The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated

Glancing back at the news headlines of the summer of 2006 – magazines, newspapers, television news, etc – and one theme rings true. We’re back in 2001 again. After 9/11, the nation mourned a horrible tragedy and swore to become less superficial. The summer’s news that year had been dominated by the Cruise-Kidman split and shark attacks (there was not a significant increase in shark attacks, at least not one that warranted the excessive news coverage). Following 9/11, the nation learned that while our federal government was on vacation, literally and figuratively, intel pointed towards a grave threat to the nation.

That intel was ignored, and just as the administration lived in a fantasy world, blissfully ignorant of the real problems the country faced, the populous lived in its own fantasy world, absorbed in the lives of Hollywood celebrities and scaring themselves with fake dangers. In the immediate aftermath following 9/11, exhortations came from every corner – the government, the media, the people – everyone look back at the shallow summer and called for “real news” and “real issues”.

That didn’t last long. Five years removed from September 11, 2001, we’re back in the same spot. The past summer has showcased such stories as the Jennifer Aniston-Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie triangle, Britney Spears and K-Fed, and of course, the Cruise-Holmes union. The uproar over Tom Cruise’s now infamous interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show and equally infamous couch-jumping incident on Oprah seems ridiculous in the light of the dangers the nation is facing.

Cruise is entitled to an opinion, however ill-informed, in his “I’m an actor” capacity. In the meantime, Senator Bill Frist, in his “I’m a doctor” capacity takes his medical knowledge (that term being used loosely in this context) and provides a web cam-based diagnosis yet receives far less scathing treatment. Sen. Frist, in a clear attempt to curry favor with the right-wing of his party, has also made harmful comments relating to the transmission of HIV. Cruise has since split with Paramount over incidents which the company deems unseemly. Why have we not had the same outcry with regard to Sen. Frist for his sleazy comments? He continually represents himself as a doctor and attempts to use so-called medical training to undermine what he believes to be liberal opinions. As a senator and a doctor, he is acting irresponsibly, and should be impeached. However, given the lack of outrage in response to some of the stupid things our politicians do, and the overzealous outrage in response to what celebrities our celebrities do, don’t hold your breath.

Following 9/11, the nation gained extraordinary political capital with the nations of the world who mourned our loss as if it were their own. And for once, America appeared more introspective, less shallow. Sadly, neither feeling lasted.

Posted by Sam Clemens at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Sports are often allegorical events, reflecting the political climate of the day, acting as a proxy for our political angst. In the early 1980s, Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands. In 1986, Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal amplified the bad blood between the nations. And in 1998, a second World Cup match introduced another level of ill-will. To this day, the English feel a certain amount of animosity towards the Argentineans, sports and war the cause in equal measure.

Thomas Friedman asserts in his most recent book, “The World is Flat”, that other countries are beginning to catch up and overtake the United States in terms of education, and as a result of that, information technology development, scientific discovery and invention. Recently, there has also been an obvious Team USA loss trend in sporting events in which we had once been dominant. The soccer loss is almost understandable – there focus on soccer in this country is non-existent, at least not in the dominant way it exists in European and South American countries. On the other hand, Ecuador and Ghana are probably not spending the kind of money the US Soccer Association is. Even allowing for the soccer travesty at the World Cup, this does not explain our inability to succeed at sports – some of which we’ve invented and have created the biggest market for in terms of professional leagues. Basketball and baseball specifically spring to mind. The US has been embarrassed on the world’s sporting stage, and it’s time to evaluate why.

Some pundits feel that the loss of sporting dominance is just the natural progression of events; that the US had raised the bar so high that the rest of the world would take a while to catch up, and now they finally have. This is part of the issue. Now that other nations have invested a little more in their sporting industries and their training, they’ve caught up. Additionally, many of the athletes playing for other nations at the Olympics, are playing in our professional leagues. Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association boast international rosters.

Others claim that the US had become complacent in recent years and this is why the rest of the world has caught up. Goliath has been caught sleeping; lulled into a feeling of safety in sports since not only have our teams won in the past, they’ve won convincingly. The second group of pundits is partly correct as well. The phenomenon is apparent in the NBA and NFL – athletes being paid astronomical sums of money with little delivery. Oftentimes, their drive to win the championship ring is secondary to their drive to renegotiate their contract.

We find the US lagging in other areas as well. Team USA’s sporting demise across a variety of sports is not a coincidental event just within the sporting world. America is slacking in the education department. Mr. Friedman cites several examples in his book, but the hard sciences are the most worrisome area. As more jobs become “new economy” jobs, those untrained in or unfamiliar with the elements that contribute to that, will fall behind. At this stage, the entire country is having trouble adjusting, while Asia forges ahead. Ever more jobs are being lost from the Big Three who are unable to compete with the Japanese car manufacturers. Jobs are being lost from both the blue- and white-collar ends, a sign of a shift towards the new economy (former) and an inability to train and retrain our employees for it (latter).

Our sporting teams currently are reigning third place champions of most major sports. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose that position – and not simply at the Olympic podium.

Posted by Sam Clemens at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Geraldo Rivera, the conservative talk show host who has never feared speaking his mind, recently appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, hosted by his equally grating Fox News counterpart Bill O’Reilly. Given the clear lack of availability of serious news, they decide to take pot shots at Comedy Central. Mr. Rivera and Mr. O'Reilly discussed the success of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert respectively. He blasted the shows for being nothing more than a repository of slapstick comedy. The ensuing comedic “apology” by Mr. Stewart on The Colbert Report elicited a few laughs and reduced Mr. Rivera’s comments to what they were – a cheap attempt to raise Fox News’ ratings by attempting to stir up controversy.

Mr. Rivera’s and Mr. O’Reilly’s transparent play revealed the inherent problem with the Fox News network: its inability to report on real news followed by a criticism of others for the same. The pair’s ire was directed at a network that features comedy shows, not news shows. Would CNN respond to critics on the Food Network for their lack of coverage of the ever-escalating price of a barrel of oil? By attacking two comedy shows, the conservative duo only serves to lessen their own (already limited) credibility.

But the attack itself serves as a metaphor for what we charitably refer to as the “news” delivered by the channel. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report deliver more real news than the right-wing news network ever does. While Mr. O’Reilly and his cohorts concentrate their attacks on comedians who have a political bent, those comedians concentrate on reporting the news. Their delivery might be more humorous than the evening news telecasts of the major networks, but they manage to capture the more salient issues amongst the day’s events. The problem with sub par reporting extends beyond Fox News to the major networks (see “Once a Venerable Institution") but the former’s need to attack the shows it feels threatened by to boost its slumping ratings leaves one wondering, why is Fox News the number one cable news channel?

Posted by Sam Clemens at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)