Here’s an interesting angle to the seemingly intractable Darfur tragedy. The group BeAWitness.org has created an ad mocking network television’s obsession with ephemera like Michael Jackson and the Runaway Bride while thousands upon thousands die miserably in the Sudan. The group says all three major networks have refused to air the ad.
As a personal aside, I actually tried to watch some coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance on Fox News the other night. (She’s the Alabama teen who went missing in Aruba.) And while I was able to derive bits of cheap pleasure from the Michael Jackson trial and even the Scott Peterson saga, I must say this story seems utterly mind-numbing. Of course one feels for Natalee’s family and hopes against hope that she turns up alive. But there was clearly so little to discuss — the case seems pretty well stalled — it just felt like an excruciating waste of time. The only fun part was watching Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes trying to feign real interest. Yet this stuff gets incredible ratings. Call me out of touch, but I find that nothing short of bizarre.
Another depressing footnote: one guest on this show was Mark Fuhrman, who has apparently made a new career as an author and commentator on trashy tabloid crimes. Ten years after he was revealed to be an astonishingly hateful racist, leading one of his assocates to say “Fuhrman’s life is in the toilet. He has no job, no future,” Fuhrman seems to be doing pretty well for himself. Wonder if he’s even heard of Darfur. I guess it doesn’t matter.
Anyway, watch the ad. It’s provocative.
