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My heroic search for the story of Sean Penn's rescue efforts, a story abandoned by the media in their rush to point fingers
Before last week, I wouldn't have called myself a Sean Penn fan... and I still don't, actually. I'm old enough that, no matter how many accolades he may receive for his acting, regardless of how I feel about his acting, he'll always, first, be that guy who beat his then-wife Madonna and had a habit of breaking photographers' cameras. But I don't think I had a thought *about* Penn in the last ten years, except maybe fleeting impressions based on previews of films he's been in. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
Among other Katrina-related posts I've made recently, I pointedly sought out first-person accounts of what's been going on 'on the ground' for those affected by the storm and its aftermath. In researching that post, it puzzled me that I could not find an official statement by actor Sean Penn, even though, as most of us have heard, the actor went to New Orleans early last week -- to help, Penn himself has said; or as an ill-thought-out publicity stunt, as is now predominantly being reported by our news media. But as with many Katrina-related disputes of fact vs. spin, the timeline tells the tale.
( My heroic search for the story of Penn's rescue efforts, abandoned in the rush to point fingers... )
Second: If we have learned anything from this disaster, it is that getting the pictures out is *crucial* to getting the people out. The directors of FEMA and Homeland Security have admitted (this one I don't need to link to, it's everywhere) that they did not know about conditions at the Convention Center or the Superdome in New Orleans until after TV news crews had been covering them for *days*; the *first* they heard about conditions at either site was when they were asked what they were going to do, directly, by journalists interviewing them. If I were able to go into the area devastated by Katrina, I would damned sure make sure I had somebody with me to document what I would see!
( My quest for the truth leads me into the blogosphere... )
One last thing. I want to reiterate that, according to Penn, he spent eight hours in the toxic, stinking waters of New Orleans on Monday, trying to help. No one has disputed Penn's claim directly. NO ONE. That is not a 'photo op.' When George W. Bush makes a 'photo op' appearance, as we know, he's there briefly, makes speeches for the cameras, and then is gone -- often taking the apparent help which accompanied him to the site away with him.
If Penn's motive really was publicity for himself, he could easily have granted more interviews, or even just had his publicist contact various media outlets with his side of the story and/or mentions of the couple of interviews he did give.
Why, in the end, should we care about Penn's reputation or even his motives? Actually, Penn's story merely provides an instructive example to illustrate my true point in making this post: Clearly it's not yet time for us to relax and trust the mass media to be sure they have the truth before giving us the news, about Katrina or anything else, even well after the fact.
* I had seen either this article or another of the very few articles which contained these two sentences, either Monday or Tuesday, while perusing Katrina information. The fact that the article mentioned Penn had declined comment at the time stuck in my mind and, when I went looking specifically for first-hand accounts, I thought to see if he was ready to tell his story yet. And thus my quest to rescue this poor story suffering from national indifference began.
Before last week, I wouldn't have called myself a Sean Penn fan... and I still don't, actually. I'm old enough that, no matter how many accolades he may receive for his acting, regardless of how I feel about his acting, he'll always, first, be that guy who beat his then-wife Madonna and had a habit of breaking photographers' cameras. But I don't think I had a thought *about* Penn in the last ten years, except maybe fleeting impressions based on previews of films he's been in. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
Among other Katrina-related posts I've made recently, I pointedly sought out first-person accounts of what's been going on 'on the ground' for those affected by the storm and its aftermath. In researching that post, it puzzled me that I could not find an official statement by actor Sean Penn, even though, as most of us have heard, the actor went to New Orleans early last week -- to help, Penn himself has said; or as an ill-thought-out publicity stunt, as is now predominantly being reported by our news media. But as with many Katrina-related disputes of fact vs. spin, the timeline tells the tale.
( My heroic search for the story of Penn's rescue efforts, abandoned in the rush to point fingers... )
Second: If we have learned anything from this disaster, it is that getting the pictures out is *crucial* to getting the people out. The directors of FEMA and Homeland Security have admitted (this one I don't need to link to, it's everywhere) that they did not know about conditions at the Convention Center or the Superdome in New Orleans until after TV news crews had been covering them for *days*; the *first* they heard about conditions at either site was when they were asked what they were going to do, directly, by journalists interviewing them. If I were able to go into the area devastated by Katrina, I would damned sure make sure I had somebody with me to document what I would see!
( My quest for the truth leads me into the blogosphere... )
One last thing. I want to reiterate that, according to Penn, he spent eight hours in the toxic, stinking waters of New Orleans on Monday, trying to help. No one has disputed Penn's claim directly. NO ONE. That is not a 'photo op.' When George W. Bush makes a 'photo op' appearance, as we know, he's there briefly, makes speeches for the cameras, and then is gone -- often taking the apparent help which accompanied him to the site away with him.
If Penn's motive really was publicity for himself, he could easily have granted more interviews, or even just had his publicist contact various media outlets with his side of the story and/or mentions of the couple of interviews he did give.
Why, in the end, should we care about Penn's reputation or even his motives? Actually, Penn's story merely provides an instructive example to illustrate my true point in making this post: Clearly it's not yet time for us to relax and trust the mass media to be sure they have the truth before giving us the news, about Katrina or anything else, even well after the fact.
* I had seen either this article or another of the very few articles which contained these two sentences, either Monday or Tuesday, while perusing Katrina information. The fact that the article mentioned Penn had declined comment at the time stuck in my mind and, when I went looking specifically for first-hand accounts, I thought to see if he was ready to tell his story yet. And thus my quest to rescue this poor story suffering from national indifference began.
