Anonymous
11th April 2003, 01:06
See No Freedom, Hear No Freedom, Speak No Freedom
By Brian Sayre
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 10, 2003
"Baghdad residents celebrate the downfall of Saddam Hussein."
Eight words. That's the entire coverage of the celebrations in Baghdad provided by Media Transparency's anti-war website, Cursor.org. Terse, isn't it? Especially when you consider how much Cursor.org usually has to say about the war - the rest of the day's coverage is a litany of complaints. Why so quiet about the main events of the day? It seems the anti-war crowd has a problem - yesterday was a great day.
Not that Cursor.org's coverage was particularly bad, compared to the rest of the anti-war crowd, both left and right. Faced with joyous Iraqis celebrating in the streets, toppling statues of Saddam Hussein in cooperation with American troops, those against the war faced a dilemma - how could they maintain their beliefs and their credibility in the face of directly contradicting evidence? Their first response, it seems, was to deny their eyes.
As the Iraqis' support for the U.S. military appeared on the television, the first instinctive reaction of Democratic Party activists at the popular discussion site Democratic Underground was to deny what was actually happening. One claimed there was only "2 dozen" Iraqis celebrating, and claimed they only celebrated out of fear of our troops. Another sarcastically questioned the Iraqis' sanity, writing "I think I just read where they released all the mental patients." Others didn't believe the protestors were 'real' Iraqis, arguing that the event was staged and those celebrating were exiles returned by the American army. Another expresses his total racist contempt for the Iraqi people by writing, about the Iraqis who trampled Hussein's statue underfoot, "Okay, we're dancing, massa. you going to give us some food now or what?" But this was remarkably polite, compared to other comments. One Democrat best kept Underground, if his party wishes to avoid a complete rout next year, wrote that "being anti-Bush is being pro-American, because George Walker Bush Jr. is an unelected fascist piece of s**t dictator. And you can quote me on that."
(more) (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7213)
By Brian Sayre
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 10, 2003
"Baghdad residents celebrate the downfall of Saddam Hussein."
Eight words. That's the entire coverage of the celebrations in Baghdad provided by Media Transparency's anti-war website, Cursor.org. Terse, isn't it? Especially when you consider how much Cursor.org usually has to say about the war - the rest of the day's coverage is a litany of complaints. Why so quiet about the main events of the day? It seems the anti-war crowd has a problem - yesterday was a great day.
Not that Cursor.org's coverage was particularly bad, compared to the rest of the anti-war crowd, both left and right. Faced with joyous Iraqis celebrating in the streets, toppling statues of Saddam Hussein in cooperation with American troops, those against the war faced a dilemma - how could they maintain their beliefs and their credibility in the face of directly contradicting evidence? Their first response, it seems, was to deny their eyes.
As the Iraqis' support for the U.S. military appeared on the television, the first instinctive reaction of Democratic Party activists at the popular discussion site Democratic Underground was to deny what was actually happening. One claimed there was only "2 dozen" Iraqis celebrating, and claimed they only celebrated out of fear of our troops. Another sarcastically questioned the Iraqis' sanity, writing "I think I just read where they released all the mental patients." Others didn't believe the protestors were 'real' Iraqis, arguing that the event was staged and those celebrating were exiles returned by the American army. Another expresses his total racist contempt for the Iraqi people by writing, about the Iraqis who trampled Hussein's statue underfoot, "Okay, we're dancing, massa. you going to give us some food now or what?" But this was remarkably polite, compared to other comments. One Democrat best kept Underground, if his party wishes to avoid a complete rout next year, wrote that "being anti-Bush is being pro-American, because George Walker Bush Jr. is an unelected fascist piece of s**t dictator. And you can quote me on that."
(more) (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7213)