Whatever issues people had with Tim Russert's political coverage during the George W. Bush years (and I and many others outside the Beltway intelligentsia had many), I don't wish to raise them now. First, I'd like to extend my condolences to Tim Russert's family and friends. After watching the extensive and ongoing memorializing at MSNBC and NBC, it is clear that, despite what anybody thought of Russert as a journalist, he obviously had an incredibly positive impact on those closest to him - as a loving husband, father and son, as well as a supportive, good-natured and inspiring friend and colleague.
After days of eulogies on MSNBC and NBC and the subsequent response by some who feel the near 24/7 memorializing for Russert was overblown, I'm neither going to defend nor criticize the coverage. I'll only say that I'm not sure how one dictates how others should mourn a loved one. On the other hand, it also seems natural that an overwhelming public display of mourning, such as what Russert received, might be viewed as excessive by those who were not close to him and/or who thought his overall contribution to society and the world at large was less than spectacular.
I'd prefer to offer a different perspective entirely, one that impacts all of us no matter how we received news of his death and what we thought of its coverage.
As I watched the outpouring of love and admiration for Tim Russert and the genuine sorrow over his sudden and shocking passing, I was reminded of lines from a column titled "In Honor of My Mother and the Power of Love," which Norman Solomon wrote in January after he lost his mother, Miriam A. Solomon:
My mother did not die young (she was 86), but since then I’ve felt awful waves of sadness. And sometimes I think of people who are mourning loved ones of all ages, due to distinctly unnatural causes. The people dying in Iraq as a consequence of the U.S. war effort. The children in so many countries who lose their lives to the ravages of poverty. The health-care system in the United States that — in the absence of full medical coverage for everyone as a human right — means avoidable death and suffering on a large scale.
In mediaspeak and political discourse, the human toll of corporate domination and the warfare state is routinely abstract. But the results — in true human terms — add rage and more grief on top of grief.
It
is a reality reflexively neglected in our mainstream media, and this
neglect certainly desensitizes our citizens to the daily suffering of
others, whether they live across town or in a different state, but
especially if they live in another country, particularly one under
military attack by the United States or its allies, or one suffering
disproportionately due to unjust global economic policies or brutal human rights atrocities.
The corporate media, of course, is the prime enabler of this willful disregard, often overtly and subliminally inspiring its citizenry to not only believe ignorance is bliss but that "our way of life" - which, ironically, excludes millions of our own citizens - justifies the arbitrary humiliation, poverty, suffering and death of those who happen to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, whether drowning in New Orleans, freezing to death on a street corner, or, as soldier or civilian, being emancipated from life by freedom's march in Iraq.
Still, if Solomon had said only that, if he had merely taken his personal
mourning and applied it on a macro level to underscore the suffering
and loss of those at home and abroad at the hands of "corporate
domination and the warfare state," his words might have remained too
abstract for many Americans who have long been conditioned to accept
"collateral damage" with little or no knowledge - or who have no desire to gain such terribly depressing knowledge - of actual
human devastation.
Instead, Solomon brought it back home in an effort, to paraphrase
Franz Kafka, to use his essay as "the ax for the frozen sea within us."
Solomon continued:
Our own mourning should help us understand and strive to prevent the unspeakable pain of others. And whatever love we have for one person, we should try to apply to the world.
Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. or Robert F. Kennedy circa 1968 could've written those words. Undoubtedly, such human beings, including Norman's mother, inspired them - everyone who has come before us who pushed the human race to not only understand that strength can be shown through peace, compassion and justice but that often blind aggression actually reveals weakness, ignorance and cowardice.
In the closing lines of his column, Solomon wrote:
After my mother died, I learned about a poem that she wrote long ago — apparently soon after her father passed away [who, like Tim Russert, also died too young and was beloved by his family and friends]. The poem is titled “Bereavement.” Here is how it ends:
More than cherished memories are left
Behind; they leave us — us
To know our duties and our powers
And to carry on without much fuss.In the crushing grief of the moment, we think of how
vital and good our
loved ones were,
and vow to be worthy of them.
I say let those who loved Tim Russert mourn him anyway they see fit. But an additional tribute to his loss would be to remain ever aware of how one person's life can positively impact so many others and to actively see the media cover America and the world with this reality in mind, where every human life is afforded dignity and where no one's suffering or death is coolly rationalized.
Where we all acknowledge and remain conscious of the fact that each of our loved ones leave us - us.
Something Else to Learn from Tim Russert's Death
Posted by: Brad Jacobson | June 17, 2008 at 03:47 PM
Amen.
Posted by: jack fate | June 18, 2008 at 08:40 AM
Remember JFK JR? Apparently we REALLY loved him.Our mourning went on in the media for weeks.Tim Russert was merely a blip on the screen .
Posted by: squiffy | June 18, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Quote: "Whatever issues people had with Tim Russert's political coverage during the George W. Bush years (and I and many others outside the Beltway intelligentsia had many)".
I am sorry to hear that!. I think, the comment above has not done justice to Tim Russert's reputation. Also, the apparent point of the article is lost in so many words. I think writer could have used only his last paragraph to say what he wanted to say.
I may be inclined to unsubscribe if I see such useless critique on really non issues again.
Posted by: Pragmatist | June 18, 2008 at 05:11 PM
So the senseless and blind slaughter of innocent civilians (over 1.2 million Iraqis according to the last Opinion Research Business study), 4,098 US soldiers dying in a war of choice, and thousands of Americans who die needlessly each year because of lack of health insurance are non-issues for you? That our culture, spurred on by our corporate media, accepts such deaths with near total disregard, as if their lives are less important than mine or yours or Tim Russert's? Sorry to waste your time, Pragmatist.
Posted by: Brad Jacobson | June 18, 2008 at 06:00 PM
I agree with Brad Jacobson. Why do we see one life as being worthy of such a display of public mourning? ALL lives should be awarded the respect they deserve. I was a die-hard Meet The Press watcher-rarely missed it. And I have nothing but respect for Tim Russert,even though I frequently disagreed with how soft he was on some of his guests.But, he was simply a man, doing his job, and taking care of his family. America, indeed, the world, is full of such men and women.Yet even the heroes in this world do not get the days upon days of public eulogizing that Mr.Russert has gotten.
ALL lives have such worth, whether a person is a war hero, a movie star, a grocery clerk, or a homeless person on the street- or the innocent victim of a war built on lies.We do not see public eulogies of the children who die in some foreign land,be it from war or disease, or starvation.
And how many of us here in America- probably the richest nation on Earth, will lose a dear loved one because of lack of proper medical care? Will they recieve such an outpouring of admiration from a nation?
Tim Russert had a good life, no doubt about that. He lived his dream, and never lost sight of how blessed he was.But, every human life has equal value,and I believe it's time we all begin to believe that, and begin treating each other with the same respect we're so willing to hand out to anyone whose face we see on the television.
Posted by: Shadeaux | June 19, 2008 at 07:44 AM
Pragmatist=Moron. Too many words, huh??? Good lord where do you freaks of nature come from. A man's FALSIFIED, BUILT-UP, AND BOGUS reputation of being a champion of the fourth estate, (far from the actual deeds of a political hack who was a shill for corporate media, General Electric, or lets call it what it is okay? THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, right???), is more important to this fool "pragmatist" than what is actually happening in the world. Not to mention the FACT that it was TIM RUSSERT AND HIS MSM BUDDIES THAT ARE ALL AS GUILTY OF MURDER AND WAR CRIMES AS THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION THAT THEY HELPED. Great Dad, Great Reporter, PAID FOR ENABLER OF GENOCIDE is more the truth than any of you pussies are ready to accept. Welcome to corporate sponsored/media perpetuated WAR WITHOUT END. Your children and grand-children are the only cost. NICE!!!!!! Yeah @##hole, go ahead and cancel your "subscription".
Posted by: Craig R. Lane | June 19, 2008 at 04:10 PM
The airtime and reverence accorded Tim Russert, who at most was family and friend to hundreds--not millions--of people, is more about television and its ability to transfix us, stroke our egos, prompt us like puppies, and get its reward: our bewitched attention to its icons and agendas. TV cries, we cry.
I tend to agree with Shadeaux, ec-tually. Outside the blue screen, I don't know me no Tim Russert. What he write?
Posted by: JCM | June 19, 2008 at 07:08 PM
Every news type person reads a teleprompter and refers to a stack of papers in front of them which is an outline of their broadcasts. Those outlines are written by the writers who are under the control of producers/directors. The producers/directors are beholding to their corporate masters.
Discussion broadcasts do not stem purely from the brilliance of the moderator. That's not to say that Tim was not a smart person. In my opinion, Russert was very good at delivering the messages of his corporate masters through his moderating style.
Posted by: Insider | June 20, 2008 at 10:52 AM