Excitement Junkie

Looking for the next tsunami -- Picture courtesy Harper Audio

by blogSpotter
Anderson Cooper is the photogenic, slender, late-30's news commentator on CNN's "360" program. He's known, now and primarily, for his hard-hitting coverage of the 2005 Katrina disaster, his locking horns with Governors, mayors, the head of FEMA and other political entities who may have dropped the ball. I was interested in his story and am currently listening to his autobiography on audio, "Dispatches from the Edge".

Cooper says that he initially sought out places of mayhem so that he could feel something again, and know that he's alive. His father died of heart failure when Cooper was only 10; his beloved older brother died from suicide at 23, when Cooper was 21. The brother had been through a recent break-up with a girlfriend; he had seemed confused and possibly high on something when he jumped from a 14-story balcony. Anderson says that to this day, he is haunted by details of the suicide, and wonders what kind of relationship they'd have if the brother were still alive.

I was shocked last week, to see Anderson on TV, walking across a bomb-blasted hillside in Afghanistan. It was an area known for Jihadist activities and I could only think that Anderson was tempting the fates to be there. After listening to his book, Afghanistan is the least of it. Mr. Cooper has placed himself near the epicenter of every storm of the last two decades, be it weather-driven or human-created. He's been in Sarajevo, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, New Orleans after Katrina, Somalia, Rwanda and many other places of devastation. He cursed his "bad" luck in Louisiana when they missed being in the center of Katrina. Seems Katrina took a right turn, and his news crew drove 100 mph to chase it toward Gulf Port -- never caught up to it.

Cooper is the son of Gloria Vanderbilt and heir to her fortune; he could live the high life without ever lifting a finger. Imagine that he puts himself in harm's way so freely. I don't even like getting caught in a light rain or driving through bad neighborhoods in Dallas. I don't need bullets whizzing by to "know that I feel". In one passage, Cooper felt like a vulture filming a Somali child near death. At another point he wondered if he should intervene when it looked like a prostitute was about to be stoned by a crowd. A fellow journalist pulled him away, saying that he'd be next if he acted on his compassion. The woman was led away and he doesn’t actually know her fate. Cooper is reported to have a Hispanic, male long-time companion. This aspect of his life wasn't mentioned and maybe would add more perspective. Nevertheless, I'm impressed -- may the Gods of news fortune keep smiling on Cooper. He could easily be a casualty like Bob Woodruff. Whatever his motivations, he helps to keep us focused on the world at large, a world in pain and in need of our help.

© 2006 blogSpotter.