Anderson Cooper As Seen From The Middle Way Forward

David Dreshfield CMC '11, over at The Middle Way Forward, neatly captures the Anderson Cooper speech. You should absolutely check it out. He even got mentioned on Anderson Cooper's own blog!

Naturally, I'm impressed, but then again I so often am impressed by David.

The one line I thought summed up the little bit that I saw of Anderson Cooper is the following: "You don't control how your born, but you do control how you live." Power stuff that is.

I disagreed with his characterization of the conflict in Congo as somehow due to the West's demand for cell phone parts. More appropriately, it has to do with tribalism and a history of ethnic divisions than with resource distribution. The DRC is the most resource rich country on the planet. There is no reason why it couldn't enjoy the material abundance of say, the UAE or Dubai, but I digress.

And yet, Anderson Cooper is, I find, part of the problem with mainstream media. Though he rightly criticized all of us for being a part of the lost blonde of the month television programming, Anderson Cooper got where he was largely from being a strapping good looking man at the right time, in the right place.

His characterization of the mainstream media as entertainment and not news was refreshing, but I still want him to explain the talking snow man from the YouTube debates!