Victor Davis Hanson: Our media hurricane

jewishworldreview.com ^ | Sept. 15, 2005 | Victor Davis Hanson

[kabar]

But New Orleans also confirmed how a 24/7, hyper media create and then deflate controversies of the day, from the Aruba embarrassment to Cindy Sheehan's circus.

This is what the media has become, regardless of the subject. This "the sky is falling," hysterical journalism has created a grotesque dynamic of its own. The victim is truth. Unfortuntately, no one is holding the MSM accountable since they police themselves.

[wayoverontheright]

Our media has become the command structure for the fifth-column within. Do we need any more evidence that they are inextricably aligned with our enemies?

Is there a qualitative distinction between the jihadis who attack our buildings and kill our innocents and those who, be it with a pen or a microphone, daily attempt to tear down our culture, our philosophical and political underpinnings, and those who would defend us?

[listenhillary]

Bush should announce tonight that we are returning all of the donated money nations have given us. That or create a fund to promote freedom by giving it to the countries that have shown the most progress towards freedom from oppression by government. Maybe a fund for future disasters?

We do greatly appreciate the thought and the money, but we don't want to appear to be a whiny child that cries wolf.

The media lies, half-truths, deceptions, spin made the rest of the world think we were mortally wounded, when it was just a scratch.

When will the media get what is coming to them?

[kellynla]

The Lefties at ABC,NBC,CBS,CNN,MSNBC,NYT,LAT et al have shown they have about as much credibility as a screen door on a submarine.
Point, Game, Set, Match.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks! Bump for Lunchbreak read-through. :)

[jveritas]

The majority of people do not believe the defeated liberal media anymore. If they do then Republicans can never win any election. Since Republicans are winning one election after another than this is the strongest proof that the majority of American do not believe the lies that the defeated liberals media tell them.

[ekwd]

Tim Carney of "Time" was on Fox just a few minutes ago talking about how Bush was making the visits to NO and the speech as damage control. It seems that not just the Dem's and the media are criticizing Bush, but also....

Bush was the least responsible for the mess and will suffer far less than the media and the race hustlers in public esteem. It seems to me that some of the conservatives who jumped from the very beginning will join the usual suspects at the bottom.

[jveritas]

David Lee Miller from Foxnews.

[MizSterious]

Would you like to know how some of these 'journalists' report on a storm? Some years back, we were living in Corpus Christi Texas. There was a storm that was originally predicted to hit that area. It didn't, but that didn't stop the mediots from hyping the conditions. As we drove past one area near the bay, we saw all kinds of media trucks and some jerk with a big water hose. While the cameras were rolling, they sprayed the "reporter" from the hose. It certainly wasn't raining! It was somewhat windy (but then, CC always was windy it seemed).

So, when you see some rain-swept reporter, look for evidence that it's really raining, and not just a water hose.

[roses of sharon]

I wish it were true, but as with negative ads during a campaign, people say they hate them, but they work everytime. Hollywood, and academia have a huge influence over Americans.

As far as Republicans in congress, they win when they trim their message to sound "reasonable". And some win when Americans like tough talk, UNTIL the criticism starts, and then they feel guilty, question their "goodness", and then cave.

Republicans are not radical enough, and the radical change has not come, because their constituents bail out on them over anything controversial or difficult.

[jveritas]

I wish it were true, but as with negative ads during a campaign, people say they hate them, but they work everytime. Hollywood, and academia have a huge influence over Americans.

What do you think is the ultimate purpose of all the savage attacks and lies that liberals and their media whores unleash everyday against President Bush and the Republicans? The purpose is to win elections, and they think that they are going to convince a majority of Americans to vote for them. Since they are not winning elections then they are no convincing the majority of Americans that they are right.

Were you on planet earth last year during the 2004 election campaign. Did you notice the 24/7 savage attacks on President Bush, the hundred of millions of dollars spent on negatives ads by liberals? Did you hear about Fahrenheit 911. Did you see all the Hollywood liberals campaigning for John Kerry and trashing the President? Did you know what the final results of the elections in 2004? Despite all this the liberals were utterly defeated and President Bush won re-election with the largest number of votes ever cast for a President in US history.

You need to stop your constant doom and gloom scenario that you have been spreading on this forum since you have joined. You have been wrong in all your doom predictions so it may be time for you to use your brain and conclude that your strategy of doom and gloom is not working.

[roses of sharon]

Hey, we are on the same side.

And I am speaking of the men and women we elect to our legislative bodies at the Federal, State, and local level. (not the President, who has an entirely different role, and has no one to defend him)

Nor am I speaking about an election, in which there is a concentrated effort by our side, and millions in ads being spent.

My complaint is about legislation, conventional wisdom, and policies, once they are IN office.

The attack and lies WORK everytime on our Reps in office.

I maintain the most Americans are unable to sustain criticism by the media and Hollywood, and allow and sometimes demand that their reps conform, and therefore no radical changes are made.

Hell, even some here can't take it.

Its just my opinion, and when I see radical changes, my opinion will remain the same.

[roses of sharon]

Correction, my opinion will change when I see radical legislation.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

I agree with everything you said. It's ridiculous that Natalee Holloway, Scott Peterson, and Michael Jackson can command months of national news. These cases might be relevant in the states they are happening in, but they don't deserve hours of broadcast in mine. That goes for FOX news too.

The "news dolls" all look alike. Bleached hair and so much makeup it looks like it's dripping off. Ugh.

The only really good news program is The Newshour. No ads and no tabloid fluff either.

[yoe]

Spot On!

[yoe]

Where is the camera/cam-corder when you need one! LOL - can believe it.

[FreedomPoster]

Did you see him about 3-4 days in? After watching one report, my wife said "he looks totally stressed out, Fox needs to get him out of there for a while, he's shell-shocked."

She was right.

[yoe]

Both Shep and Geraldo but mostly the latter became so emotionally envolved and I think Shep was totally exausted. Those people on the bridge with him were there because they had been told busses would be waiting - a lie by the police in New Orleans proper just to get them out of downtown.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes intheir City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans."

These are the words of a EMT trainee. His father is a professor in the Afro-American Studies Department at UMass, Amherst. Why Shep did not interview these people quietly I'll never know, he lost a golden opportunity for some interesting insight to New Orleans thinking.

[megatherium]

The death toll won't be 10,000 but it will probably be over 1000. That is significant, and it will have lasting political repercussions, regardless of the media's talent for exploitation and sensationalism.

But the bigger significance of what has happened is that a major American city has been heavily damaged. Hundreds of thousands of structures; $200 billion property damage. A disaster of this magnitude hasn't happened in living memory in this country. It compares with the kind of damage a major earthquake would cause (another disaster that we are woefully unprepared for).

[MEG33]

Hanson BUMP