When the New York Times waxes elegiac over a horse, I think it's relevant to point out that the New York Times does NOT wax elegiac over, say,
(1) medal of honor winners in Iraq
(2) aborted babies and
(3) Terri Schiavo.
Don't get me wrong, I shed some tears over Barbaro myself.
But since when are FReepers compelled to sing the same repetitive lament on a thread? Or to refrain from drawing analogies? Or to refrain from taking a larger perspective on such an event -such as this national outpouring of grief over one horse?
I think it's a tad sanctimonious to demand that others can't comment on the bigger picture simply because the topic was a sad one. What some call "hijacking" a thread, others might call insight into the topic. (And it's not "hijacking" to make a single comment.) I say let the free ideas flow.
But there are active threads on FR about the LSM where one can discuss the shortcomings of the MSM. I'm sure we could use your examples and others such as immigration, WOD, religion, etc. to also point out what the NYT (and others) do or don't cover. This is a thread about a horse, it isn't a thread about the LSM, abortion, Terri Shiavo, immigration, gun rights and so on.
Drawing analogies is well and good, especially when it's about a related topic as in Secratariat or other horses/animals which have caught the publics attention.
I think it's a tad sanctimonious to demand that others can't comment on the bigger picture simply because the topic was a sad one.
It wasn't because the topic is a sad one, that had nothing to do with it. It had everything to do with racing, the horse, the vet who tried to save the horse and the owners of the horse. Prior to the most recent threads about Barbaro's decline there were threads about Barbaro's condition which were upbeat because news had come out about his improving condition.
What some call "hijacking" a thread, others might call insight into the topic. (And it's not "hijacking" to make a single comment.)
Thread hijacking starts with a single comment and mushrooms as evidenced now by the very fact that what's being discussed is thread hijacking instead of the horse.