After receiving increasing attention, it seems Grandma's War Blog, a piece of pro-war propaganda sponsored by The Cincinnati Enquirer, has reached the end of its term. Originally published at
The Cincinnati Beacon.
WARNING! This post contains graphic photographs. Do not read if offended by images of death.
After a week of generating critical attention, it seems that Susan "Grandma" Fournier's pro-War blog has reached the end of its term. In a post entitled "Building Roads to Villages," a commenter claiming to be Fournier's daughter states that Grandma's coming home and the blog is finished.
A post signed "Nicole" states the following:
Well, I hate to spoil the party, but my mother's service is done, so this blog is soon to be history.
But, keep up the debate. People who love America ask a lot of tough questions. We want our country to do good and to be better. And that's why we get involved. That's a patriot, if you ask me.
But, you'll have to move the debate elsewhere. My mom's coming home.
If true, this is a fitting final post for a family-friendly piece of pro-war propaganda. It closes with some shallow sentimentality surrounding the themes of "family," "home," and children." Grandma decides to close the blog post -- and perhaps even the blog itself -- with a final photograph of an Iraqi baby:
Grandma, in her candy-coated land of eternal happiness, does not provide anyone with pictures of Iraqi babies like this one:
And though troublesome and disgusting, images like this are part of the missing story of the war -- and that's what is so troubling about the coverage corporate entities provide, like Gannet and The Enquirer.
It is true that positive things occur in the effort to rebuild Iraq. But it is not the whole story. Pro-Gradma advocates claim that nightly news only reports about bad things -- like more attacks on soldiers -- and that feel-good stories like the Grandma blog deserve attention, too. But why not give attention to the whole picture? News of our soldiers getting attacked causes Americans to rally in support of our troops -- and that support of troops often gets manipulated into a support for the war they fight. Similarly, Grandma's "good news" causes people to feel proud of the work our people have established.
But how does the photograph of the dead Iraqi children make us feel? This is part of the whole story about being engaged in a war. And if our troops are deploying missles that miss targets and kill small children -- well, what then? A crack in the propagandistic facade forwarded by media outlets like The Enquirer and its war blog. (By the way, Cincinnati.com -- the host server of the blog -- has a physical address of 312 Elm St., which is The Enquirer's building.)
The Enquirer and its associate, Cincinnati.com, should have a responsibility to provide more holistically developed coverage. Instead, they are just operating as tools for the new corporate sponsored State media.
Related Stories
*Open Letter to Tom Callinan, Enquirer Editor, about Grandma's War Blog -- and Callinan's Response!
*Grandma War Blog Media Round Up