Crap. All I can say is: crap. Insert shocked voice here. I'm with
Ben on this one--if they ran that on television, they might come
dangerously close to restoring my faith in their knowledge that the
power of the media might actually be used for good.
I mean, I've seen things that kick ya, but this didn't just kick ya
in the teeth but in the gut. As a friend just pointed out, we don't
have a problem with landmines in the US. (Well, depends. Been to
former munitions dumps recently? We've got one in the suburbs of
DC, now a lovely little community...) But we could use our power
for good, I think. If the US raised its voice about landmines, too,
who knows...
Don't know if that commercial would actually prompt such, but it's
definitely chilling. Frankly, though, I think the danger with it is
that the intense visceral reaction prompts a backlash: that
wouldn't happen here! And people can turn away in relief, shoving
down their original heart-rent reaction. Randomly (while
recovering), I wonder if this reaction would change if it were kids
playing soccer--same everything--but the voices were all in Korean.
Or Hindu. Or Afrikaans. Something that says: these kids look like
your kids, but this is "someplace else"--yet the parents' reactions
are just like what you'd feel. So you're not seeing 'yourself' on
the screen but really someone 'who loves their kids just like you'.
Does that make sense to anyone other than me?
Got to give people a little distance, or they'll just run away,
unfortunately, because that commercial really *hurt* to watch.
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