Letters to the Editor
-
JonStewart::MitRomney::NewHampshire
Live Free or....Do Whatever It Takes To Keep Me Alive!!!
Don't Tread on Me...Step On That Guys Neck Over There!!!
For Mitt: Mass Motto: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty)
-
Dan Rather on why journalists don't speak up
Greg Palast quotes Dan Rather from a 2002 interview on BBC:
It’s an obscene comparison but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people’s necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be neck-laced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. It’s that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions and to continue to bore-in on the tough questions so often. Again, I’m humbled to say I do not except myself from this criticism.
http://www.gregpalast.com/dan-rather-tased-and-confused/#more-1863
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/archive/1991885.stm
So here we have it. Journalists withhold their tough questions because they don't want to be labeled as unpatriotic. I probably don't need to point out in this forum the irony of just how patriotic those tough questions really are.
-
So disappointing, Glenn
Yet they have been largely silent about these matters. As the article to which I linked above demonstrates, AP has practically had to beg fellow media outlets to write about the imprisonment of its photographer - largely to no avail. Obviously, if the press won't defend its own freedoms, then the likelihood that they can be eroded is vastly higher.
Just got back to this thread from reading Ahmed Rashid's piece on WaPo, and yesterday read U Gambira's. In those countries journalists take real risk just to try to get the story out to the world. That's what these two that are in jail were doing. Our journalists decide to dump two of their own just because it might not sell on the front page?
No wonder they have trouble encapsulating and reporting the big issues of our time. If they regard the imprisonment and deaths of their fellow journalists as non-starters, how do they put it, "stories without legs", what does the term "journalistic standards" really mean?
[TinyOT: See the movie Rendition. I liked it except for the scenes that made all my muscles involuntarily tense, sweat break out, and a feeling like I couldn't breathe.]
-
Why the indifference by the press to the imprisonment of journalists?
Glenn writes, "This is one of the most striking aspects of the story - the press' utter passivity in the face of these attacks on press freedoms. Even a minimally functioning political press would protest things of this sort before they protest anything else."
One possibility is that they are truly scared that their own outfits will be targeted by the government. The tactics the Bush administration uses at home are slightly more subtle, for now, but they are chilling. Administration officials call up heads of tv network news organization and complain about shows and reporters; their proxies on Faux News, the Weekly Standard, Rush Limbaugh, etc. all say the reporters and organizations are traitors and speak darkly about reviving the Sedition Act. It appears to be the consensus that CBS was punished financially for running the story about Bush's avoidance of military service by making sure it was slapped with huge fines for "indecency" on a show that was no more indecent that those on other networks, who presumably had not displeased the administration in this way.
Maybe they are silent because they see the way the wind is blowing and they fear being smeared, ridiculed and worse.
Or maybe it's simply indifference. The corporate media is brain-dead and marching in lockstep so much of the time now, that they have abandoned even the pretense that they are practicing journalism.
Whatever the reason, the silence is indeed deafening and is yet another indication that the press in this country is part and parcel of the whole, rotted political culture in this country.
-
Bilal Hussein
Look up Bilal Hussein's (with "photographer" to cut down on false hits) name on Google - search news and you'll see this story is hardly getting any play in the MSM. There were 5 stories.
If you look at the web in general there is more, with Malkin and Greenwald being among the top.
I'm getting to the point that if Malkin said dogs were cute I'd have to reavaluate my opinion of dogs. At least she's not a lawyer like Scott Johnson and Debbie Schlussel, who really should know better.
BTW, if you look up Debbie's bio note, she mentions that she was a "National Merit Scholar Finalist" and MENSA as part of her accomplishements. OMG, that's from taking the PSAT test in high school...I know because I was, too. And this is the first time as an adult professional that I'm saying it. BTW, who brings up their IQ in a resume?
-
Why such vast differences between conservatives and liberals, Repugs and Dems?
Putting aside the discussion on Glenn’s limiting of Garry Owen’s posts, I want to examine Garry’s first post on this thread when Garry Owen said to Bebop that, “(I) Regret you don't like me anymore.” Bebop and WT quickly responded well to his post and supposition. I quote Garry's words because I think he points out one of the major problems between liberals and conservatives, and Dems and Repugs - the definition of “is,” or in this case, "like."
Conservatives and Repugs (CRs) believe that everyone knows the meaning of words like “like” and “love” and LDs want more specifics before deciding what they mean and what they should think or do about what is being said.
When Garry uses “like” I have absolutely no idea what that means. The word “like” has so many meanings that it is really meaningless to me unless I have some facts and context. I would defy any commenter here to tell me a common meaning for “like” when the word is used loosely without facts and context.
Yet CRs use words such as evil, hate, enemy, sinner, un-American, legal, illegal, pro-life, liberal, Muslim, terrorist etc., as if everyone does and must understand what they mean. Karl Rove and spin meisters of his ilk, know this and take full advantage. Power and fear mongers of the Cheney ilk use this tactic to fool the scared and ignorant to believe anything they want them to believe.
People who are afraid of their inner feelings, either want to listen to someone that calms their fears or be someone that chooses to oversimplify the situation so that they think they have power over their fears. Most CRs believe that to feel good about yourself, means you have to be better than someone else. They start from the basis, that there is only one outcome from any conflict, a winner and a loser. LDs start from the premise that there are two other outcomes that are more important, both sides can lose or better yet, both sides can win.
I accept that this succinct generalization is loaded with insufficient facts and context. Realizing this is what makes me an LD. But if you are willing to accept the overall premise, then you might be willing to accept that for CRs to realize the very different perspective differences between them and LDs is far more difficult for CRs than it is for LDs.
There are people who reside in the middle of these two perspectives. It is those people who make up the undecided, independent or “I want change” voters. It takes a lot less time to try and affect their thinking and votes, than it does to change the mind of either CRs or LDs.
The different perspectives on the use of facts and context in the jailing of a prize winning photo journalists who is trying to provide facts and context for open minds, shows how hard it is to open, just a little, a closed, frightened CR mind.
My premise explains why El Cid said, “It turns out that good journalism is a lot like good scientific research, and it is this part of its nature which makes it hated by our elite establishment.”
Why, lexsali said, “I wouldn't be surprised if these new accusations are motivated by not just Ellison's religion, but also his race. Nation of Islam followers are mostly African American.”
Why ondelette said, “It still floors me that believing in the rule of law, a fair hearing, or protection of Bill of Rights freedoms would be something that stretched someone's cognitive abilities in this country..”
Why brightstar65 said, “There will be NOTHING to stop the slide and inevitable END to the human soul once EVERYTHING is sucked into the evil vortex they are planning for us all.”
Why LWM said of Glenn limiting GO’s commenting. “This is not a case of censorship. This is comment moderation and Glenn has every right to do so. Your first amendment rights cannot be abridged by the government. Salon, or any other blog, isn't required to let you speak on their dime. You can step outside and holler as loud as you like, anything you like. Not here.”
Why Glenn said, “Here is Powerline's Scott Johnson -- long obsessed with spewing groundless though malicious innuendo about Ellison's loyalties -- seizing on the Muslim Congressman's belief in due process to insinuate in the slimiest way possible that he's in cahoots with The Terrorists:”
And why Bebop said, “To answer for other's malice cuts deep.”