In the words of Lebanese prime minister Fuad Saniora, Lebanon is being “torn to shreds” as the war with Israel continues. It was the heaviest day yet in terms of Lebanese casualties. On the other side of the border, two Israeli children in Nazareth were killed by a Hezbollah rocket earlier today. The tragedy unfolding on both sides of the border is difficult to comprehend, especially from the perspective of the comfortable West.
So we do what we can, we stare at our TVs trying to understand, trying to make sense of the images that are being flashed before our eyes, searching for some clue as to the meaning of this whole mess.
I tuned to the news tonight for who knows what. I feel like I need to know what’s going on over there even though my knowledge can make little difference. So what did I find on ‘The National’ tonight? A fifteen minute expose on why it’s taking Canada longer to get its tourists and expats out of Lebanon than other Western countries like Italy, France, Germany and even the USA.
Peter Mansbridge and his gaggle of hand-wringing reporters spent almost the first twenty minutes of the newscast on this subject (it was 10:17 when they got to covering the war itself). It seems that our national inferiority complex knows no limits. Instead of drawing attention to the real suffering and real injustice being faced by so many helpless victims, we were bemoaning the fact that France and Italy were rescuing their tourists faster than we were.
I am not trying to minimize the real suffering of those who are trying to get out of Lebanon. Nor am I suggesting that our government should not be doing what is possible to evacuate our citizens. It just seems like an odd way to ‘tell the story’ of a war that surely has more critical plotlines than these. It is definitely an ordeal to have to sleep in a foreign embassy for a night or two while waiting for a ship to arrive to take you home. It is quite another to wonder whether or not your house will be standing at the end of the day.
I have just finished reading a biography of C.F. Klassen, a tireless advocate for the cause of Mennonite refugees following the Russian Revolution and the second World War. In many ways there are similar issues at play here. Huge masses of displaced and desperate people. Massive relief efforts that never seem to be able to deal adequately with the need.
Yet throughout this book I sensed a different tone. There was misery and frustration to be sure but there was also a quiet resignation to the fact that suffering in times of war was an inevitability, one that should be struggled against with every means possible but one that could not reasonably be avoided. There was also an overwhelming gratitude on the part of the refugees that were allowed into Canada and other countries.
I’m sure there are similar stories unfolding in Lebanon these days. I’m sure there is heroism and sacrifice, gratitude and goodwill on the part of all those involved in both the evacuation effort and the peace effort. I’m just starting to doubt that I’ll ever hear those stories since they somehow don’t get the same TV ratings.
What frustrates me about the whole affair (the tourists, not the war itself) is that the Liberals are all shouting about how Harper’s taking too long. What someone needs to remind these dolts is that for 13 years they cut away at the military’s budget with a machete. We have a few old ships thanks to the budget cuts they made. This being the case, of course it will take a little while to get people out.
chris,
it seems to me that you are still missing the issue here. yes it takes longer to get Canadians out. but what about the people that are dying. why did the national spend twenty minutes talking about the evacuation instead of the heroism or the countless deaths of family’s
its not about us, and it never has been!
since the summer started I’ve been tunning in to the CBC’s radio 1. (it makes work go by much faster) I think that Maclearn was right when he said “the medium is the message.” I did hear about the unsatisfied fortunate however I also heard a great deal about many other angles of what is going on in Lebanon.In total the time dedicated to the topic of the ships/Harper/Canadian Citizenship was stripped down. When you are listening to the words and not looking at the pictures the meaning seems to change. You can look at someone who has nothing to say but to “only” listen to someone with nothing to say is much more difficult, it’s like listening to static over the telephone sooner or later you’re just gonna hang up. I think maybe the entertainment industry has gained too much control over the television over the years and reduced it to a tame missused art form. Rather then conving truth it seems that it more often conveys fiction. well I’m not sure what that has to do with Lebanon?! but that’s what you get for watching the news…nothing !
since the summer started I’ve been tunning in to the CBC’s radio 1. (it makes work go by much faster) I think that Maclearn was right when he said “the medium is the message.” I did hear about the unsatisfied fortunate however I also heard a great deal about many other angles of what is going on in Lebanon.In total the time dedicated to the topic of the ships/Harper/Canadian Citizenship was stripped down. When you are listening to the words and not looking at the pictures the meaning seems to change. You can look at someone who has nothing to say but to “only” listen to someone with nothing to say is much more difficult, it’s like listening to static over the telephone sooner or later you’re just gonna hang up. I think maybe the entertainment industry has gained too much control over the television over the years and reduced it to a tame missused art form. Rather then conving truth it seems that it more often conveys fiction. well I’m not sure what that has to do with Lebanon?! but that’s what you get for watching the news…nothing !
Um, I’ve watched the National all this week, and they’ve covered all sorts of angles on this story — beyond the limited scope of what’s mentioned here.
On Monday, for instance, they spent over 20 minutes covering BOTH sides of the conflict. If you want some real perspective, try watching how the Americans are covering the conflict — and see how Israel-centric it is.
i happen to be an american and i have been paying very close attention to this whole crisis over in lebanon. i listen to cbc in the morning for about 3 hours then i move on to some podcasts. i listen to the views from the right ‘rush limbaugh’ to the middle ‘npr’ and the extreme left ‘democracy now.’ all of these shows are american and they all offer different views. i don’t even bother watching tv newscasts. the whole format doesn’t even allow for in depth analysis. there are some exceptions such as the macneil/lehrer news hour but on the whole its very shoddy reporting. in canadian tv newscasts they show canadians complainging about how there gov. is so slow in getting them out of beruit and its the same on the u.s. tv newscasts. i would recommend downloading itunes if you haven’t already and finding some podcasts to download if you would like to be more informed. its the easiest way to get more perspectives and its free.
i am not really sure if the major news networks are israel-centric. whenever i get around to watching cnn, abc, or nbc they always seem to be opposed to whatever the u.s. is doing. i mean didn’t dan rather break the story about bush’s national guard scandal, the new york times broke the story about the phone taps and then againg they broke the story about u.s. watching the bank accounts of terrorists in europe. they are critical of cia prisons in europe, prisoners at gitmo… the list goes on. i heard helen thomas[a promenant member of the press] harrassing whitehouse press secretary tony snow over the u.s. position on lebanon today and it was widely reported. sorry about going on like this, but i think its a common misconception of canadians that somehow the press in u.s. is controlled and they are given orders from the president or dick cheney on what they can and can’t say. -jc
I can’t even begin to describe how disgusted I was hearing the furious reports of the evacuees. Never mind the fact that the majority of the people were moved into Cyprus and out of the immediate danger of Lebanon and will be transported home at the government’s expense (which was last reported to be in the hundreds of millions), they have to scream and moan that they’re being sent home on ferries rather than cruise ships (this was the complaint of a man featured on the Calgary news yesterday). God forbid that any of them would be grateful to be rescued from a war zone! I am so sick of the culture of entitlement that has been nurtured in this country and perpetuated by the media. These people should be thankful that they are citizens of a country that is taking measures to ensure their safety instead of being trapped in a nation plagued by violence and terror.
Wow; largely I agree with Nicole on this one. I do believe that as a North American society we are over-indulged and allowed to believe we have more rights than we do. This whole affair in Lebanon, Israel, the Middle East in general has really taken on a new meaning while living here in Appleby Drive surrounded by people who have been driven from their homes by war and violence. I think as a society we need to be shook up a little bit and be made to realize the TRUE needs of those in the world around us. The frustrating part for me is that the media focuses on how many Canadians, Americans, etc are killed or harmed everyday - I’m particularily thinking of soldiers in Afghanistan or Sudan etc… but these are people who have willingly gone to fight in a conflict. The news, media, etc… fails to describe for us how many thousands/millions (?) have been killed daily, monthly, yearly of the citizens of those countries. Forget the silly Canadian tourists; yes, bring them home, take care of them… but don’t forget those left behind! That would be my biggest thing: don’t forget those left behind.
“I feel like I need to know what’s going on over there even though my knowledge can make little difference.”
You know I think you nailed it there. I find it almost comical that our frustration lies with the media. How long will we suffer fools (the media) who co-opt sound bites and well-staged footage to “bring home the story”? All the while knowing full well that most of it is the feces of the male bovine…
I suppose if we want to get enraged at the media representation of world we’ve paid them to bring to us; and if we really want to stop living vicariously through the tube maybe booking some flights to Lebanon might be the answer. Thanks for humbly admitting that - I’m not sure that most of the rest of these got that…