European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday november 26, 1993 commentary the stars Ano stripes Paga 17disney converts . History into fantasy land David s. Broker the grandchildren were gathered for another thanksgiving a five of them now none older than 5. And the House that is normally a Boring sedate place was happily adjusting to their irreverent irrepressible and often incomprehensible babbling. The oldest ones Are at a Point where they recognize some of the landmarks of Washington. Within a year or two their visits can begin to include excursions Back Ward into american history letting them see and touch the monuments and walk Over the ground where this nation was forged in prayer in debate and in bloody Battle. Their fathers Are familiar with the routine for they were hauled off to battlefields famous Homes and especially museums on so Many sunday mornings that the family joke was that they were being raised As it did them no visible harm and Likely the grandchildren would survive similar treatment. But now we know that by the time the oldest of the grandchildren is 10, they will have a Choice Between the real historical Sites in and around Washington and the simulations to be contained in a a Disney Samerica a the new theme Park to be built near the civil War Bat tie Field in Manassas 35 Miles out in Virginia. The Disney name As everyone knows is magic with children so i think i can guess what their preference will be. The question is should we indulge the Choice and be very popular or insist that reality is better for their souls than simulation i am not a Disney Basher. I loved the Disney car Toons As a child and still regard both Dumbo and fantasias classics. When we took the four sons to Disneyland almost 25 years ago it was great fun a and i did no to worry a bit that it would diminish their appreciation of the grand Canyon or the Columbia River Gorge or Yellowstone or any of the other natural highlights of the Western expedition. A return visit to Disneyland a month ago with four year old Lauren her parents and her cousins was a Hoot. And the Cost of the Day did not seem exorbitant now that i own a couple shares of Disney i was struck this time As i had not been before by the stereotyping of cultures races and people in some of the Ola Disneyland rides. The Jungle cruise did no to faze me in 1969, but in 1993, it seemed a succession of caricatures of a lesser Breeds without the Law a As Kipling the poet laureate of imperialism put it. The effect if not the intent is to solidity the notion that we Are clearly a Superior civilization. It made me wonder what the Disney folks would do with the events and themes of american history a for that is the prospectus for the new Park. There will be some thrill rides but the main attraction our new neighbor is promising for your roughly $30 a Day admission is the Saga of the american nation. As numerous sceptics already have suggested this conjures up images of a robotic Patrick Henry declaring a give me Liberty a or give me a sup Erburger with but the Disney people Are not that Tacky. Instead they Promise to recreate environments ranging from pre colonial America to the Western Frontier the battlefields of the civil War and other struggles 19th-Century farm life and Early 20th-Century Industry. They will include reminders of the a painful disturbing Ana agonizing chapters in our history from the introduction of slaves to the struggle in Vietnam according to Disney chairman Michael d. Eisner. I really dont know what to Hope for. The i f com it More a a realistic this new Disney Park is the harder it May be for the grandchildren to separate the synthetic experience from the one of seeing the real Constitution and the real spirit of St. Louis in the museums on the mall. But the More Disney rewrites history into myth and converts America into fantasy land the More popular the new Park May be. Maybe this Honor might just As Well have passed us by. Anybody in Emporia looking for a theme Park. C the Washington pot it s risky to make policy dictated by the Media Quantico a. A during my lecture on the korean and Vietnam wars at the Marien corps War College Here a question arose about the role of the Media in shaping foreign and military policy and whether As some have charged the Media in fact had lost the Vietnam War. The Issue was raised not in passing As had been the Case in the past when most of the students at the War colleges where Vietnam Veteran. This time it was More in the nature of an academic inquiry. More relevant to the current generation of military officers is the question of whether the Media had provoked our current involvement in Somalia and were still trying to provoke . Military involvement in Bosnia As Well. The underlying sentiment in both cases however was the same a the Power of the press to shape and determine the direction of . Foreign policy and the military involvement that undergirds that policy. While the Media vociferously and correctly to my mind denies responsibility for losing the Vietnam War they Werini tally More than Happy to take credit for precipitating the Somalia involvement. As to guide bragged in to Jan. 16-22, 1993, Issue a Somalia is an american for eign policy first a military operation launched by the evening after the involvement turned into a debacle the government was Only too glad to agree with that assessment. Like their predecessors in. The Johnson and Nixon administrations who blamed the Media for losing the Vietnam War the Clinton administration was eager to Slough off responsibility for the Somalia disaster. A american foreign policy a said National Security adviser Anthony Lake Quot is increasingly driven by where can Points it but it wont Wash. Its just As wrongheaded to blame the Media for Somalia As it was to blame it for Vietnam. Writing oct. 14 on the oped pages of the new York times in response to an earlier article by George f. Kennan lbs to news Anchor Dart rather perfectly refuted Kennan a claim that the Media was re Harry. Summers Spon sible for Somalia. In so doing ironically enough he made an eloquent Case for the Lack of Power of the Media. A emr. Kennan blames television a a above All television a for congressional and Public support for president Bush a deployment of United states troops to Somalia a a rather said. Quot to give television credit for so powerful an influence it to flatter those of us who toil ther a but it s wrong. A if or. Kennan were right there would be . Marines on the ramparts of Sarajevo right now defending the bosnian muslims. Bruce Babbit would be on his second tour in the White House. And newsrooms would have Universal health care. Reporters sometimes feel strongly about the stories they cover and some May wish for the Power to direct Public opinion and to guide american policy a by they done to have or. Rather could have used an even More telling example. Almost 100 percent of the to news anchors commentators and to personalities were in favor of lifting the ban on homosexuals in the military. They were joined by almost All of the rest the Media As Well. Most editorial blasted the military As bigoted and reactionary and the new York times editorial writers even ignored Gen. Colin l. Powellsr a retirement. If the press was indeed As powerful in shaping opinion As Many believe the ban would have been quickly lifted. But the precise opposite happened. Not Only did president Clinton Back Down from his Campaign pledge to lift the ban but the members of Congress reacting to the sentiment of their constituents a swayed by the Media Blitz voted overwhelmingly to write into Law that homosexuality was incompatible with military service. The incident not Only represents a telling rebuttal of the idea that the Media t Are so powerful thay can dictate government policy it is also a powerful indicator of How the mainline Media have strayed from their role As a sounding Board for the american Public. As Clinton has found those making decisions on policy issues listen to the Media a elitist politically Correct pronouncements at their peril. C Loa Angelo time
