What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Thursday, October 03, 2002

TARGET: CNN

Maybe it's just my own fault for not keeping up with the news over the last couple of days, but CNN rattled me this evening at work. While the big topic of a possible strike at Iraq is on some people's lips and at the back of many people's minds, I walk by a screen featuring no sound but an anchorman with "TARGET: NEW ORLEANS" superimposed in large letters below his neck. For a brief moment, I had a horrible vision of a terrorist attack on another American city before managing to figure out that they were discussing Hurricane Lili currently bearing down on 'Nawlins'.

Ever since the Gulf War in 1991, I've hated CNN's need for 'catchy' labels on every major news story and tonight just reinforced that irritation. The word 'target' seems irresponsible at this particular point in time and, on a broader level, it's frustrating that a new US military conflict in the Middle East is being discussed as an inevitability -- like bad weather -- while hurricanes are given cute names and sinister motivations. While the city will be in my thoughts and hopes this day and next, New Orleans is not being 'targeted' by anyone named Lili, so I wish the news would tell us what's happening without trying to scare.

Fortunately, there are beacons of sanity out there and Thomas Friedman is one of them. The author of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" -- a remarkably clear-eyed look at the pros and cons of globalization -- has a new collection of essays called Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 and a brief skim through it in a bookstore today delighted me. In these jittery times, Friedman's calm rationality is like a soothing balm on a sunburn. I just wish he worked at CNN.