Over the weekend I saw that two female American reporters had been grabbed by the North Korean government at the North Korea/Chinese border and were probably being given a really hard time and will be used as pawns in some kind of geo-political chess match. I made myself impressed by typing that last part.
I figured that no one will really pay attention and that it would probably take a few weeks and then we would trade something that no one understands and the two reporters would be freed. But, now I think all of that might be out the window because the North Koreans have themselves someone (Laura Ling) who is basically two degrees of separation from Barbara Walters and will probably just hold on to the reporters until Barbara comes over there and sits down for a one on one interview or agrees to bring The View to the country for a week.
How long was Lisa Ling on The View? It seems like she was on from the beginning and then she left and they brought in Elisabeth Hasselback. I'm a little confused on who begat who in the whole View timeline.
To me this is interesting because, honestly, I know that most Americans probably didn't even notice the two women were captured, but now they will because, even though Laura Ling is only the sister of a minor celebrity who was once a host on The View, it is still something that will capture the attention of everyone and I'm interested to see how this all plays out. It is also fascinating that stories like what happened to Jennifer Hudson's family or to the brother of Mark Ruffalo would all escape our notice, if it were not for the fact that they were related to a celebrity no matter how well known. I can't decided if that is good or bad or that we should be shamed because we don't care about things unless there is a celebrity involved.
Lisa replaced Debbie. So much for knowing everything ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's that people don't care about things unless a celebrity's involved. I think society's just ignorant to a lot of things without their involvement...
ReplyDeleteregardless, i'm really enjoying the mental image of Babs doing a one on one sit down with Kim Jong Il.
now THAT would be good television.
And how great would it be if they played Kim jong Il's theme song from Team America as an intro? "I'm so rone-ry, so rone-ry..."
ReplyDeletethis could get interesting.
ReplyDeleteLisa Ling did a docu about North Korea for National Geographic and was almost tossed from the coutry a few times for not following Kim Jong's inane rules. there were threats of jail time for several of the men with her as well for the way the country was portayed with the filming.
From Enty:
ReplyDeleteI can't decided if that is good or bad or that we should be shamed because we don't care about things unless there is a celebrity involved.
Yes everyone should be ashamed because when it's an ordinary person nobody cares, and if they do comment they simple shrug it off as just another tragedy.
However when it's a celebrity we're expected to supply them with endless sympathy and positive comments.
The attention and and support they receive is sickening.
Oh forgot to add, by the way I really do like Lisa Ling and feel she deserves our support.
ReplyDeleteShe is and always has been a real journalist.
Their faces are atrociously long! It's like they were dragged out of the vagina really slowwwwwwwwwwwww.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence is the winner.
ReplyDeleteOMG, when I saw this story over the weekend, I was noticing how much she looked like Lisa Ling, but didn't know she was actually her system. Well there you go.
ReplyDeletei pray that she will be let go and found safe.
ReplyDeleteLaura Ling is reporter and VP for the Current Network. She does investigative reporting for a 60 minutes style program called Vanguard. The show tackles very topical and at times dangerous subjects. She recently did an expose on the Mexican drug cartels in the state of Sinaloa and it was completely ingrossing. You knew the crew was in real peril at some points. Her escort kept her and the crew one step ahead of the danger while showing the real situation.
ReplyDeleteI hope she and the other reporter are safe and will be released soon.
If you haven't discovered the Current network, please check it out. It has some excellent programming and episodes are available online to view.
Forget Babs, Lisa has been doing shows with the big O herself - Oprah! So much of America knows Lisa. I'm sure we'll she Lisa on Oprah talking about this if it would help, if they think it would hurt then we won't see anything until after she is freed.
ReplyDeleteTo our brains, it makes no difference if we "really" know these people - they have prior connections in our circuitry, and of course things that happen to them are going to affect us more than people we've never heard of. It's not that what happens to celebs is more important than what happens to ordinary people, we just don't have the capacity to process it in the same way. If you allowed yourself to really feel the tragedies that happen to complete strangers every second, you'd go insane and/or kill yourself. And if you didn't react emotionally to something bad happening to someone you "know," that would make you a sociopath. Either too much or too little empathy is a bad thing - you have to find the proper balance.
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ReplyDeleteLisa Ling is more than a "minor celebrity" and former View co-host. She's a good journalist who does in-depth investigative reporting on many issues.
ReplyDeleteRe your last line - I've been wondering about that since March 17th.
ReplyDeleteI truly hope the American gov't will be successful in getting the two out of there soon.
The last sentence makes sense, but in a really lost kinda way.. haha...
ReplyDeleteI agree whole-heartedly with Mooshki; there is no problem with mourning a loss that happens to a celebrity. We get the most details in situations like this.
We all live in entirely different places and have our own little tragedies that we deal with in our communities. For instance, if i say Holly Jones, I doubt if everyone on here will know what I'm talking about. Anyone from Toronto or even other parts of Canada will most likely know EXACTLY who I'm talking about right away. Very sad story, btw, and every town/city/state/province has at least one like it.
To be honest, when i heard about Ling's sister I didn't care an iota more than I care about anyone else who has been captured. I do care, but it doesn't impact my day-to-day life. There are issues in the news that frighten me, and this was not one of them.
Doesn't make sense. Ordinary people are not reporters. If someone is a journalist, they are going to be known by people who follow their reporting. They are NOT ordinary people.
ReplyDeleteAlso, North Korea is so full of itself. They don't have a d*mned thing anyone wants.
It doesn't matter whether this person is a woman, celebrity or journalist--it matters only that she is human. Born with certain inalienable rights, rights that North Korea would consider violating without regard for how the rest of the world views what they have done, a vry dangerous point of view for a nation to have. We should remember the outrage we feel at a government that disregards human rights, so that we are not guilty of the same behavior. Although, we may already have crossed that line.
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