When the Hell did WW III start??!

The BBQ Pit
#1

Ok I know NK fired a couple of longdong missiles into the Sea of Japan slaughtering several fish in a bid to catch the attention of teh United states and several of its neighbours. I know it is a provocative action but as the missiles in question were not armed and one failed a minute into its launch there was no real threat of hostilities breaking out.

At least I thought there wasn’t.

I was flipping around on the tube and came across the alarming graphics showing a million North Korean troops marching and talk of invasion across the demilitarized zone. In mounting disbelief I watch lovely arrows on a detailed digital map of the region pouring across the boarder and talk of deaths in teh 100s of thousands, followed by images of missiles firing and US aircraft taking off from carriers. For a second I thought I missed something big.

I flip to a local station to see what they have to say and watch as Chad and Janet are wooing esch other on “The draggiest soap plot of the day” and suddenly I’m wondering what the hell is happening. Are the blue rinse crowd’s ratings so important they’d prempt war coverage to keep the bloddy stories on?

Then after a milisecond it dawns on me… Once again those fricken scare mongers of the News Networks are pressing the panic button trying to stir up ratings by scaring the living shit out of people.

Asking pointless questions to noone but the camera like “Could they arm one of these with a nuclear weapon and could it reach the American Heartland?” and following it up with “Experts say no.”

They know the answer yet ask the question aloud anyway… because it is a nice scary question. They keep asking more questions that are designed to make you think the end is nigh and quickly and less enthusiastically answer them with “no, not really, very unlikely”

When Orsen Welles did this type of crap back in the 1930s he, at least, ended the program by saying it was their “version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying Boo!” These dickheads don’t bother. They pretend they are doing news.

What the fuck ever happened to responsible journalism? Why start pretending there is a war on or imminent when the evidence shows that at present nothing is about to happen but angry words and condemnations in the UN?

I refuse to watch any 24 hr news networks anymore. What’s the point? After all they aren’t reporting news they’re just making shit up now.

#2

This is tame. Comparitively. You should listen to Alex Jones or Jeff Rense. I don’t really recommend it; but if you’re searching for lost journalistic integrity, that’s the best place to start.

#3

Wasting away again in Crisis-hyperville
Searching for my lost trust in the news
Some people claim that it’s the ratings to blame
But I know it’s the dumb-it-down blues

#4

Although they couldn’t put a nuclear weapon into the US, they could put one into Seoul or Tokyo, since they are a lot closer. And the US is a close ally of both South Korea and Japan, and would be bound to react just as strongly as if they had bombed Honolulu or Seattle. That’s not WW3 yet – that would happen if the US and China went to war over the incident – but it’s pretty close, and given the irrational NK government, not so difficult to imagine.

#5

Para. 3 of the OP reminded me of the book “Arc Light” by Eric L Harry.

Excellent read and believable

#6

This just in, beloved singer song writer Jimmy buffet near death in a small Mexican resort town.

You want to know what happened. Somebody watched the movie Network and didn’t realize that it was a satire, but an actual blueprint for how it should be done.

#7

Since there’s an incredibly scarce amount of video footage of what’s happening in North Korea, my guess is that the station you were watching had trotted out their stock footage. Said stock is usually videos of soldiers marching in some parade in Pyeongyang, “action” shots of aircraft launching from US Navy carriers, and the always cute little graphics of colored (I can’t stand color-coding!) arrows showing what the North’s battle plan is for attacking the South.

#8

The point of my rant is not whether NK can or can not put Nukes in their shlong missiles.

It is that the “News” Networks know that in this specific case they are pumping up the fear by asking leading questions that they currently knew would have “No” answers. Why? Because Scary sells so much better than level headed sober assessment. The reality is that there is no great risk of war breaking out until NK actually does something beside firing of rockets into the sea. You know like firing one at Seoul or charging into the demilitarized zone.
War at present is not imminent and these wanks on the air, who supposedly have more information than the rest of us plebes, know it. But instead of stating the facts they go on speculative masturbation fests.

Almost Every person in the know has made this out to being merely a kick to the worlds shins to get attention and not a prelude to war. Well everyone but the commentators.

What’s next, images of burnt babies and radioactive rubble with the caption “IS this what will happen to Kansas?”

#9

Oh I absolutely know that. My ignorence to what I was seeing was only a fleeting second or so. But it was one of those WTF moments for those few seconds.

#10

Speaking of video footage from North Korea, you can search for “north korea” karaoke on the Google Video search and get one that’s not too bad, as far as Korean “noraebang” goes.

#11

Intelligence assesses ability, not intent.

But I agree that this sort of stuff does not belong on a news program. Scare-mongering and focusing on utterly trivial issues* are two things that really turn me off the modern news media.

*On the other hand, I think I probably define this a bit more broadly than most people. Crime, for instance? I can’t think of many situations where an individual criminal act deserves more than a five-second slot on the news: long enough to say “a bank in central city has just been robbed”. I couldn’t care less whether a kid in the Midlands has been kidnapped. It has no relevance to broader national issues. Mentioning it (especially if that will help the criminal investigation) is fine, but I don’t need a week of constant speculation in every single existing media outlet about poor little Tommy. I’ll stop now.

#12

Yes, it’s a stunt on the part of NK, and doesn’t yet mean that NK troops will be parading in Seoul, or that NK bombs will cause Tokyo to melt down. But stunts like that are carried out to accomplish something. So one has to ask what NK really hope to achieve in the long term, and also what might be the worst consequences if their brinkmanship goes wrong.

It’s certainly a matter of greater significance than the average crime story that gets prominence in the evening news. And if it happens in Japan or Korea it’s just as bad for the burnt babies as if it happened in Kansas.

#13

I’m not saying don’t cover the incident, just don’t play it up into a full foaming Doomsday special. Certainly explore the possible reasons and realistic consequences. Just stop pretending that war is about to break out.

#14

The problem with dealing with North Korea is that their leadership is foaming at the mouth insane. They are not rational. With their current leadership, war is always about to break out. It’s thanks to China, IMHO, that it hasn’t broken out since the last time.

#15

My apologies, but I missed the news for a couple of days and I’m hoping somebody can catch me up. Has the imminent threat of war with North Korea put an official end to last month’s imminent threat of war with Iran? And was the imminent threat of war with Iran immediately after the imminent threat of war with Venezuela or was there another imminent threat of war with some country in May that I’ve forgotten?

#16

North Korea is more likely to smuggle a nuke into one of our ports than launch one at us with a missle. With a missle we would instantly be able to tell who launched it and P’yŏngyang would be a glowing crater within hours. Kim-Jong-Il may crazy enough to attack the US, but is the rest of his inner circle?

#17

Kinda makes you nostalgic for the imminent war with China, right after the P-3 forced landing on Hainan, doesn’t it?

#18

Just yesterday I saw a Special Bulletin about the War of the Worlds. Had me counting down to covering my ass, let me tell you.

#19

I think America’s about ready for a reverse Orson Welles - aliens will arrive and destroy the nation under full news coverage and everbody’ll figure it’s just another overhyped media stunt and ignore the reports.

#20

You know your country’s leadership is nuts if: as a stabilizing influence, you depend on a country that runs over protesting college students with tanks.

:smiley: :eek: