Columbia

Just the other day, I was telling my daughter what it was like to see the Challenger destroyed, back in 1986.

Now, she knows.

I’m not going to talk about the event itself. Thousands of bloggers are doing that. I’m going to talk about something surrounding this event that is making me sick: propaganda.

I turned off the coverage early this afternoon, after Dan Rather read “reactions from Iraq” over the air. It was the usual bullshit– they were glad that the accident happened….this was God’s retribution against the US …the fact that the Columbia disintegrated over Bush’s home state is proof of God’s anger, etc.

My question: What the hell was the point of that? Why did we need to hear that? What purpose did it serve, other than to rile the passions of the American people? That’s not news. It’s propaganda.

I just now turned on NBC, and listened to the wrap-up of the day’s events. The anchor, just minutes ago as I write this, compared the astronauts to the “brave patriots who are flying off the deck of aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.” I’m not kidding.

I cannot believe what has happened to my country.

GMS