AWOL

CSPAN ran an interview with Frank Schaeffer discussing his new book AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes from Military Service. It is well worth watching. (CSPAN has it here)

Schaeffer pulls no punches, but he is also non-partisan. He is critical of the New York Times and Harvard, but he also faults GWB for his failure to be a true war president after 9-11.

At one point in the interview Schaeffer wonders why the media does not devote more front page space to the heroic deeds of soldiers. Editors lavish attention on a Tony winner or a Golden Globe nominee. They have no such interest in men who have received the Navy Cross or Medal of Honor.

This, again, is not a left/right issue. The New York Times does it, People magazine does it, Fox News does it. The object of their obsession may vary, but they are united in their unrelenting focus on the trivial at the expense of the heroic.

There is something wrong with a media world that confers celebrity on Britney Spears's doltish consort but has no time for the people like Randy Shughart, Rick Rescorla, John Macejunas, or Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith.