, a sort of ultra-potent conspiracy catnip, have leaked into the White House briefing room and onto cable news, a sudden discovery of the obvious nothing. (A DVD documentary on the subject is due out next month.) The resignation of the Alaskan governor, meanwhile, who oversaw a state with fewer people than my hometown of San Francisco, has become the summer's political Telenovela. (Newt Gingrich just could not keep our interest, it seems, but Sarah Palin bashing the media and defending guns. . . Stay tuned!) No doubt in a few weeks, in the deadly doldrums of August, the cable news nets will start flashing Amber Alerts again, or we will have live helicopter shots of Michael Jackson's anesthesiologist going to the mall, or whatever.
I write all this by way of introduction to the real subject of this post, the continuing, fascinating, slow, gradual turmoil in Iran, which is exactly the sort of story for which America's Adderall-addled attention span cannot keep in focus. The story in Iran, in other words, appears to be far more interesting and uncertain than it was even was a few weeks ago, when all the Twitter caricatures turned green and CNN went wall-to-wall.
On the one hand, we have been reading reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing a conservative revolt, and is clashing with the nation's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who is his principal backer against charges of electoral skullduggery. More interesting still is the forceful declaration today by Mir Hussein Moussavi that he will not abandon his protests against the current government. Per the New York Times:
“How can it be that the leaders of our country do not cry out and shed tears about these tragedies,” Mr. Moussavi said, in comments to a teachers' association that were posted on his Web site. “Can they not see it, feel it? These things are blackening our country, blackening all our hearts. If we remain silent, it will destroy us all and take us to hell.”
Set those words aside, and we are left with the fact that Moussavi is attempting to get a permit to hold a public mourning ceremony for the dead on the 40 day anniversary of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose bloody end has been memorialized on YouTube. The symbolism of this is not lost on students of Iranian history. This is a country that has historically practiced political uprising in cycles. Ryszard Kapuscinski, in Shah of Shahs, described the sequence of events that led to the flight of the Shah in 1979.
Thus the Iranian Revolution develops a rhythm of explosions succeeding each other at forty-day intervals. Every forty days there is an explosion of despair, anger, blood. Each time the explosion is more horrible--bigger and bigger crowds, more and more victims. The mechanism of terror begins to run in reverse. Terror is used in order to terrify. But now, the terror that the authorities apply serves to excite the nation to new struggles and new assaults.
For lots of reasons, the events in Iran this summer are not analogous to the Iranian revolution. But the national codes remain, a storyline to be guided by. And the 2009 Iranian presidential election is still far from resolved. So turn off the TV and stay tuned.
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1
Would anyone ever want to be Bob Gibbs at a time like this? Bad enough spinning health care; now birther Q's are getting into mainstream press. Yikes...
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2
Thank you Michael, I became very interested in Iran because of the women.
I would like to see him get the permit, as I think that they will do so without a permit.
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2.1
I think you meant "woman" but "women" is much funnier. "I got into it for the chicks!"
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3
MS: A little bit of stream of consciousness writing there Mike. It's like asking your wife what she wants for christmas when you really want to know what's for dinner.
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4
Apparently Michael Scherer thinks the MSM constantly lying through their teeth is a "silly" issue. If anyone spots even a single factual or logical error at that or the linked pages (and can articulate their concerns in a logical, grown-up fashion), let me know.
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4.1
Keep it up! This issue is busy make-work for you to keep you away from tasks better left to the reality-based community that actually have an effect on policy. It has the added bonus of highlighting the racist undercurrent to the anti-Obama movement. Way to go kattest!
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4.2
Too awesome, kattest! I mean, who wouldn't take you seriously when you post to such clearly not insane "logic?" You know, you almost had me convinced that the President of the United States was born in Kenya, but then I realized that realistically it is much more likely he was born on Neptune.
Seriously, this Birfer madness is the dumbest concept I've ever heard in my entire life. Do you idiots seriously think that Barack Obama's pregnant teen mother would spend thousands of dollars and travel multiple legs (this is the early 1960's and air travel was not nearly as cheap or convenient as it is today) so her child could be born in a Third World country?
kattest, get a freakin' grip.
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5
So turn off the TV and stay tuned.
That's good advice any month.
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5.1
This is an off-topic comment, but I would honestly suggest to any american that they discontinue their cable subscriptions
Paul's for real. I quit watching TV a year ago. I can get all the content I want off of the internet and I save $1200 dollars a year.
My attantion span has lengthened, I've got to those books I wanted to read and best of all, I can still get my C-SPAN--all 3 channels and the radio broadcast.
If you want to put a stake in the heart of Corpomedia Conglomeration, quit giving them so much (or any) money. -
5.2
I agree with Android. It isn't that my attention span is short; the media have short attention spans and can't be trusted to know much about any topic that interests me. So I've turned off the media. I have a TV-Internet-phone 2-year contract that I'll delete the TV from next year.
In the meantime, I'll be turning on the TV tonight for the first time since the inauguration to see Howard Dean fill in on Countdown. I suspect I can rent a motel room whenever I want to watch TV for less than Comcast charges.
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6
Michael, thanks for the 2009 update of Finnegans Wake. It's amazing what media pressure can do – even from the Mika-like passive Corporate Media[tm]. (You) helped bring Gates and Crowley together, push our Palin (although mudflats and Shannyn Moore did the heavy lifting), and of course improve Sanford's US – Argentina intimate relations. Maybe such coverage / pressure can help resolve Iran's woes too.
That aside, if we think James Joyce is hard to read…
http://www.themudflats.net/2009/07/27/palins-farewell-address-full-transcript/-
6.1
Wow, D-con, reading Palin made my teeth hurt. Then, I started to read it like a beat poet - all sentence fragments and run-ons - and it didn't hurt so bad. Still didn't make much sense, tho'. Also.
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7
Thank you Michael, I became very interested in Iran because of the women.
Yes, they are very attractive.
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8
Michael, since many of your best posts spring from oversees trips, are you going to tour again with Obama or maybe Hillary this summer or fall? Perhaps a stop in London featuring a military parade organized by the Ministry of Silly Walks? Or to Egypt to interview Mubarak while he visits his mummy?
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9
Please continue to do what you can to keep what's happening in Iran in the spotlight, Michael. I'm still hopeful that pressure will continue to mount on Khamenei and the other hardliners to revisit this election.
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9.1
The pressure is going to continue to build, but for Khamaeni to change course now would be to admit his fallibility and for someone whose clerical credentails were so suspect to begin with such a change in course would be fatal. Rafsanjani would take that as a sign of weakness and attempt to recall him a Supreme Leader. This is all about keeping the current power players in place as much as possible, and it's entirely feasible that the cracks between Khamaeni and Ahmadinejad are rising from disagreements on how to keep all the pieces in place. The vase is cracked, it's now a matter of how much it's leaking.
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10
[...] blames this on “America’s Adderall-addled attention span,” yet there is a [...]
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Somehow, I only just noticed that there's a new bloke listed in the Swamp cast--Brooks & Dunn or something. So, curious, I Google him, find his site and here's his bio:
"Born in New York City, Brooks' strengths are composition, color, and crafting pictures that portray the vitality, the vision, and the victories of the world's most powerful leaders in their most private and public environments.
Unobtrusive and trustworthy, Brooks has earned access to assignments reserved for a select few. From Presidents, Candidates for Office, Celebrities, and CEO stars, Brooks' cool head and sharp eyes make him a classic among today's top American photojournalists."
I sh!ts you not folks, it really says "CEO stars." And here I was thinking that photojournalists were the only remaining newsmen/women who hadn't sold their souls to the corp-o-borg. I just cannot begin to fathom anyone feeling other than shamed by typing something like that up, and putting his name next to it.
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11.1
Oregon JC:
"Brooks has earned access to...Presidents, Candidates for Office, Celebrities, and CEO stars"
I agree; revolting.
Aren't journalists supposed to be...you know, hard-boiled or something? Aren't they supposed to be tough, clear-eyed Dashiell Hammett characters, soaked in enough alcohol to wash away their intimacy with the human sin that is their job to expose to a reform-seeking public?
Isn't this guy's bio shrieking "Ooh, look girls! A real Paparazzi!"?
Maybe Time's people have a little more self-awareness than we usually give them credit for, since their bio on this guy features copy like "veteran" and "native of New York City" instead of "Star-F*cker Extraordinaire!" and "Choreographer of the French Mistake".
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12
I'm now going to say something very unpopular:
That Neda video looks fake as all get out.
There. I said it.
Notice what happens in the video--everything looks copascetic until this guy steps in front of the camera for just a second. Not long, but just long enough to squirt fake blood on her face. Then, as he steps aside she dies. That shows a camera sense that is very developed. He would have to think, "She's dying, so I better get out of the way so the guy behind me shooting video can get a shot of it".
The reaction of the bystanders was very immediate, like a cue had been given. Watch the video with a critical eye and tell me you couldn't have shot it.
IMHO, if a fake video helps galvanize the Iranians to stand up to their oppressors, so be it.I hope I'm right because if she did die...that would be a waste. One that is all too common.
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13
"The news tends to go small in the dog days of summer."
I've noticed that. Same on the weekends. Do you suppose that the happenings around the world actually revolve around the work week of American journalists (minus vacation season at the Vineyard, of course) or the should it be the other way 'round?
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14
which is exactly the sort of story for which America's Adderall-addled attention span cannot keep in focus.
MS: as someone who has taken Adderall, I can tell you that it doesn't "addle" anything--in fact, it helps people to focus, increasing attention span. A minor quibble, but other than being a nice use of alliteration, "America's Adderall-addled attention span" seems incorrect.
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14.1
Adderal---now there's a joke. It's amphetamines! Basic speed. It's the least new "new drug" out there! What's next? A repackaging of aspirin as Willowma, a willow-bark analgesic that can help in decreasing your risk of heart attack!
WTF?
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15
Michael Scherer:
The news tends to go small in the dog days of summer... America's Adderall-addled attention span cannot keep in focus
Let me get this straight: you're blaming your users for this?
We're unable to keep focused on what's important...us?
Aren't you forgetting that it was our retweeting and our twitter streams that proved CNN to be the disconnected morons that they were for choosing to air Larry King reruns in anticipation of our stupidity and lack of focus?
No way, dude. We're not the problem here...it's you guys. Your cohort decides what's worth talking about largely based on whether or not "people" are talking about it..."people" meaning journalists, not us. Then your profession arrogantly blames the Maury Show/Jerry Springer viewing audience for this phenomenon, smearing that identity on all Americans in the process. Tens and tens of millions of us do not happen to be dullards who only exist to ignite self-produced methane on Miller-stained couches after 2 AM Taco Bell runs, MS.
It's not the lack of focus or attention by your users that is the source of summers' dog days, it's the Death Race 2000 to the intellectual bottom in anticipation of audience stupidity that your colleagues run with vapid, condescending, ennui-laden glee that makes news small and unimportant, Michael Scherer.
Sorry, I'll go back to lurking (and working) now...
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15.1
Yep. There's plenty going on, but we have to go to blogs for actual news and analysis.
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Michale Scherer:
.
Thanks for continuing this Iran story. It's a challenge I imagine to cover stories that are important but occur slowly--like trying to track a wave with a very long wavelength but low amplitude that later might result in a tsunami when it hits the shore.
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My minor quibble: FEWER people in Alaska than in San Francisco, not LESS people. People come in discreet units of one. -
17
@SZ,
I'm going to have to go with MS on this one. The American attention span IS notoriously short. The good news is that often the outrage d'jour that drives coverage is often a distant memory within 6 weeks - of interest only to those of us who know that the past is only a quick google away.
Like it or not, the process-over-policy coverage does indeed find a receptive audience.
Related:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019249.php -
18
Hmm, silly news!
If epistemology is already infested with semi-truths or fakes, just tell me what is real and factual, especially from the global media.
ICT has helped to spread myths fast and wide nowadays. All of us are now prisoners of information, propaganda and half-baked knowledge.
This INSANE yet FLABBERGASTING world, is anyone in a state of denial?
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