What debate? Why, the one insisting that only the Only Ones be permitted modern weapons.
Dec 17, 2012
Newtown and Elian Gonzales
If they can try to drive the debate with heart-rending -- if not entirely logical -- visual symbols, so can I.
What debate? Why, the one insisting that only the Only Ones be permitted modern weapons.
What debate? Why, the one insisting that only the Only Ones be permitted modern weapons.
Dec 15, 2012
Newtown and Roger Ebert
Turk Turon found an apt contribution to the discussion in an interview of Roger Ebert.
NBC asked the movie critic about the effect of violent movies on things like the Columbine murders:
In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them.
RTWT.
NBC asked the movie critic about the effect of violent movies on things like the Columbine murders:
In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them.
RTWT.
Newtown and Reuters
I get blue when learning of tyke death, whether singly or in wholesale lots. Under the influence of emotion I offer only poor analyses. So on Newtown, I want to restrict myself to nibbling around the edges for while.
We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," Obama said in apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association over members of Congress.
Let's parse that into two word-sets -- everything before "Obama said" and everything after.
The president is to be excused. His words are ritual. Both ends of the boat are sinking so we all must bail. We must end the manifestations of evil which are part of Mankind Stew. And we must be bipartisan. The Prominent Class is conditioned to so remark, not unlike the retail clerk's "Have a nice day." So I leave him alone on that and recognize that he, too, undoubtedly was sad.
The rest of it quietly illustrates an ugliness of journalism. In what was presented as a workaday spot news report, the reporters assume the misty robe of the Oracle. They reveal to us a meaning which only they have the wisdom to discover. The president used only three operative nouns in his sentence. Not one of them referred to the National Rifle Association, nor weapons of any kind. His sentence would have been perfectly appropriate and pertinent had the tragedy been a fire.
But two decided he meant the NRA and implied he was noble to do so. They wrote it. Someone copy read it. And at least one senior editor cleared it for world wide distribution on wires of a once-great news service. It was, in fact, Reuters' opening salvo in the war to shift blame from the man who murdered to those who did not.
We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," Obama said in apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association over members of Congress.
Let's parse that into two word-sets -- everything before "Obama said" and everything after.
The president is to be excused. His words are ritual. Both ends of the boat are sinking so we all must bail. We must end the manifestations of evil which are part of Mankind Stew. And we must be bipartisan. The Prominent Class is conditioned to so remark, not unlike the retail clerk's "Have a nice day." So I leave him alone on that and recognize that he, too, undoubtedly was sad.
The rest of it quietly illustrates an ugliness of journalism. In what was presented as a workaday spot news report, the reporters assume the misty robe of the Oracle. They reveal to us a meaning which only they have the wisdom to discover. The president used only three operative nouns in his sentence. Not one of them referred to the National Rifle Association, nor weapons of any kind. His sentence would have been perfectly appropriate and pertinent had the tragedy been a fire.
But two decided he meant the NRA and implied he was noble to do so. They wrote it. Someone copy read it. And at least one senior editor cleared it for world wide distribution on wires of a once-great news service. It was, in fact, Reuters' opening salvo in the war to shift blame from the man who murdered to those who did not.
Dec 13, 2012
It would reduce the caterwauling if we could agree that Susan Rice was not opposed as an African-American, nor because she is a woman, nor because she is a combination of the two.
She fell from grace because:
(1) She knowingly created lies about the events that killed four Americans in Libya, including the ambassador, which is immoral and probably illegal, OR
(2) She knowingly relayed the lies of her bureaucratic seniors, which displays the character flaws mentioned above, OR
(3) She relayed unchecked information from dubious sources, which would include those senior to her in the pecking order or from the nation's intelligence apparatus. This would indicate naivete at best and deep ignorance at worst.
But perhaps I am wrong. If so, it is deeply shameful that racist America still rejects the idea of a chief foreign policy officer who is of African descent, female, and named Rice.
She fell from grace because:
(1) She knowingly created lies about the events that killed four Americans in Libya, including the ambassador, which is immoral and probably illegal, OR
(2) She knowingly relayed the lies of her bureaucratic seniors, which displays the character flaws mentioned above, OR
(3) She relayed unchecked information from dubious sources, which would include those senior to her in the pecking order or from the nation's intelligence apparatus. This would indicate naivete at best and deep ignorance at worst.
But perhaps I am wrong. If so, it is deeply shameful that racist America still rejects the idea of a chief foreign policy officer who is of African descent, female, and named Rice.
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