Letters to the Editor
WeikuBoy
Published Letters: 487 Editor's Choice: 62
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So Suri to Disagree
[Read the article: Sinking anchor]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In light of what broadcast news has become -- ten minutes of disasters and scandals, punctuated by republican/corporate spin, and followed by twenty minutes of ads and health news for seniors -- Katie seemed like a breath of fresh air. Lara Logan's intrepid reporting, this time from Afghanistan, is as good as it gets; and the whole format seems aimed at a new generation that, while still old enough to be in front of a TV in the early evening (late afternoon out West), is young enough to be familiar with the internets.
The real discovery is whatever on earth has gotten into MSGOP (that's hilarious!) and Keith Olbermann. It's like the Prague Spring of '68; and I just hope we don't wake up one day and learn that he, along with Stewart and Colbert, is doing his show from Club Gitmo. One right-wing dervish has already had a near-meltdown on 'Hardball', railing against the "liberal media" that refuses to report the Good News from Beyond the Green Zone; and, considering that the truth has a liberal bias, his faith-based ilk might finally have a point.
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You Can't Handle the Truth
[Read the article: Sinking anchor]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Crawdad, the traditional approach to news -- just the facts, ma'am -- has served us poorly in an era where the sole party in power makes no distinction between politics and policy, and considers the truth as purely a matter of faith. The result has been an endless series of nightly news reports that sound pretty much like this:
"Today the White House unveiled a new public relations campaign designed to convince Americans that, contrary to what generally has been believed since the 15th century, the earth is flat. [Insert sound bite claiming that real Americans know the earth is flat.] At least one key Democrat disagreed. [Insert sound bite of hapless lone Democrat.] White House spokesperson [insert name of current GOP Minister of Disinformation] replied, "Sadly, we have come to expect the Democrat Party to play politics with our national security."
The result of the current approach, Crawdad, is an American public among whom 46% actually believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and possessed WMD's. So if CBS wants to try a new approach aimed at better informing the public, I applaud their noble effort, even if they market it as "conversational" or "Suri-sensational", etc.
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"U.S. Navy Seals Rock!"
[Read the article: Couric to Bush: "I'm really grateful. Thank you. Thank you"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All right, I take back the hopeful things I wrote yesterday in response to Heather's review of Katie's Opening Night. In the end, we're left with a cheerleader, doing her bad impression of a journalist, interviewing a fellow cheerleader, doing his bad impression of a popularly elected president. I didn't see the interview, actually; but I agree that it sounds par for the course these days, as even Helen Thomas, who I want to like, still doesn't know how to ask a simple, straightforward question that can't be evaded by such artful dissemblers.
My caption, incidentally, is from Fahrenheit 9/11, which quotes Katie in a montage of similar corporate media soundbites in the run-up to the unquestioned invasion of Iraq.
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Corporate Media Reaches New Low - Film at 11
[Read the article: The Sept. 11 that never was]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those who would defend ABC/Disney by citing 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and 'The Reagans' are not persuasive. Except for one minor point having to do with the timing of flights out of the U.S., 'Fahrenhiet 9/11' was accurate. It presented a series of facts -- some well known, some obscure -- and connected them in a way that, while not necessarily convincing, was at least plausible. Right-wing partisans hated CBS's 'The Reagans' not because it was inaccurate, but because it accurately depicted him as more polarizing than the saintly Father of his Country as in the myth that has since been fabricated by conservatives. Furthermore, neither 'Fahrenheit 9/11' or 'The Reagans' was shown on network TV. The latter was shunted off to cable following right-wing objections; and no one had to tell Michael Moore that liberal viewpoints have never been welcome in "the liberal media".
This swiftboating of the truth by ABC/Disney -- on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, no less, in the middle of an election campaign in which one-party rule might be threatened for the first time (yeah, right) -- is every bit as unprecedented as it is hurtful and divisive.
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Barndog and the Vast Right-Wing Hypocrisy
[Read the article: The Sept. 11 that never was]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To continue to insist (incorrectly) that 'The Reagans' and 'Fahrenheit 9/11'' were as factually inaccurate as 'The Path to 9/11' doesn't really constitute much of a defense of ABC/Disney's decision to persist in showing such a hurtful, divisive, and dishonest piece of psuedo-history on the 5th anniversary of 9/11. But now that Barndog has joined us, perhaps he can explain what no other right-winger seems to be able to answer; to wit:
If conservatives alone perceived the true nature of the "war" America faced in the 90's, then what, if anything, did they do to rally around President Clinton in that time of war? (Besides accusing him of distracting from the important business of oral sex.) And what, if anything, did the Bush-Cheney "adults" do to fix the problem during the eight months they were in power prior to 9/11? Eight months is a very long time in the conduct of a war.
Never mind that these were the same "adults" who claimed to "hit the ground running" when they took over in January 2001. Then again, if five years is too short a time to hunt down the gang of criminals responsible for the worst terror attack in history, then I suppose the eight months from January to September 2001 was much too soon for the neo-cons to respond to the "acts of war" against the U.S. that they felt had been ignored by Bill Clinton.
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Well said, Joan
[Read the article: What we lost]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well said.