I hate it when I let myself get sidetracked.
As CopCar and others have pointed out, my issue with Newsweek getting - in my opinion - punked on the story about desecration of the Quran by detention facility personnel is arguably no big deal. It is an old story in any case; and, whether it's the Quran or Moby Dick, it's a book. I am reminded of the furor that arose when the Taliban blew up the Buddhist statues carved into the cliffs in Afghanistan... it was ancient and it was art but they weren't blowing up the Buddha.
What I missed was the pattern. I am reminded of Dan Rather getting sloppy in documenting that George Bush pretty much blew off a lot of his National Guard obligation. That Mr. Bush did so was pretty well established in the public record by then, but suddenly the focus was shifted from Mr. Bush's failures to the failures of 60 Minutes.
That detention facility personnel have used practices offensive to Muslims in order to provoke responses from detainees has also been fairly well established in the public record, but once again the focus has suddenly shifted from those practices to, this time, Newsweek. Now Muslims are rioting not because we have offended them at almost every turn, but because of Newsweek.
Never mind the message... blame the media.
One must admit it... it works for them.
2 comments:
Yes, it IS the same situation as "Rathergate," and the media is so cowed now, that Newsweek itself is complicit in blaming the press by publishing a retraction of its own (true) story.
Also, re: "...used practices offensive to Muslims..."
I'm not Muslim (or even religious) and I find those practices offensive - along with torture and murder - at least 28 prisoners have been killed in U.S. custody, also well-reported in the media.
But it's not just the media that is cowed - it is the American public too who don't speak up, write the media, write their representatives in Washington. Or maybe they just don't care.
The failures of the Bush administration grow along with the silence of the U.S. population. I don't get it...
And someone else (cannot remember who) said that all that is required for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.
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