Category Archives: Random

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When we said “never again,” we were kidding

“One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic,” Joseph Stalin

Today is the anniversary of the start of the Rwandan genocide.  In the span of 100 days, 800,000 people were murdered with machetes.   That is the official death toll but it could be as high as one million.  I wrote about that here.  As this is the anniversary, I am watching Hotel Rwanda.  I have been lucky enough to have met Paul and Tatiana Rusesbagina and they inspire me every day.

A lifetime ago, I climbed Kilimanjaro.  After the climb we went to Odulvai Gorge, the site where the first human footprints were found.  Looking over the gorge gave me this great sense of connectivity — we are all from there.

One of my heroes is astrophysicist, Neil de Grasse Tyson. He has said, “We are all stardust.”  I love that idea and it sits at the heart of my atheism.  Looking up at the stars gives me the same sense that looking over that gorge did.

One of the advance trips I did for President Clinton was to Norway.  He was there to commemorate the life of Yitzak Rabin (side note: when he was assasinated I was in an Emily’s List press training, name drop alert: Chuck Todd was in my group, when they told us the news, it took my brain about ten minutes to comprehend them, it was weird, I knew all the words but could not grasp what they meant).  I watched Clinton give a speech about our DNA.  We share 99.99 percent with every other person on the planet.  This is what makes DNA evidence so powerful in criminal cases.  During that trip, Clinton met with the Israeli and Palestinian leadership. Like soap in the shower, peace in that part of the world often feels so close only to be lost in a short time.

We are unique and that is special.  When we celebrate our uniqueness, we celebrate our species.  When we use the tiny spaces that make us unique to divide us, we all suffer.  We are in this boat together.

Hutu, Tutsi.  Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist (or atheist).  We are the same.

Paul Kagame led the revolt that ended the Rwandan genocide but he is not the savior he has been made out to be.  He didn’t really end the conflict, he just moved it next door to the Congo.  Dear President Kagame: please learn from Nelson Mandela.  Step down and prove you have created a real democracy.  Learn from George Washington who stepped down after one term.

And to end on a happier note, watch this.

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Is NBC trying to rid itself of Matt Lauer?

Matt Lauer was the most popular person on NBC for a time.  They recently signed a pretty matt-lauer-feels-that-nbc-set-him-up-for-failure(1)__oPtbig renewal contract but now their previously popular morning show, Today, has ratings that are in the toilet.  Many have attributed that to their horrifying treatment of Ann Curry, who was the best part of the show.  (Note: I stopped watching the show, which had been my favorite for years, when Lauer and Katie Couric hosted — is that the right word? — the Thanksgiving Day parade and it was the year the network chose to not report an accident at the parade, a float crashed into something and people were injured but they showed footage from the year before.  As a journalist, Lauer has been dead to me since.)

Well, many people who are upset about Curry’s departure, blame Lauer.  They say the two did not get along. Lauer has refuted this and others have said he tried to slow or prevent the train wreck that was that.

So, why do people say NBC is trying to get a divorce from Lauer?  Well, there’s that recent interview with Jerry Sandusky that was another train wreck.  Apparently, Lauer opposed doing it but went along to be a “team player” and thinks his producers set him up.  Read that here.  And there are reports that NBC has been seeking out new talent such as Anderson Cooper, who confirmed this but told NBC he wasn’t interested.  Good for you Anderson, good for you.   (Unrelated tidbit:  I once showed my mom a photo of Cooper when he was a small child from his book and her response was “I remember taking that photo, that’s you in Golden Gate Park.”  No, mom, it’s Anderson Cooper, her “Are you sure?”  Yeah, mom, pretty sure he used photos of himself in his autobiography.)  Media experts — such as the ones on yesterday’s Reliable Sources (best Sunday show), said while it is common for networks to talk to different talent, the situation at NBC is more serious.

Boo fucking hoo.  Personally, as much as I hate the Today show and love Willie Geist — it breaks my heart that he hosts the last hour of that show and is less present on the most awesome show on TV, Morning Joe, which needs to start paying me for the number of people who now watch it but…

Rather than look to other networks for talent, look to the people you have already.  Geist would make an awesome host of any show and brings more talent than you currently feature but you are the people who forced Curry out and think Jay Leno is funny (I know his ratings are high and when my artists went on his show they sold more than when they went on David Letterman‘s show but I am a die hard Letterman fan and will be one until I die and am just annoyed by the way they treated Conan O’Brien – go team Coco!).

Bottom line advice to NBC:  Promote Willie Geist and try not be douchie for 15 minutes.  See how that works for you, you already know the opposite is a recipe for distaster.