CNN Blogs - Media Theater?

After battling with CNN's Belief Blogs all day, trying to post well researched, cited and attributed source material in various conversations, I've pretty much given up on their site.

CNN's blogs, although they're reached via the cnn.com domain name, are really hosted on wordpress.com.  When CNN configured those blogs, they obviously built up a list of "bad words" and plugged them into wordpress' basic comments moderation system.

Which is where the problem begins.  Wordpress.com's badword filters use a simple regexp, which reads from the badwords list one word per line.  The downside to this way of filtering, as anyone with a shred of internet history knowledge knows, is what's known as the "Scunthorpe Problem".

In essence, I wouldn't be able to post the word "Scunthorpe" on CNN's blogs as a comment, because within it, it contains a bad word.

Whoever configured those blogs for CNN should have known this would be an issue - wordpress.com's settings page, where they would have had to added the list of bad words, prominently warns of the filtering methodology.  It seems CNN didn't think it was an issue and so pasted their bad words list in, one word per line, nonetheless.

Anyone with half a brain would have known that they could have easily and readily avoided the Scunthorpe Problem by the simple expedient of adding a space before and after each word on the list.  There are even text editors that could have automated this for them.

I guess they didn't have the right half of a brain available when they configured the blog.

Jealous much?

For some reason, people seem to think that when they have no leg to stand on to argue with someone on an intellectual level, and resort to name calling, that it's OK to try and dismiss someone just because of their disability.

Case in point, these remarks about Stephen Hawking's recent theory that God wasn't necessarily involved in the creation of the universe:

Annette

If Stephen is smart enough to figure out how the world was created, why can't he cure his own medical condition?

Mary

In the midst of incontrovertible evidence that man has—somewhere, sometime, somehow—grossly erred, this ingrate freak finally overthrows the role of a functioning brain, the one surviving human tool in this birth, and the only thing that has allowed same access to the public eye. Without the existence of God’s mercy, society could not have tolerated even the appearance of this mockery of humankind; and now the repulsive lump has rewarded ignorant evil for even that good.

coco

Looking at Stephen Hawking in the condition he is in, I think that he could either not believe in a God who would let him be in such a state. Or he could look at his being alive and having such a brilliant mind as being a gift from God. I believe in God and evolution. And I believe they go hand in hand. But that's just my belief. If Stephen Hawking doesn't want to believe in God, that's his business. Being a Christian, I'd like everyone to come to know God and love Him. But I don't cram that down people's throats. It would be nice if everyone would just respect each other's right to their own religion or lack thereof.

(Small sample)

And people wonder why we still need the Americans with Disabilities Act!

It's a sad state of affairs when people still think they can dismiss the disabled so outrageously, especially when they're disagreeing with one of the most intelligent people on the face of the planet.

Sure, so his premise is going to cause some disagreement, but if you can't debate him on the issues (and, lets be honest here, unless you're well versed in quantum physics, you ain't gonna have much of a chance of that) don't resort to trying to dismiss him because he's disabled.

If anything, it just makes you look even worse in your own mind, because it means by default that you yourself have been bested mentally by someone you think you should be superior to.

Just sayin'

How do you decide who to highlight?

I was wandering through CNN's Belief Blogs tonight when a new topic came up, entitled simply "Chaplain Killed In Action".  The article was a relatively lengthy one telling how U.S. Army chaplain Capt. Dale Goetz, as well as Staff Sgt. Jesse Infante, Staff Sgt. Kevin J. Kessler, Staff Sgt. Matthew J. West, and Pfc. Chad D. Clements, all five were stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado, died when their convoy was ambushed in the 'stan on August 30th.
My point?  CNN's article on the Belief blogs was a length piece about Captain Goetz, who is the first Chaplain to have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, including quoting in full the Army's Chief of Chaplains' statement about Captain Goetz' death.  The others who died with him got one line.

One.  Line.

That annoys the hell out of me.  Yes, so Captain Goetz was the first Chaplain to be killed, and yes it's CNN's Belief blogs, which orient around religion - but one line for the four other servicemen who died?

It worries me, that somehow this is an indication that the media thinks that the only time the death of our troops should be personalized is when it's somehow a "special" event.

It worries me even more that we, the American public, look at it the same way ...

I wonder how the families of the others who died with him feel, if they read a media report that highlights just one of the casualties, goes ahead and reprints a statement from some brass, but just glosses over their loved ones.  Surely their service must have been worth the glowing words too from their brass?

Right now, with the Westboro Baptist Church gaining supporters such as the Dove World Outreach Center in their actions dishonoring our fallen heroes, we can't lose sight of the fact that every one of those heroes is someone "special", that each of them deserves equal treatment in the reporting of their sacrifices made on our behalf, for our safety, for us.

My condolences go out to the families of all of our fallen heroes, and I hope the media takes the hint and starts remembering that they're all worth the column inches.


Updated 2140 9/2/2010 CNN changed the title of the article to "For first time in Iraq or Afghanistan wars, U.S. military chaplain is killed"