Chris Brauer Media Project [BLOG]

Featuring streaming of Coldplay's Fix you.

After two short years away in the UK the Canadian news coverage of global issues is shocking. For the first time in memory Canadians are depicted on the world stage firing guns on ranges getting ready for duty, dying from roadside bombs, and in the end, picking sides in sovereign disputes. Stories from Afghanistan and troop memorial coverage and battles are the intro to national broadcasts instead of humanitarian or social/economic stories. The bravery of these soldiers is beyond dispute but the cause is political.

Surely in a 21st century beset by global warming, depleted carbon fuels, and mass differences in global quality of life (what's the quality rating for being a victim or the families of fatalities reported in the news) we should focus on coming together instead of driving apart. The teaser for the new 9/11 film "World Trade Center" (Oliver Stone no less) brings back memories in 2001 of talk of a two year moratorium on media factional storytelling after the attacks .

Wait until the audeince is ready. The producers waited awhile longer and stories have been leaking in dribbles but here they come. Make no mistake this story will be told and retold as inspiration on demand. What are the stories being told in the Middle East? Likely they tell a far different tale.

The Coldplay-infused film teaser (Windows Media) speaks of 9/11 as an event that is to define a generation. I always thought of the fall of the wall and the end of the cold war as the would-be defining moment of my generation. Optimisim was in the air for one world, one society but just 15 years later the entire story is being rewritten and the smoke clouds of trouble are gathered over planet earth. Sooner or later we will arrive at the Star Trek mantra of "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" and stop hurting each other. Who's tired of waiting?

Labels: canada, politics