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Some links about our so-called "free press"
March 31, 2003
It's no good having a free press if people fear losing their jobs if they speak the truth:
In the interview, shown by Iraq's satellite television, Arnett said the United States was reappraising the battlefield and delaying the war, maybe for a week, ``and rewriting the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan.''Arnett said it was clear that, within the United States, opposition to the war was growing, along with a challenge to President Bush about the war's conduct.
OK - so I thought the whole idea of the free press was that it WASN'T controlled by the state. Yeah...I guess it could be argued that public opinion encouraged his dismissal, but then you'd have to explain Rush Limbaugh, and other widely disliked media personalities.
Then you have articles like this, which delineate what appears to be the current real function of our press:
There are no apologies and no retractions. Most of all there is a refusal to discuss coalition propaganda in front of the audience. In war time it seems the truth about lies is too dangerous for us to hear. For the first time in history we can easily discovered on the internet and in independent news sources. Yet most British people have to rely on the deluge of misinformation on the BBC and ITV. Apologising after the war is over is not enough, they should do so now and refuse to carry any more government misinformation.
[link via wood s lot]
The cover story at The Black Commentator expresses much the same sentiment:
Embedded corporate media hinder public understanding of unfolding events in an occupied or contested Iraq. Their presence is more destructive of truth than if they had been barred from the scene, entirely, because they are infinitely capable of retailing and manufacturing lies - which they themselves believe.
In a possibly hyperbolic report at the Baltimore Indymedia site (but...you know...I just don't know if I can get behind completely disbelieving it) is analysis about the number of independent reporters who have met their end in Iraq. It's something to consider, and the comments offer a ton of links about the state of free press in our country, including this interview with Randi Rhodes, liberal talk radio host (i was talking to someone the other night about how I would LOVE to do liberal talk radio. Who wants to hire me?) [Indymedia link courtesy of dj at randomwalks]
All of this leads up to this week's edition of Bill Moyers' Now, which I know will get me all agitated. There's supposed to be a segment about free press, and there was a chilling teaser at the end of last week's edition that basically said the free press is already dead. Which is ironic, because I spent much of last week's show exclaiming to my friends that Bill Moyers is probably risking his life to speak his powerful truth.
I say it's not dead...it's just gone underground. What do you think?
On a different, but related, note...a young woman was stabbed and killed at the high school where I work. Her boyfriend killed her and then attempted to kill himself in the hallway 20 seconds after the last bell. Since I work with some of the kids who go to school there, I was able to talk to someone who is friends with the victim. Out of respect for his privacy, I'm not going to go into detail about our conversations except to say WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY are they allowing newspeople on campus immediately following this tragedy. My intern was telling me that the TV news people were stalking students after school and trying to get them to answer questions about their relationship with the victim. This is FUCKED. These kids were just witness to a heinous act of violence between two people who they might have been friends with, and they have enough to fucking worry about without having to fight off reporters trying to get a "fresh angle" on the story. I'm all for free media, but there is plenty to present without harrassing minor children to scoop your competition...
Apparently, our media has all of the right motivation for all of the wrong reasons.
Speaking of Common Sense.
March 31, 2003
Kalilily linked up this article:
Any refusal of soldiers to obey orders is highly embarrassing to the government, with ministers becoming increasingly worried about the way the war is developing.It is also causing concern to British military chiefs who are worried about growing evidence of civilians being killed in fighting involving American soldiers around urban areas in southern Iraq.
These three soldiers are my heros. Soldiers are not machines, they are people. This is a good thing, because only people have the compassion and will to understand that some things are not worth killing for.
Veterans for Common Sense
March 31, 2003
I am really learning a lot from the comments people (mostly veterans) are leaving at the Veterans for Common Sense website. A comment on this post, in particular, was informative:
Summary:1. help anti-war troops organize carefully, from below, not suicidally. Stamp out the stupid moralistic advice given the troops by chickendoves who sit behind their word processors while telling troops to shoot their fellow soldiers "if they fire on civilians", as one idiot(Tim Wise)recently proposed.
2. explain to people in the anti-war movement that potentially the troops are our greatest asset. One of these days we'll need them to protect us here at home againt the Bush's, Cheney's and Rumsfelds. Some of the best in-service organizers AGAINST the war in Vietnam were troops who had, earlier in their military careers, been ordered to kill civilians, and did. The brass and politicians got pay back, big time, for what they had ordered those troops to do.
It can happen again. We have to help make it happen.
Pink Prickly Pear
March 31, 2003
For anyone who is paying attention, Pink Prickly Pear has emerged from blogging hiatus and joined the surreally crew. She's one of my favorite mamas of all time. Go welcome her.
Eavesdrop Activism
March 31, 2003
With all of the moving around I've been doing, I'm not sure if I ever got around to posting my new idea for anti-war activism. This came to me after having a somewhat heated confrontation with some asshole counter-protestor who carried a sign that said "Bomb Iraq: Support Our Troops" and couldn't understand why I felt that was offensive and didn't want to talk about why he felt like dropping bombs was synonymous with supporting the troops. I was speaking to him in what I thought was a totally calm and reasonable tone, but he was getting all aggro on me. I thought it was strange that he would choose to come and counter-protest and not expect to have people talk to him, but whatever. The conversation ended badly, with him telling me to shut the fuck up when he realized there was no reasonable and intelligent response to the questions I asked him.
At any rate, on the bus ride home, I was talking to a fellow protestor about media lies and information about the war. I realized that this kind of discussion was completely non-confrontational, and PEOPLE WERE LISTENING. The entire bus was silent as we talked...not loud enough to be obnoxious, but loud enough for people to hear. And as i walked home from the bus stop, it occured to me that riding the bus with someone and discussing the ridiculousness of war in complete agreement is an excellent way to maybe wake people up and get them to realize that their governement is lying to them and the media is not only embedded, but IN BED WITH the military.
Buses, restaurants, libraries, any public space that can be reclaimed, should be reclaimed. Calm conversation about the realities of this war is an excellent way for those of you who disagree with the war, but feel uncomfortable about protesting the war. Our government doesn't listen to us, but our fellow citizens might.
Eye on the body count
March 31, 2003
I've been keeping a close watch on the Iraq Body Count database, and I've noticed that there is suddenly no discrepency between the minimum and the maximum deaths in most instances. Is this some sort of indication that the media on either side is holding the other side accountable?
It's frightening when I wake up in the morning and the body count has jumped by 50 or so as I slept. I think about the citizens of Iraq and all of the other innocent victims of this war. I mourn for them. At first, I thought the death count was a bit morbid, but now I see it as a very valid way to keep so many people from going unnaccounted for in the thoughts of people who are for and against this war.
Straight to the blogroll, and an explanation.
March 31, 2003
I just found this blog, and, in particular, this post which addresses the apparent lack of care for Iraqi military deaths. I posted about this a couple of days ago on a stopgap blog I created at surreally. I'm a little leary of the name of this blog, as it's not a word that I feel is mine to reclaim or put forth, so I'm going to just link it as "eddie tews' blog."
Which reminds me that I should explain what the hell I'm doing here. While changing servers, my databases over at full bleed were fuct, so I am unable to post there for now. Posts are saved, but not, um, posted. And comments are also saved, but the main index is not updated (you can read comments by clicking the link, but the number of comments do not change). So, kd graciously allowed me to post at her blog for a time, which is great (and, with her permission, I might continue to post there just for kicks) but I can't access her site from my home due to dns errors (I'm starting to feel like there's a conspiracy here) so I set up a temporary blog in one of my subdirectories that I had previously been using for old paper journal entries, but I was actually unable to log in THERE for awhile today, so I begged Adam to set me up here. And he did. And here I am.
Since this is the only blog so far that has not disallowed me from logging in, I'm probably going to continue to blog here until the database issues with full bleed are repaired...which will take who knows how long. Thankfully, all of the subdirectories at full bleed seem to have not been harmed by the move.
And there you go.
On Reasonable Fear..
March 31, 2003
Dear Anonymous Person Lecturing Me On Fear and Blind Trust:
Hi. I'm responding here because I can't log into hooha.us due to dns errors, but I wanted to respond to your response to this post. I'm quoting your response here, from my e-mail, as I cannot access the site:
It is a shame you have chosen to buy into the myth that everything is OK. I wish you would dig deeper, look harder, research for yourself instead of taking the easy road and just buying into the anti-american rhetoric being spewed these days. There are undeniable ties between Iraq and terrorism. There are strong ties between Iraq and the 9/11 masacare of American innocents (It is a shame you have chosen to buy into the myth that everything is OK. I wish you would dig deeper, look harder, research for yourself instead of taking the easy road and just buying into the anti-american rhetoric being spewed these days. There are undeniable ties between Iraq and terrorism. There are strong ties between Iraq and the 9/11 masacare of American innocents (http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,591439,00.html). If there is no WMD why do the Iraqi troops have brand new gas masks and chemical suits? How do you explain the atropine supplies they found?Ok, just for a second let's ignore the WMD question. You say yo have
children? Have you heard the stories of Saddams thugs crushing the feet of a
child to get at her father
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/from_our_own_correspondent/2058253.stm)? How about men being fed through a wood chipper
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3284-614607,00.html)? See the above
story for tales of government sponsored rape as well. The stories told by
people who have fled Iraq literally turn my stomach. Totally disregarding
any questions about WMDs, I am proud to be part of the country that is
bringing the regime that not only condones but sponsors this behaviour. They
don't even have religion to hide behind, the Baath party are socialists and
very non-religious. I am very proud and supportive of what PRESIDENT Bush
is doing to rid the world of this dangerous blight.I doubt I can change your opinion (it seems to be deeply rooted in fear
not reason) but I can hope you will take some time to really educate yourself
on what is really happening. I think if you do you will find the world is
being made a safer place for you and your children and the issue does not
hinge around oil.
First of all, I find it exceedingly ironic that you chose to remain anonymous. But, oh well. I suppose if I was still clinging to the flimsy shrapnel of truth, I would hesitate to reveal my name, as well. Secondly, you seem to be bringing up arguments that I never made in my original post. I can't access it at the moment, so I may be wrong, but I don't believe I said anything about oil. It would be inconsistent with what I am feeling right now. Regardless of my origins of thought about why or why not starting this war was a bad idea, it is my current opinion that continuing to fight this war will only lead to a complete and utter disaster.
I am convinced, like many others, that continuing to fight this war will lead to LESS national security, not more. I am convinced that continuing to fight this war will lead to MORE oppression of Iraqi civilians, not less (unless, of course, you consider death to be less oppressive than life.) I am convinced that continuing to fight this war will cause irreparable damage to the hearts and minds (not to mention bodies) of so-called coalition forces and Iraqi forces, who I believe to be innocent victims of the whims of their warmongering leaders.
Anyway, if this still does not help you, here's a point-by-point analysis of your position:
1) The non-existent link between Iraq and 9/11. It's funny you should quote a nearly 2 year old Guardian article published shortly after the bombings and well before Bush alienated most of the rest of the world through his idiocy and ignorance. Here is a more recent article, and in case you don't want to click the link, here is a significant quote from it:
The Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward makes this point abundantly clear in his recent book, Bush at War. Directly after the September 11 attacks, the deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the chief architect of the administration's get-tough policy on Iraq, told the cabinet: "There was a 10% to 50% chance Saddam was involved."However, more than a year later, the most comprehensive criminal investigation in history has yet to find a scintilla of proof implicating Iraq.
And, if we're going to argue the need to bomb the living shit out of women and children for, using this logic, what can only be described as revenge for 9/11...what about Saudi Arabia? Are they next? From the same article:
If al-Qaida's connection with Iraq is far from proven, its links with Saudi Arabia are real. This is not to suggest that the Saudi government, which is also a target of al-Qaida, has actively supported the group. However, Saudi citizens have provided financial and logistical support to al-Qaida and the Saudi government has been unwilling or unable to stop them.Despite the fact that most of the September 11 hijackers were Saudi, the government is barely cooperating with the US investigation into the attacks. The printable words US investigators use to describe the Saudi attitude towards their inquiries are "obstructionist", "useless" and "despicable".
Anonymous commenter...I'll tell you the same thing I would like to tell our current administration: It's dangerous and irresponsible to continue to assert there is evidence in the face of complete and total LACK of evidence. You either pasted that Guardian link with the full knowledge that it was later refuted BY THE SAME FUCKING PAPER, or you are merely parroting and copying words you've read in support of your argument. Either scenario is dishonest. You need to either educate yourself more completely, or you need to stop trying to prove your point through manipulative means. OR you need to just go out and get a job at Fox News.
2) Weapons of Mass Destruction: Frankly, I'll believe it when i see it. The existence of protective gear does nothing to prove to me that Hussein is stockpiling significant amounts of WMD. But, since I'm not arguing that Hussein is a cool guy who is being unfairly accussed of cruelty, I wouldn't be surprised if he DOES have WMD. Either way, bombing the shit out of innocent civilians is not the way to contain a madman. Nor is it a good way to set an example for other countries who might have WMD. Instilling fear and expecting fear to encourage MORE forethought is just a dumb way to achieve harmony. But, I suppose the weapons manufacturers who pull the strings of so many of our administration don't really want harmony. Harmony is bad for business.
3) Hussein is an evil bad man who must be stopped because he's killing all of his civilians and torturing them, too. See above. I'm not a cheerleader for the Iraqi administration. I just happen to believe that killing civilians is not equal to liberating them. And if well over 500 dead is not enough of a body count for you, just wait. I'm sure shellshock, PTSD, and various other mental and emotional damage will continue to reign supreme among our brave fighting men, and more civilians will fall victim to this kind of attitude:
Across the square, genuine civilians were running for their lives. Many, including some children, were gunned down in the crossfire.'The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy,' said Corporal Ryan Dupre.' I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him.' [source]
I'm reading quotes like this more and more often, and it troubles me deeply. Does it not trouble you? In your opinion, how many civilian casualties and how much terror should we be allowed to evoke before the solution becomes worse than the original problem? Do you honestly believe our motives are purely humanitarian in nature? If so, how do you propose we halt human rights abuses in other countries ruled by dictators who are as ruthless or moreso than Hussein? Do you propose we bomb the shit out of all of them? If so, do you believe this is a sustainable option?
What we are doing, in my opinion, is eliminating any shred of credibility we once had with regard to diplomatic engagement. We have become a military superpower who can only use its might to threaten. I don't know about you, but in my experience, threats tend to increase aggression.
If the stories of the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of Hussein turn your stomach, you can see why I oppose this war. Now the citizens of Iraq are being tormented from "coalition forces" as well. I suppose it's in the interest of their freedom that the children of Iraq are now being killed by our soldiers. They are still dying for the wrongdoings of their fathers.
By the way, since you asked me to educate myself, I figured I would do the same for you. Here are Amnesty International Human Rights reports about current human rights crises in Iraq that are a direct result of this war. And here are the statistics of human rights abuses for Iraq and the United States.
No. I don't support torture in the name of a regime, which is why I don't want our 19-year old kids over there gunning down civilians because they no longer have any idea who is and is not the enemy. I shudder for the sickness and pain they will bring home with them, and I will continue to speak out for an end to this ill-advised military action.
Thanks for your response, and I hope that you are able to overcome your fear and actually put your name to your comments next time.
It's not easy getting to green..
March 30, 2003
George sent along the link to this article. And it contributed significantly to a calmer state of mind for me. Yes, the world is less safe now than it was 2 weeks ago. Yes, we are in a perpetual "heightened state of awareness." Yes, it sucks. But this is the world our children are inheriting. And the tattoo of the lime green bulldozer on my leg, which has had multiple meanings throughout my life, has just earned greater significance.
On the Homeland Security chart, green merely warns of a "low" risk for any possible attacks on Americans, as serene as we can live without throwing the chart out altogether. The architects of the homeland security alert concept were smart to suggest that green is a possibility, and then to go about convincing us that we can never actually get there. Worry and dread will always be with us. Even at Code Green there is the assumption of some risk, and therefore, we will always need to have a Homeland Security Department. There's nothing anywhere on Ready.gov, Homeland's Web site, or within the White House's war plan, to suggest a green-level world.
Press onward, little 'dozer. My symbol of strength, hope, perserverence, love, and now...peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen...
March 30, 2003
I just witnessed an amazing advance which will greatly increase my standard of living forever more:
My son. Just. Took. Out. The. Trash. All by himself.
wahooo!!!!!
Team Work
March 30, 2003
I'm so impressed with my buds Kinyeta, Goneaway, and Adam. Together, we managed to host, name, create, and launch the anti-war aggregator...and it went off without a hitch. PLUS, Kinyeta hooked me up with the css fix to the default mt template so I don't have to scroll right to view all of the text on the page. I love you guys! Now it's my job to promote the thing so...if you are reading this...tell all of your friends about it, please! We're live.
I can't wait to work on the relaunch of Clothespins for the Revolution as soon as we get a breather. Kinyeta? Goneaway? Wanna help me and Adam with that one, as well? We seem like a good team...
Who should fight?
March 30, 2003
I love this post by Capt. Catamenia. In fact, I love almost all of his posts, but since he doesn't have trackback capabilities yet, he can't ping the blogsagainstwar site. More people need to read his site, though, because he rocks. And, to be totally matronizing, I hope my sons grow up to be as cool as him.
Why don't we put the burden of war in the hands of the people who cause them and benefit from them? Only those people who vote for war should be drafted and they should be drafted in inverse proportion to the years of work they have left to contribute to the workforce. This guarantees that those who most-often support war will have the greatest disincentive for its use. Let's be honest, we could design our war machines to have all the creature-comforts that middle age people expect: lattes, air-conditioning, leather seats, triple-ply toilet paper and picture windows to view the exotic war scenery. They might die, but why not them?
I don't get it.
March 30, 2003
How is it that it's somehow underhanded to, in a time of war, drive a car up to military personnel and detonate a bomb...and yet it's somehow OK to drop thousands of bombs on a city? Is it because the person driving the car can look into the eyes of his victims? Is it because there are no collatoral damages?
It goes without saying to me that both of these methods of mass murder are incorrect, but we need to question why our media and our leaders differentiate between them as if one is a morally superior form of mass murder.
Thank you adam.
March 30, 2003
I thought I was going to go completely insane if I had to keep my big mouth shut one more day.
Now if I could only figure out all of the things I have wanted to spout off about in the last 3 or 4 days since I've been a blogless blogger, we'd be set.