[gphi2k]

As Brooklineu pointed out, being a Canadian forces you to have a little bit of a different perpspective simply for the reason that we're not in the country that was directly hit by this tragedy. HOWEVER. My whole family is American, and many of my cousins work in Manhattan. This tragedy has traumatized my parents who were born and raised in New York, before the towers were even built.

The fact is, and I know there are studies that can back me up (can't think of them now), that prolonged exposure to anything will desensatize you after a while. The first time we saw the footage, (many of us saw it live) of the planes hitting the towers, we gasped with disblief. It was horrifiying and hard to injest. I don't get that feeling when I see the footage anymore. It's a scene out of a movie that I've seen a million times. I feel horrible that I don't feel what I think I should feel when I see those planes slice through the buildings as if they were constructed out of paper rather than Steel. But instead of waiting for the week for the shock of the terrible tragedy to set in, I had 7 days of what would have been filled with denial (that's the first stage isn't it?) filled with the same terrible images over and over again, to the point where they no longer have the meaning they should.

The media is notorious for overreporting events. If you can tell me honestly that you get the same horrible pit in your stomach seeing that footage as the first, second and third and hundredth time you saw it, then I will revise my comment. You should NEVER see something as horrifying as that and not feel the full horror of it. But how many times can you see those news clips and still maintain the same level of pain?

I understand that there is a need to report the news and update people on what is going on, and how things are progressing. But as someone suggested, ticker tape would be suffient for updates, and CNN is there for the diehards. It's not about my shows being pre-empted or post-poned. I'm not quite that shallow. But at some point, browka, rather and kopel need some sleep!!!!!!!!!