Posted on 09/11/2004 7:26:18 PM PDT by Pukin Dog
Edited on 09/11/2004 9:23:55 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Fantastic, well crafted, vent. You done us poor, partisan, pajama clad, FReepers proud.
Or the President's speech to the pilots before destroying the aliens in "Independence Day"...
"....we can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. ...you will once again be fighting for our freedom...for our right to exist.
And should we win the day, (the 4th of July) will no longer be an American holiday but the day the world declared in one voice,
we will not go quietly into the night, we will not vanish without a fight, we're going to live on, we're going to survive.
Today we celebrate our Independence Day."
From the MSM that is!
Forgive it? I'm standing and applauding it!
I have been wanting to write something like that for months -- ever since it became abundantly clear that the media majority would compromise their own shaky standards of "journalism" to make sure that John Kerry is elected.
Telling it like it is!! Well done.
Sometimes I miss rotary telephones. They weren't fast but they were heavy enough to not go flying off the counter or get lost under my kid's beds. And I didn't have to "beep" it to find the dang thing. :)
Yup. We're here, we're jammied, and we're in your face.
Hey now, I am poor partisan and nightgown clad. hah
I thought it was so typically liberally demented of him to impugn the weblog reporters, in light of the CBS forgeries.
Bravo! I've got to ping a few FRiends to this thread. ;-)
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
There is a 12 step program for FReepaholics but none of us can complete the first step...turning off the computer!
Now we'll all start our posts w/what we're wearing! I've got on a nightgown and really cute green and white striped pajama pants.
I thought it was so typically liberally demented of him to impugn the weblog reporters
As I've posted before, when I did policy work in DC, w/MSM types invited to our meetings, they were dismissive of those who weren't 'real' journalists having anything to do w/the news as it was moving to the online format. They wanted to keep their control over content and who was credentialed as press and got access to news events - all in the name of journalistic ethics and the public good. They believed they were the only ones who could be trusted to relay the truth to the people.
Thank God they weren't able to control the Internet the way they had in mind.
Welcome! I lurked for a long time, too. Posting is more fun.
Am I the only one not wearing my jammies, yet? LOL! Still in my clothes, that is.
Equal time for those of us who freep nekkid!
Oh ...you wrote the best piece I have read in a long time.
I hope that you sent it on to the MSN.
Kudos to you...and PLEASE keep it up!
I am printing this marvelous rant out for Mr Joyce11111..
Would love to sent it to the Letters to The Editor of my local rag that copies everything from the NYT.
Great work, Pukin Dog!
I was searching on "bias of the Associated Press" tonight and found only a few hits at Google. Among them was http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/mediaobjectivity/My_Meeting_with_Dan_Rather.asp.
The following excerpt is from that interview that I think gets to the core of the issue -- many in the MSM simply do not think that it is possible to know right from wrong.
As we stood side-by-side taking in the extraordinary view, the producer turned to me and said in a sort of apologetic tone, "You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but what exactly are we looking at?"
My stomach instantly dropped. Maybe she was unsure of a specific building?
"No, what is this entire area we are looking at?"
"The Temple Mount!!" I wanted to scream. "It's the most important spot in the entire region!"
I controlled myself and began my first history lesson to a national news producer.
I controlled myself and began my first history lesson to a national news producer. I explained how the Jewish people built a Temple in this spot 3,000 years ago, and how, after its destruction, a second Temple was built in the exact same location.
I explained how Jesus visited this second Jewish Temple, which stood until the Romans ultimately destroyed it in the first century. I explained how the Muslims came to Jerusalem in the mid-seventh century, soon after the creation of their religion, building the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Golden Dome. I explained to her that the Western Wall is the remaining retaining wall of the second Jewish Temple.
As I went through these historic points, the producer was taking furious notes on her yellow writing pad, trying to record the details of this place so integral to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A few minutes later, Dan Rather arrived. He climbed the stairs to join us on the roof. As he reached the top stair, he looked out at the view that was spread before him. "Oh, I've been here before," he said. Then, looking at his producer, he quietly asked, "What is this that we're looking at?"
My stomach plummeted again. Not Dan Rather, too?! The expert on world events who is watched by 30 million nightly viewers can't identify the Temple Mount? I knew American viewers were in big trouble.
The producer read the notes on her yellow pad, filling Mr. Rather in on all the details of the place in front of them. During the film shoot, Rather held this same yellow pad of paper in his hand, reading from it on air. So much for in-depth research and media accuracy.
After Dan Rather left, I spent some time with his producer, discussing her viewpoints of what was currently happening in Israel. After seeing the tone of her news segment, I was concerned. I began to question her about accuracy in reporting.
Her answer was even more shocking than what I had already observed. "The thing is," she told me, "it is impossible to be objective in this situation. The fact is that there is no objective truth -- neither side is right or wrong."
It's impossible to be objective in this situation. There is no objective truth -- neither side is right or wrong.
"Wait a minute," I asked her. "When a Palestinian straps on a belt of dynamite lined with nails and walks into a pizza shop, blowing up innocent people, that wouldn't be objectively wrong?"
"Of course I would think that is wrong," she answered me. "But the Palestinians believe this is a legitimate form of warfare. And they would say the Israelis are doing the same to them by killing innocent civilians when they retaliate militarily. Who am I to say what is right or wrong? Who am I to say that the Palestinians are wrong in their beliefs?"
"But don't you think there's a difference between a person blowing himself up in a restaurant, and a military that responds by searching for and killing terrorists. Granted that innocent civilians are killed in both circumstances -- but in one situation the innocents are targeted, and in the other situation they are regrettably caught in the line of fire?"
"Well, that's a very Western way of looking at things. You see I'm Christian and American. I see things the way you do as an Israeli -- we have the same moral framework. But the Arabs view things differently, and who's to say that we're right and they're wrong?"
At this point we both realized we weren't going to get any further in the conversation, and we politely thanked each other and parted ways.
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