Sniper Madness
Verbal Diarrhea and Deadly Stupidity
October 28, 2002
The Meal…
America, especially the Washington D.C. “Beltway” area, is gorging on a feast of tainted victuals.
OK…there is a sniper on the lose…Blah, Blah, Blah. And…that sniper is killing innocent people in a seemingly “unrelated pattern” (oxymoronic?)…Blah, Blah, Blah. And…everybody except Hopalong Cassidy is burning overtime in search of the killer(s)…Blah, Blah, Blah. And…everybody is clueless…except for the media!
The Food Poison…
The advent of the 24-hour television news gristmill is providing al-Qaida with more laughs than a trip to the Mardi Gras. Imagine the look of smugness on Osama bin Laden’s bushy face when, after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he viewed all of the new security defenses erected live on CNN. “Fat-lot-of-good those Jersey Barriers are going to do against my Air Martyrdom pilots,” he must have been thinking.
And…that is the point. Bin Laden et al were quite content to wait and meticulously plan their next WTC assault for eight years. They are chess players mismatched against a country, America, whose citizenry barely has the focus for checkers. And why is that?
Simply put…America has an insatiable appetite for real-time gratification. Just a few years ago, the information industry was generating revenues of about $300 billion per annum. In 2001, those revenues were nearing a trillion dollars. In simple English, news is big (make that “huge”) business and it needs product 24-7.
Cable news producers have to keep a story alive in order to keep their audience awake. The priority to keep the news fresh demands that new information is constantly added to the reporting, even if that information is irrelevant or inaccurate. And…it is often both!
Consequently, the news world has become an Andy Warhol nightmare. Anybody and everybody will get their 15 minutes of fame. In its frenzy for freshness, the media is working overtime at its search for “Experts”. Pathetically, most media people do not seem to be qualified judges of expertise as demonstrated by the ongoing “sniper” farce.
The Symptoms…
The “Beltway Sniper” crisis is serious business. However, a diarrhea-mouth media circus is rapidly degrading a national crisis into a farce.
With a non-stop cast of characters, the news business is spinning the heads of the American public and, simultaneously, providing valuable information to the killer(s). The irony is the fact that the American public seems to be getting all of the gibberish info while the killer(s) harvest the more valuable facts.
A recent back-to-back report informed the viewers that the killing weapon was a .233 caliber rifle and that the military was intervening in the hunt for the killer(s) with a surveillance aircraft. There is no such caliber as .233 (there is a .223) but there is a RC-7 surveillance aircraft. Score 1 for the enemy because the American public got inaccurate and useless reporting while the killer(s) probably got a reprieve for at least a few more victims as a result of very accurate and useful reporting.
Opinions are like posteriors…everybody has one. And…the media is hell-bent on letting everybody show his or hers, however unattractive! So, there is and will continue a continuous barrage of “expert opinion” upon the airwaves. Criminal investigators, psychiatrists, ex-military snipers, forensic pathologists and Blah…Blah…Blah…will keep strutting their opinions in front of the cameras in quest of ego gratification and increased ratings.
The Cure…
The no-brainer of a cure for this dilemma is to silence the media. This would put a lid on the panic-creating disinformation and, the valuable intelligence data, which is spewing from television sets like listeria-tainted turkey from a posterior. What a perfect world…an information lock-down.
This is not only ridiculous, but also illegal and impractical! There are realities and a few of them include the U.S. Constitution, the need for helpful information and the nature of the media.
During World War II there was a great expression that equally applies today, “Loose lips sink ships.” And in the present, those loose lips belong to ego-gratifying “experts”, public officials like Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose and the average citizen.
All of the hype surrounding this crisis is creating hysteria and, simultaneously, providing useful information to the killer(s). There is no need for people like Chief Moose and “informed sources” to be continuously talking. While the Chief and other officials must be under tremendous pressure from the media for information, it is their responsibility to lead and not be led.
All Americans must exercise some self-restraint in this crisis. There is better than even odds that this killer(s) is part of the terrorist network and, if so, these killings are just a sideshow for worse to come. This is very serious business.
Americans, both public and private, are well advised to keep their mouths shut and their eyes open. Speak only when there is something useful to say but think about your words before they are launched into the public arena. This country better get a grip!
While a sizeable percentage of the “Beltway” law enforcement personnel are flashing their presence on the news cameras in one concentrated geographic area, what might be happening in the diagonally opposite corner of the region? This is a game of chess and the good guys better start thinking a few moves down the board before they take each step.
There is a need for strong and centralized leadership of the law enforcement component while, simultaneously, there is a need for a calm, observant and pro-active citizenry. This crisis is a challenge like no other experienced in recent history.
The sacrifices of the “Greatest Generation” during World War II included loss of life, material deprivation and unselfishness for the common good. All that is asked for now is a bit of common sense and leadership. And God help us all if we can’t deliver when our country calls.
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