So, conspiracy nut Kanye West get's some press attention for his blatantly ignorant, racially-charged remark that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," including here and here. It probably shouldn't be a surprise, then, when another ignorant (but opportunistic) hip-hop artist decides to ape Kanye to make a buck.

Dan Riehl has more, if you can stomach it.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

Dear CNN,

Thank you so much for filing suit against the federal government so that CNN can film the recovery of bodies of those killed by Hurricane Katrina. It is imperative that we, the public, be allowed to see the bloated and rotting corpses of those killed in this natural disaster, even though many of us still have loved ones missing.

Your suit was allegedly filed to allow you full and fair cover coverage, and "vigorous reporting," yet your suit didn't seemed concerned with addressing "sympathy for family members" or "respect for the dead." I can only surmise you are completely unfamiliar with the words "compassion" and "dignity," but then again, you are the media, so perhaps that is understandable.

Could it be that as far as CNN in concerned, stripping the last bits of humanity from the deceased isn't quite as important as an attempt to raise your ratings, or perhaps to inflame public passions?

Thank you for once again displaying the kind of class we've come to expect from CNN.

Sincerely,

Confederate Yankee

If you would like to express your feeling towards CNN's exploitive filming of the dead, you can do so here.

Update: Via email an article from the Dallas News, September 14, 1900 after the 1900 Storm in Galveston, TX that left 6,000 dead:

Looters found despoiling the dead were summarily executed by the militia - stood against the nearest wall or pile of debris and shot without the hindrance of a trial. The same brutal justice was delivered to amateur photographers. "Word received from Galveston today indicates that Kodak fiends are being shot down like thieves. Two, it is stated, were killed yesterday while taking pictures of nude female bodies."

Call me old-fashioned, but they had the right idea.

more...

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:36 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 370 words, total size 3 kb.

From Editor and Publisher:

Forced to defend what some critics consider its slow response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from New Orleans.

FEMA, which is leading the rescue efforts, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims, Reuters reported.

A FEMA spokeswoman told the wire service that space was need on the rescue boats and assured Reuters that "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect."

"We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the spokeswoman told Reuters via e-mail.

Burke and Hare at least advanced the cause of medicine. The media desire to exploit the dead of Hurricane Katrina cannot even claim that level of social utility.

After reading the barely concealed disdain in this Editor and Publisher article, one has to ask; what is to be gained by displaying the pictures of bloated, putrefying corpses pulled from the flood? Does it serve to advance the cause of future disaster preparedness? Do it help to explain the loss of a family member, by showing his dead child on page 1A for all to see?

What is the media's true desire here, and is that motive worth sacrificing the basic respect we have for the dead and their living families?

The Editor and Publisher article displays a certain journalistic necrophilia in its desire to abuse the bodies of Hurricane Katrina's victims for perceived political gratification.

Interestingly, I cannot recall such a macabre desire of the media to show drowning victims in more northern climes.

Update: The Anchoress has more, and it isn't for the faint of heart.

Another Update: Protein Wisdom says BRING OUT YOUR DEAD, CHIMPY! BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:54 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 2 kb.