Burke: Would American heroes survived scrutiny of 24/7 news?

By Tom Burke / Herald columnist

I’ve got a beef with gravity. I wanna fly but physics keeps me grounded.

I’ve also got a beef with the media’s reporting and analysis as Biden extricates us from the 20-year war we should never have started.

But there’s as much chance of changing the way the media reports stuff today as there is of me soaring over Puget Sound, unaided, after leaping off the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Today’s 24-hour news cycle — instant communications fueled by cable TV and internet/social media — means 24/7 new content is de rigor and, because outlets compete for eyeballs, they must titillate their audience, constantly, to keep them tuned-in, online and reading; the ratings and sponsors demand it.

So let’s do a little thought experiment, stepping back in time, to consider: “What if.” “What If” other American commanders faced the same communications environments as current ones

To begin, George Washington, at age 22, would have been washed-up, a failure and would have stayed at Mount Vernon, maybe farming or making whiskey.

Ya see, his killing of a well-connected French soldier and diplomat in May 1754 initiated the French and Indian War. Then he surrendered his entire command at a “fort” he built out of too-small sticks on un-defensible flat ground; publicly “confessed” to the assassination of the Frenchman; and was part of British Gen. Braddock’s tragic defeat and ignominious burial when Braddock’s command was destroyed trying to avenge the loss of the fort.

So picture, if you will, how today’s media (reporters embedded with the Washington when he murders the French ensign in central Pennsylvania; the media trapped in the fort with no means of escape and no plan to evacuate Washington’s Native American allies; pundits back in Williamsburg, Va., second-guessing his fort design and commenting on Braddock’s burial (he was killed in action) under a crossroads, so the marching army would stamp out evidence of his grave and the enemy couldn’t drag the corpse through the street, as seen on a YouTube video.

Now fast forward 160 years and imagine that CNN, Fox News, the Times and the Wall Street Journal were live, online reporting on President Woodrow Wilson and John J. “Black Jack” Pershing’s leadership during World War I.

Of course the Republicans on Fox News would be over Democrat Wilson like a cold sweat asking why the U.S. wasn’t better prepared, in 1917, for a war that started in 1914 and one we should have know we’d get involved in (Intelligence failure!).

Then they’d pound on why our troops had to train with broomsticks instead of real guns (Logistics failure!).

Or why our Air Corps had to use French and British planes instead of our own (Manufacturing failure!).

And arm-chair generals would be scolding that we weren’t cooperating with France and Great Britain when Pershing insisted the American Army fight as an independent American unit, rather than becoming mere cannon fodder under British and French commanders.

They’d want to know why we lost so many men (116,516) from May 1918 through Nov. 11, 1918. (Poor leadership?)

Plus right-wing pundits would rail at great length about lost freedom and how mandatory masking during the 1918 Spanish Flu was a totalitarian mandate; how the flu started, world-wide, in an American military hospital but kept secret (Conspiracy!); and why it killed six times more Americans (675,000) than died in combat in France (Incompetence?).

Instant analysis, by today’s agenda-driven commentators and news organizations, who constantly keep things at a fever pitch to drive ratings, must be tempered by the reality that only time and distance can provide.

History has called Afghanistan the “Graveyard of Empires.” And conquerors such as Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, plus the Moguls, the British and the Russians have been defeated in attempts to conquer the land.

And there’s a book — OK, there’s lots of books — but James Michener’s “Caravans” has helped me contextualize what’s happening there now. It’s a novel, but a novel based on first-hand experience and rich in insight. It’s set in post-WWII Afghanistan and the adventure part of the story serves to illustrate the cultural roots and mind set of the Afghans as they enter the “modern” age. It still rings very true today.

I first read it 40 years ago. But it struck a chord and I’ve re-read it many times since. So instead of everyone diving head-first into instant analysis and red/blue takes on what’s happening, a few hours of context might be a good use of time.

And judgement is perhaps best served through perspective, tempered by time; and what seems to be happening in the moment may not be the best indicator of history.

Fort Necessity, was Washington’s complete fiasco, but his triumph at Yorktown would never have happened had CNN or Fox been on-scene in central Pennsylvania in 1754 to report it.

Stay safe. Mask up. Get the shot.

Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.