ALL TALK, NO ACTION! CNN International’s Big Reveal
Weep for me. Yes. Weep. For me. Only for me. You see, I have suffered a tragic misfortune. Yours truly has had to endure hour upon hour upon hour of watching the international variant of CNN. Pure torture.
Torture not just because it’s a lot like American CNN only global in focus. And torture not just because it features commercials for Amanpour – I believe the actual name of her show is Amanpour. (the period indicative either of her ability to perennially personify that time of the month in a woman’s life or of her being the final word in news reporting) — sandwiched between other commercials casting CNN journalists as war heroes (one actually features a female reporter laying alongside a brown skinned fellow shooting a rifle in some war torn region; yes you are supposed to believe that Susie Two-shoes is as hardened as a Green Beret because she posed for the pic with some guy that probably should be on trial for crimes against humanity). Torture because CNN’s international franchise reveals a key truth about the west most would rather ignore.
After watching hour after hour of their boo hoo’ing about Greece, and about Turkish citizens angry about China, and coverage of the Pope’s visit to Ecuador that reminded me of the 1994 OJ Ford Bronco chase in LA, I identified the problem: “All talk, no action”. Greece is going down? Guess what? A bunch of European pontificators are there to issue statements, hold conferences about it, then issue joint statements, and otherwise discuss the problem with legs duly crossed in that unusual manner that makes one question whether the male doing the leg crossing is well, you get the picture. Just remember, at any moment some third level Euro-crat is going to issue a statement or speak at a press conference and CNN international will adjust coverage to treat the event as though Elvis had just been found washing cars at a strip mall just outside of Vegas.
It’s important that the pontificators be of the European variety or of color, provided they are carbon copies of the European variety. (That, by the way, is why GE runs a commercial on CNN international in which they present themselves as saving the African continent one medical treatment at a time – yet no one complains about big money GE making this claim).
All talk, no action. It’s why ISIS is running roughshod anywhere it wants. It’s why Greece is soon to unravel the EU (that could be a good thing, or a bad thing). It’s why hours are spent chasing the Pope as his motorcade hurtles across South American highways. It’s why Secretary of Personality John Kerry hobbles out on crutches with his typical “Mom, they said I’m the Secretary of Personality and not of State” expression on his face and is accepted as an expert negotiator in the Iran nuke talks.
The west, and unfortunately America under Obama, has shifted dramatically in the wind towards an all talk, no action way of doing business on the world stage. Is it any wonder things are he way they are these days?
Image: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Cnni-globe-logo.png