Andy's Blog

It has happened. The second most dangerous man in the world, according to the US government, has been killed. And here in America we are singing the praises of the American military. This post really doesn't have much of a point. I am glad Al-Qaeda has been disabled. However, I don't think Al-Zaqarwi's death means evil is any less prevelant in the world. As long as their is sin in the world, their will be evil. But I digress. This post has one point: always strive to look at all sides of an issue, even the obvious ones.

Studying in Israel my junior year taught me how powerful our news outlets really are. Why? Because I was right there. I knew what happened, not because of what people have told me, but because I witnessed it with my own eyes. For example, one night, I heard a loud "thud" while laying in bed. Sure enough, 1/4 of a mile from my bed, a suicide bomber blew up a restaurant. The next day of course this was covered by CNN, but I was amazed how much information was left out of their story. This got me in the habit of checking out Aljazeera for news information (a practice I continue now that I am back in the States). It surprised me how even in a "fact-based" news story, slant can be applied so easily on both sides of the argument.

My point is this. CNN's articles about yesterday’s killing quoted Army generals, Ambassadors, Tony Blair, and more of the like. Aljazeera's articles about yesterday’s killing quoted Al-Zarqawi’s uncle, people from his home town, and even included a conspiracy theory about the timing of Al-Zarqawi’s death and the rise of the new Prime Minister of Iraq (which CNN left out).

But here's where I am going to get in trouble. Why? Because neither news outlet is wrong. They both are reporting factual information based on the opinions of those in which they are interviewing. Why is Tony Blair's opinion anymore important than towns people from Al-Zarqawi (and yes, that's the name of the city he was from and his last name). Ultimately, we should recognize that all of today's news is really just opinion wrapped in the presentation of fact and it is up to us to decipher what is and is not absolute truth in any given situation. If you take the spoon-fed version of the news you're just going to get opinions, to which I say: death to opinions.