More On Brian Williams Versus Vinny From The Bronx
by Vince?Daliessio
(PHOTO: Not the Bronx bathrobe-wearing "Vinny", this one was from Greenwich Village, and he didn't have a modem)
When we last left Brian Williams, head head at NBC, he was ranting and raving to an NYU J-school audience about how some notional, fictitious blogger named "Vinny", (who lives in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx, and never goes out or changes out of his bathrobe) is kicking his ass and eating his lunch because "he has a modem and a point of view", and none of the "credentials" that "Brian" has,
?(we'll just use the shorthand?that "Vinny" equals all bloggers, and "Brian" equals all blowdried, prissy corporate shills reporters).
Leaving aside for a minute the chilling implications of that statement (to wit, that there's something wrong about "Vinny" having any connection to the outside world, and that maybe something should be done to stop him), we opined on some of the reasons that the differences between "Brian" and "Vinny", far from disqualifying Vinny, might actually disqualify Brian instead.
And so on the way home from work tonight, we thought of some more?qualifications that "Vinny" might trump?"Brian" with;
"Brian" has his employer (the mighty General Electric) somewhat over a barrel, and can demand, if not lavish, at least adequate raises and perks, and GE can just overcharge the government more on its next order of jet engines or other armaments.
"Vinny" hasn't got his employer over a barrel. So "Vinny" has to live with a lousy 3-4% raise which does not keep pace with inflation, because his employer has to scratch for profits on the open market. "Vinny" can't afford a shore house like his father and grandfather could. He can't even afford a comfy 2-bedroom walkup.
"Brian" is treated like minor royalty by the government, which invites him to mindless, worthless press conferences, and squires him around in a military coccoon in battle zones, where there is no danger of being shot, or of seeing anything remotely disturbing or "off-message".
"Vinny" not only isn't "embedded" (a strangely sexy word for push-pull censorship and war propaganda), he or his peers "Leroy", "Carlos," and, increasingly "Marlene" have been compelled by economic or other necessity to join the military,?go shoot people in Afghanistan or Iraq, then return home (or not) with the horrors of war embedded in their minds, and often their bodies.
How many more?credentials can YOU come up with?
?(Photo of Vinny "The Chin" Gigante from Jerry Capece's Gang Land)