A new theory about what's wrong with the media (re Ava Lowery's interview)

[Plaid Adder]

I just went to see Ava Lowery's interview with Carol Lin on CNN over at Crooks and Liars. I was struck by Lin's opening gambit about the fact that she and the other CNN folks were trying to figure out what they were doing at age 15 but it "certainly wasn't talking about a war." She then asks how Ava got interested in the war--as if it is surprising that someone whose peers are all 3 years away from draftable age should care about something like that.

OK, well, I don't know how old Lin and her colleagues are. Maybe when they were 15 there was nothing interesting going on. I know that by the time I was fifteen--waaay back in 1984--I had already figured out that I would need to pay close attention to what went on the world, and specifically to what was being done by the U.S. government and the U.S. army in my name. Ava may be the most famous fifteen year old who's writing about the war, but she can't possibly be the only one. Adolescence is the time in your life when your horizons are expanding, when you feel driven to define yourself in relationship to the universe and to wonder about the big universal questions that nobody can answer--including the question of why war keeps happening when everyone can agree that it's horrible. Being a teenager involved a lot of stuff that I would just as soon forget, but one thing I would never give up is all the time I spent sitting around with my friends talking about the big unanswered questions as if we might actually be the first to solve them.

So it makes perfect sense to me that a fifteen-year-old would be interested in a war that has been part of her world since she was 12. It makes even more sense when you consider the amount of military recruiting being done at the high school level. And Lin is seriously sitting there asking her, "How did you even know about the war?" How could any fifteen-year-old who's paying any kind of attention to anything not know about this war?

So...what does it mean that Lin and her colleagues find it miraculous that someone Ava's age is concerned about the Iraq war? What were they all doing when they were fifteen? Shopping? Blowdrying their hair? Figuring that they didn't need to worry about anything because the adults would take care of it? Did they just never go through the questioning stage? Did none of them ever wonder why things are, or how they could be different? Is that why they can get on TV and smile and talk about this nightmare we're living through as if it's all just a normal day at the office?

Yeesh. Lin closes by saying, after Ava is already off the air, that she's "much older than fifteen years." Well, I wouldn't argue with that; she has certainly shown the kind of intelligence and courage under fire that we have not seen from a lot of the grown-ups who are supposed to be running the joint. But perhaps the contrast is sharper because all the media talking heads seem to have gotten stuck in some kind of bizarre eternal childhood, where nobody ages, and nobody rebels, nobody is passionate, and nobody doubts that father knows best.

Oy,

The Plaid Adder

[Neoma]

1. Now to them..

Ava is the only 15 year old in politics. :eyes: I went into politics when i was twelve, but i guess it matters only when you're famous.

[KitchenWitch]

19. Ava has been extremely visible via her website and animations.

That does not discount what you, or anyone else has done politically as a teenager.

For every Ava, I am sure there are tens of thousands of other teenagers who are grappling with the same political questions.

[Neoma]

29. I'm not saying it does.

I meant in that CNN reporter's view.

[Radical Activist]

2. Bringing up recruiters is a good point.

If someone at 15 is supposed to be so unaware as to have no opinion about the war, how can we honestly suggest that 13-17 year old high school students are mature and informed enough to face military recruiters in their high school? I wonder when CNN will cover that issue.

[yorgatron]

4. i was 15 when i first read Hunter S. Thompson's

"Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972"
i'd say 15 is the ideal time to start learning about the political process.
3 years away from voting,or 3 years away from boot camp.

[Radical Activist]

5. It probably is a good time.

But people like you and I, who were thinking about politics at age 15, are the exception to the rule. Of course, if all we teach kids in school is Reading, Science and Math, like Bush would have us do, it never prepares the young to participate in the political arena or be able to view current events in their proper historical perspective. It keeps people dumb enough to fall for every President who lies to start a new war. Let's force every 15 year old to read Howard Zinn in school. :)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. I was in HS under Clinton and there were lots of military recruiters

at my HS. Maybe it's because we also had Picatinny Arsenal in town. Those recruiters were really good at making it seem like the military would be an awesome thing to do. Although, it was a more peaceful time then. Even I considered it, because I felt there was no way I'd actually be called into active duty. Obviously, I ended up not joining and only one of my friends signed up for anything straight from HS. Even that was ROTC, he didn't finish it though because he came out as transgendered and resigned.

[cornermouse]

3. Lin and others like her are shallow.

They're worried about their make-up, their clothes, their figures, their super pearly white teeth, their hair, and being seen at the right places with the right people making the right connections to advance themselves.

[Javaman]

31. Lin is a moron. And I found it insulting the way to put the questions

to Ava.

Lin's questions were along the lines of "how could a teeeeeeenager possibly know a world outside of what we the MSM are feeding them. They don't read or are concerned about anything other than boyssss". I remit, Lin is a moron.

[Tinksrival]

37. Question her motives

without letting comment on the message.
They use this tactic all the time with "dissenters"

[bleever]

6. "Golly! Interested in politics at fifteen!"

"I'm on national TV and I still find this stuff incredibly dense and hard to figure out."

Great post. You hit a lot of the points that came up for me in watching that video.

One addition: Ava answered the questions really well. Big props.

:thumbsup:

[Canuckistanian]

7. I knew Kennedy was president of the US when I was 5

When he was assasinated. I've always been aware of world leaders and major wars and even political parties, even when I was younger than Ava. I knew it was important.

Not every kid is immersed in a sea of ignorance and apathy.

[Gregorian]

8. Thank you for saying what I felt.

You nailed it. As I watched the comment Lin made about what she was doing at fifteen, I let out an audible yell of, "What a jerk!". It was an automatic response. I surprised even myself.

At 15, the people I knew were highly intelligent. These kids read the San Francisco Examiner before going to school each morning. We had Oliphant's cartoons of Nixon being grilled, all over our bedroom walls. We kidded with each other saying, "Let me make this PERFECTLY clear.".

These so-called media types in the news today are losers I don't want practicing journalism. I have seen what even UC Berkeley is doing with their journalism students, and it's nothing short of simply parroting the corporate blather. I was furious at UC Berkeley journalism profs when I discovered that. But it continues to this day. It's like playtime funtime get-in-front-of-a-mike and regurgitate what you are told by the AP wire.

No wonder Lin is amazed. Here's Ava who isn't just standing in line at the McDonald's style commercial news. She isn't buying the secret sauce they're handing her.

[LeahD]

14. Does she think teenagers live in a bubble? What a nimrod. n/t

[fortyfeetunder]

22. I second that -- Not all 15YOs were clueless.

Nixon's follies, Watergate, were like a soap opera when I was a teenager. Haldeman, Erlichman, Woodward and Bernstein, John and Martha Mitchell (was she a hoot) were household names to us city kids.

Before the Internet, we drew cartoons, read the newspapers, wrote poetry, created art, and took pictures of the world around usNot to mention singing the anti-war songs because we were ticked off about Vietnam too.

We had a clue, it wasn't all about dating, parties, clothes, money. We were worried whether we were going to be drafted by the time we were 18. But that experience jaded me for life politically but made me seek truth and justice in my own world.

But going back to the video, Lin's questions about 15YOs are simply condescending and exposed her inner ignorance. There are kids who do have a clue, lady...

[farmbo]

9. Lin and the Bubble-headed Bleach Blonds didn't bother themselves...

...with dreary thoughts of war.

Let's face it. The electronic media is chocked full of vacuous, strikingly beautiful prom kings and queens who have never worked an honest day in their lives. And they certainly don't come from families who send their kids off to war.

They are a privileged elite who can no longer relate to working class people.

But boy can they read the talking points off the prompter.

[ConsAreLiars]

10. That anchor gives real meaning to the word "vacuous."

I have no doubt that at 15 she was very concerned about her hair, and not merely oblivious to everything else, but incapable of comprehending anything that wasn't about her persona. And now. Malloy had the misfortune to be invited to CNN as a part of a panel she hosted. The next day's rant was brief but he said something to the effect that he had never met anyone so dumb.

[calimary]

24. She's the same vacuum-head who was anchoring on the weekend before

the republi-CON convention in NYC, when that HUGE anti-war march took place with people coming for miles and miles. And I believe she turned to the camera at one point (yes, it was such a big anti-war demonstration that it couldn't be avoided by the media) and said something to the effect of "some people say this is democracy in action, but I just don't understand it." HORRIBLE of those people to buck the decrees of their precious pResident, wasn't it?

Her IQ could fit on the head of a pin. But she's got great dimples, and they do photograph well...

[bettyellen]

11. the bizarre eternal chilhood where Ava's video comes off as "flip" .....

I didn't understand Lin's POV at all, but you nailed it. The "flip" comment is just more projection from the happy idiots.

"Is that why they can get on TV and smile and talk about this nightmare we're living through as if it's all just a normal day at the office?"
yup.

[Plaid Adder]

13. Yeah, the "flip" thing was unbelievable.

No, it's not flippancy, honey. It's called "irony" and at least in my day, by the time you were 15 you'd had it explained to you in one of your high school English classes.

Sigh,

The Plaid Adder

[troubleinwinter]

15. Lin's question if people

might take the images of dead and dying children as "flip" was a remarkably stupid, dense and insulting comment. Lin is dumb as a fucking post. The depth and intelligence of the message created by a 15 year old was entirely over her head.

[gristy]

35. flip!!???

:wow: My jaw went to the floor when I heard that comment. The whole lead-up to the "flip" characterization - as Lin shook her head in condescending disgust indicating that she just couldn't believe that Ava had coupled "Jesus Loves Me" to scenes of death and destruction. :mad:

[Cleita]

12. Ava needs to be interviewed on Jon Stewart to get a

good interview. Even if it's supposed to be the "fake news", I know Jon would do a great job.

[madokie]

27. maybe it is emailing time because I would love to see that, it would bring

the young lady right out in the front where she deserves to be. Yes I would love to see that.
If you are reading this Ava you have the world by the tail, now lead IT to where YOU want it to take you.
You go girl.
peace
:hi:

[LibertyorDeath]

16. CNN is an adjunct of the Pentagon

and Carol Lin isn't worth a pile of steaming dog shit!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. kick!

cause Plaid Adder rocks.

[Tsiyu]

18. At 15?

The Viet Nam war ended.

Nixon came on TV and said it was over.

A great weight was lifted off my young mind.


Lin is a freak. Journalists are all freaks nowadays. They're like sales droids who can't be moved - by reason or humanity or shame - to deviate from their assigned sales pitches.

It hurts to watch them, but I'm damned proud of Ava.

[Emit]

20. "How did you even know about the war?"

When she asked Ava that question, I just wanted to scream! I have a 15 year old daughter who is engaged in politics -- not the level of Ava's involvement, but engaged to the degree that all of her teachers over the last three years definitely know where she stands on issues. In 2004, she had her yearbook picture taken with her Kerry/Edwards button. All the teachers knew where to get the buttons, stickers and signs.

That interview floored me. Really, how obtuse can a major cable network 'news' person be??!!

Btw, Ava was great -- she came off very confident, mature and articulate with her responses, ironically more aware by far than Lin.

[mark11727]

33. "HOW? Why, Carol, it's been in all the newspapers...!"

"Peel your face off the teleprompter and pick up one sometime."

Twit.

[Marr]

36. "Certainly not because of you or your network, Carol" would've been nice.

Still- I think what Lin was driving at was 'this poor child has been brainwashed by bloggers'.

[Erika]

21. Many of 15 year olds todays are looking for options for a future

To many of them, the military is a source for an education and a way out of their limited lives.

It seems Ava also saw the stark reality of today's W's America and its insanity.

[Chipper Chat]

23. Plaid Adder - I had the same gut reaction to Lin's shallowness.

She is just a programmed robot. In the wee hours of the morning following Bush's "victory" in '04 she was sooooo bubbly - not even a smattering of sympathy for Kerry & Edwards following their concession appearance.
Now, let's hark back to 1968 when I was teaching high school. Many 15-yr-olds were VERY, no, passionately interested in politics. (Remember they were 9 when Kennedy was assasinated and were not living under a rock). I was working late with the light on one evening when several excited students rushed in to tell me that Johnson just announced he was not running for re-election. Most were anti-war and not afraid to expouse it - even the republican kids. This was a time when Catholic nuns were very political (anti-war; anti-drugs - I miss those nuns). Also the Up With People movement was in full swing. Even thought it was a tad right-wing & morally fundie it got kids INVOLVED in politics.
So stuff it Carol Lin. Stick with interviewing family members of missing blonds.

[BR_Parkway]

26. Lin seems to be admitting total uselessness of M$M - if she has to wonder

how a 15 year old knows anything about Iraq - after 3+ years of 24 hour a day news cycle coverage? She sounded so surprised that Ava wasn't totally brainwashed with Scott Peterson, runaway bride, crackhead saving courtroom killer through the power of purpose driving your life...

How could you possibly ask someone, anyone how they came to know about something that you've been reporting on for over 3 years, non stop, 24 hours a day. With huge banners, amazing graphics, melodramatic music and a breathless Wolfe in the Situation Room.

[Jade Fox]

44. Had that same thought.....n/t

[Skittles]

28. THANK YOU PLAID ADDER

I wrote a letter to a newspaper at age THIRTEEN about the Vietnam war - not of of us are bubbleheaded freaks now, nor were we clueless morons as teenagers

[H2O Man]

30. In traditional societies,

people at the age of 15 are recognized as young adults. They have learned to think for themselves, and to act for others. They are respected for being of an age where they should be considering all of the options that their life holds for them. And they are known to be the conscience of the community, with a sense of justice that fits with the wisdom of their elders in a manner that benefits all.

In our high-tech society, young people are denied the respect that comes with being recognized as young adults. The culture attempts to teach them that they are not capable of thinking fopr themselves. They are brainwashed into thinking that the great uniformed Gym Coach should serve as their conscience. They are cut off from the wisdom of their elders, who are warehoused in "old folks' homes." This is necessary not only to create an unconscious workforce, but to prepare young folks to go to Iraq and kill strangers for Halliburton.

Carol Lin is no doubt surprised to meet a mature voice of conscience in this wonderful person Ava. Ms. Lin would be no more surprised to meet a 15-year old woman from a 15th century traditional society -- and to find out the 15-year old woman has an intelligence that one does not acquire in the context of an average classroom, or by watching 99.99% of CNN.

For many of us who might qualify as the elders from Gary Snyder's "Earth House Hold," Ava is not a surprise at all. She is confirmation of our faith in humanity to produce what is best in our species, even in these trying times. There are, of course, many young people who like Eva are the voices of conscience in our society. She has the unique opportunities, and responsibilities, that come with being placed in the national level.

From everything I've seen, the country couldn't have found a better person to do the amazing work she is doing.

[Patiod]

32. I was aware of politics and war at 12 - brother with low draft #

When your brother is of draft age and there's a war going on, you're aware, believe me. I knew my brother's draft number (low - which for those of you under 45, is not good). I watched the war unfold on TV, we discussed the war at dinnertime, and I went to midnight Peace Vigils at our local Catholic Church with my mom, where we prayed that my emotionally fragile brother would not be drafted.

Someone must have been listening, because Nixon ended the draft the day before my brother was to report to our local draft board. The day before.

Yes, it was a different time, but on the other hand, I never had a single, searing "9/11" wake-up call, either. And today's kids see this war being debated, they have neighbors and relatives who are enlisted, they see cartoons about Gitmo and Saddam and Cheney in the paper.

Alot of young people tune out, but a lot tune in as well -- probably more than the generation that came of age between Vietnam and Fall, 2001, the generation that produced most of the "big-lipped blond" talking heads on cable.

[peace13]

34. Ava really kept her composure

answering the imbeciles questions! I don't think I could have been so kind. In our society you are either in tune with what is going on in the war or ignore it completely out of selfishness. When I was 15 I wore two POW bracelets and was very aware of the sacrifices made in my name. These TV people are just actors in a play. Peace, Kim

[burythehatchet]

38. Your intuition serves you well

to read about this thesis you may want to pick up Sibling Society by Robert Bly.

[Totally Committed]

39. When I was 15, I was already marching in the streets for Civil Rights...

A few years later, there was the war.

I guess those that cannot do, try and report on thiose that can -- and do a miserable job at it.

TC

[StaggerLee]

40. My 16 year old nephew was almost 13 when this war started

He told me at 15 that he refused to serve in this debacle if they have a draft and it reaches him.

They know. They damn well understand.

Lin is the one being flip.

[Ganja Ninja]

41. Her observation about her adolescence is revealing indeed.

I when I was 15 it was 1968. There were riots in the streets and the Tet offensive was in full swing in Vietnam. I would read the entire news section every day when I got home from school. Damn right I was concerned about what was going on. I knew that I would be draft age in only 3 years and I wasn't going to be eligible for deferments like the stalwart patriots running the country today.

Such is the state of TV news journalism today that national news anchors are as bubble headed today as they were in junior high school. Her patronizing attitude is like something you might expect from one of the cool kids cutting down a nerd. Arrested development to put it mildly.

[ladym55]

42. Several Random Thoughts

After watching Lin's interview with Ava and following the posts here on DU, several things keep striking me over and over.

First--Ava's work is terrific, and she handled herself on CNN with great grace, style, and maturity (unlike her interviewer). People who post to DU are involved and aware like Ava or tend to have kids like Ava. However, that isn't the general trend. As someone who teaches 18 year olds, I find the ignorance and apathy appalling and scary. In a presidential election year, many don't even know who is running (but they can give me all the details on Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, or LeBron James). They oppose abortion, gay marriage, immigration, and taxes, but don't know why. BUT they know where to buy the "in" clothes and where to party to meet the "right" people. Their main goal is make lots of money with little effort.

Second--Probably the most vapid of my students are interested in broadcast journalism. (Are we beginning to understand Lin now?) One wide-eyed blonde jiggled up to me after class to complain WHY she had to take all these stupid liberal arts classes that wasted her time. She didn't need to know "any of this stuff" for broadcast journalism.

Which leads me here--When Lin asked if Ava was "being flip" in her placement of music and video, Lin demonstrated not only a lack of understanding of the basic concept of irony (obviously Lin cut her American lit required class a few times too often), but she also missed that Ava was using a very basic technique of visual argument very powerfully. The juxtaposition of the music and the video had the very effect Ava sought--jarring "Christians" into thinking about the effect of their "Christian" president's foreign policy. duh. :eyes:

When you have a large number of empty-headed, well-dressed "journalists" engaged in "interviewing," you end up with snarky journalism. Lin is a perfect case in point. She is too ignorant and uneducated to ask probing questions, so she demonstrates MSM-style "critical thinking" through condescension and mean-spirited questions.

Hooray to all of the Avas out there--who are using their youth, passion, and intelligence to make a difference. :bounce: :woohoo:

And to Lin--I remember now why I never watch cable news. :eyes:

[Jade Fox]

43. At 15 I was cutting school to go to anti-war demonstrations...

against my adolescent war--Viet Nam. Many adolescents have remarkable clear vision about what is really going on. Good post.

"some bizarre eternal childhood....." That's downright brilliant, Plaidadder.

Ava, you did very well in responding to the questions put to you. Congratulations!

[Truthy Nessy]

45. 1959 movie got me thinking about war and it's effects

When I was 12 I saw "On The Beach". a movie about the effects of the world after war from radiation. I grew up crawling under my school desk during air raids, as if that would have saved me from an atom bomb blast. In 1961 when I was in 8th grade the nuns were so excited in school with Kennedy becoming president. I was 16 when he was assassinated. I remember to this day where I was and who I was with when Johnson announced he would not run. King and RFK's death left me more political. I ended up in Canada as a refugee in 1969, fleeing the assignment of the Viet Nam War. I was 21.
I didn't grow up in a very political family. My father read the sports page, my mother read the sales and entertainment pages in newspapers. I can recall our neighbor coming over during the Cuban missile crisis and my mother didn't have a clue what it was or why our neighbor was almost hysterical.

It's good to see there are young people like Avery who have brains and courage to do what she is doing.