I have my rare afternoon to myself and I spent the first part of it running around doing errands. As an extra bonus I got the all-too-rare treat of listening to the news, and you know: maybe I just shouldn’t any more.
The show was “The World” on NPR, which they tell us approximately every 2 and a half seconds is a co-production of the BBC and PRI. And within ten minutes I heard one story talking about Fallujah in which the reporter attributed the uprising to (I paraphrase, but this is pretty much the list): Saddam supporters, Islamic terrorists, malcontents, and common criminals.
The anchor then asked what the normal citizens of Fallujah, who support the Americans, are doing. I mean, you know: it’s a total given, right?
Jon Stewart put it the best way last night: “Pockets of resistance? Right now we’d settle for pockets of acceptance.”
The next story was about the kidnapping of three Japanese in Iraq, during which the British reporter, discussing Japan’s national reaction to this crisis, described Japan as a nation unfamiliar with the turmoil of warfare. (Again, not an exact quote. But close.)
And my first reaction was: are you fucking out of your mind?
Now, I do not doubt for a second that modern Japan is sincerely pacifist and is not the militaristic, belligerent nation of the past. But give me a fucking break. If he’d said “all too familiar with” I would have said, Yup, yup. If he’d made some allusion to how much Japan has changed in the past 60 years, I’d be right there with him.
But this nonsense?
This is news for people who have zero historical knowledge. This is news for idiots.
Do yourself a favor. Get your news from a variety of blogs. Here are my top five must-checks every day:
The best thing, of course, that blogs add is analysis. The trick is to find blogs by informed people who have a memory longer than the last commercial break. And who don’t say stupid things like how resisters to an occupation in their own country must of course be Islamic terrorists and common criminals.
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Billmon has a typically lucid and brilliant analysis of why I think lefty blogs are more on point than righty ones.
“This is news for people who have zero historical knowledge. This is news for idiots.”
My thought about media news is that they are very political in nature, meant to sway the general public towards a certain political position like what you said earier about propaganda. Since not everyone is inclined towards politics and might not be able to ‘analyze’ political news content that well. But I won’t classify them as ‘idiots’.
Btw, I just bumped into your blog/article on ” why web journals suck” yesterday and thought it was a good one. I have mentioned it at my blog.
Yeah, the normal people are unsupportive of the Americans. Sure.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t fear out there, at Bush’s kowtowing to the “bring in the UN” crowd. But the greater fear has always been that we’ll cut and run, like the Spanish are planning.
Fear? You think this is a little fear?
Maybe they’re cognizant of the fact that the Americans are in a damned if we stay, damned if we leave kind of situation. Just a thought.
“Little fear”? Thank you for sticking adjectives in my mouth.
The Islamists are losing at the polls and nearly everyone thinks things will get better. And though they aren’t happy with the occupying force, they overwhelmingly see violence against them as wrong.
This is why I know that the “normal people” of Iraq don’t give a shit for the tactics of al-Sadr.
What can I say: I sincerely hope you’re right; I don’t think you are.
Right now the situation is way, way too volatile and can turn on a dime. Bush’s recent deal with Israel is not going to help. Doing anything in Najaf is not going to help. Doing a deal with the Iranians is not going to help.
It is truly amazing how unbelievably stupidly we’ve acted in this war.