The media has always been used as a forum for every viewpoint on the political spectrum, but a new trend is taking place.
Over the last 40 years, the American media has gradually synchronized with the leftist party line, which is part and parcel of modern journalism; any view to the contrary would portray them as “government tools”. Once considered the “Fourth Estate”, the press has mutated into the “Fifth Column”.
It’s supposed to be the “watchdog” but who watches the “watchdog”? Most of them are so visceral and leftwing it makes the likes of Vladimir Lenin look like a Republican.
They want all of the rights of free press but none of the consequences.
Former Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) Editor Michael Gartner provided the quintessential reason for the MSM’s attitude during a C-Span program in 1987, when he said: “We have the right to be irresponsible”.
For proof, look no further than this classic example from the 1980s PBS series “Ethics in America”.
The show consisted of a panel of military, media, and academic representatives who debated ethical dilemmas posed by a moderator. One installment, held at Montclair State College in the fall of 1987, was entitled “Under Orders, Under Fire”. (Part I , Part II) Some of the participants were former military personnel relating the harsh aspects of their duties.
Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, the moderator for the program, posed a question regarding the interactions between the American media and the American military in a fictitious (and thinly veiled) combat zone in the country of “North Kosan”. Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace were two of the media panelists.
The military side included former Army General William Westmorland, and former Army Lieutenant Frederick Downs, who lost an arm to a mine in Vietnam. Jennings was asked to take on the role of an “embedded” journalist….with the enemy forces. During the course of the scenario, Jennings was told that the “North Kosan” forces were planning an ambush of American troops in the vicinity. Faced with the decision to either tell the Americans or not, Jennings (a native Canadian) first responded: “I think that I personally would do what I could to warn the Americans.” Wallace turned on Jennings with an indignant hissy fit: “You’re a reporter. I’m a little bit at a loss to understand why…you would not have covered that story.” When Ogletree suggested that Jennings may have a moral (and patriotic) duty to warn the American troops, Wallace shrieked: “You don’t have a higher duty. No. No. You’re a reporter!” At that point, Jennings tucked his tail between his legs like a whipped puppy and recanted: “I chickened out.”
Not surprisingly, the military contingent dealt the two craven “reporters” a verbal (and self-restrained) counter-attack. One let them know that he felt nothing but “utter contempt” and pointed out that though it might not be worth the lives of American troops to rescue journalists, it would be done because of a sense of duty.
Another said to Wallace: “What’s it worth?” “It’s worth thirty seconds on the evening news, as opposed to saving a platoon.”
What Jennings and Wallace really deserved was what we call “wall to-wall” counseling.
We are fighting an unconventional war not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but against our own press. Most media have the attention span of a gnat and must be reminded that brutal, bloodthirsty zealots killed 3000 people, and did so with total disregard for the sensibilities of the Left. Of the leading collaborators, the New York Times has been particularly malicious in its alignment with an enemy bent on destroying the very democracy that fuels their existence. In their haste to demonize all things U.S. and military, they forget that if we disappear, so will they.
Aside from Harry Reid, the al Qaida couldn’t ask for a better mouthpiece. This so-called ‘free speech’ resonates with terrorists. Don’t think that the words of politicians and the media aren’t powerful?
Remember the aftermath of the lie told by Newsweek about the “flushed Korans”? A letter we intercepted from Ayman al-Zawahri, (bin Laden’s deputy) to (the now dead as a door nail) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had this comment: “However, despite all of this I say to you: that we are in a battle, and that more than half of the battle is taking place in the battle field of the media.”
The MSM is chock full of Democrats’ antagonistic, anti-American bullshit. The enemy reads, listens, absorbs and understands how to use that to their advantage. Every time Kerry, Durbin, or Dean regurgitates the “Bush lied”, “American Soldiers terrorize Iraqi children” or “American military = Nazis” rhetoric, the al Qaida sops it up like a sponge.
Recent contributors to anti-military/anti-American rhetoric include the likes of Boston Globe columnist James Carroll who opined:
“What kind of nation does our flag fly over now? Not a less innocent one, because American innocence was never the truth. Not one less reluctant to go to war without a good reason, because we have foolishly credited bad reasons in the past. But now the nation lacks even that. As our president demonstrated last week, we have become a people who wage unending war — killing and maiming our young ones and theirs — without being remotely able to say why”
In other words, to this (and other) obliviots, we are as guilty as the enemies we fight; we are equivalent to the rag-headed Islamofascist pigs that slaughtered 3000 people on this soil and want to subjugate the entire world to a Caliphate.
The gist of Carroll’s diatribe (and others of his ilk) is the typical “war has never solved any anything”. Nothing that is, except for ending fascism, preventing Europe and at least half of Korea from becoming a Communist gulag, and ending slavery and the Holocaust. Congratulations, Carroll. You added another item to your “stuck on stupid” column.
Another moonbat journalist who just couldn’t help spewing bile is William Arkin of the Washington Post.
His response to an NBC report about troops who want Americans to support the mission:
“So, we pay the Soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society? ……If I weren’t in the United States, I’d say the story ends with a military coup where those in the know, and those with fire in their bellies, save the nation from the people. But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just and ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary-oops sorry, volunteer-force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.”
Besides the incoherency of that diatribe, Arkin forgets that American troops are entitled to the same rights and freedom of speech that they protect. This asshat gladly lets others bear the burden of service and sacrifice and then has the unmitigated gall to insult them. What a vile, despicable, miserable little son of a bitch. I e-mailed Arkin and mentioned that as a so called “mercenary” I served this country for 30 years in peacetime and in war, and that my “obscene amenities” included a salary that was equal to a Congressman’s lunch tab. I had responsibilities and duties far beyond his abilities and comprehension. I also suggested that he pull his head out from his ass long enough to get a clue.
Leftist media hacks are ethically and intellectually bankrupt, and their morals are in the gutter.
It’s inconceivable how these feckless and malevolent media morons hide behind the skirts of the 1st Amendment as a conduit for denigrating the very military that protects the rights they take for granted. The dedication and sacrifice of the United States Army throughout history, is far beyond the likes of Carroll and Arkin’s capacity to understand. It’s embarrassing to think we’re sworn to protect raving lunatics who pervert the concept of patriotism into anti-American hate speech.
Unlike the media, we are focused and quite aware of the reasons why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most Soldiers I know have the same complaint about the way the war is portrayed in the media.
With the exception of Fox News, no broadcast network reports the successes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We always come back to the U.S. and wonder what fucking war they’re talking about, because it damned sure ain’t the one we just left behind. At least there is a contingent of conservatives in this country who still have the balls to stand up to the chickenshit cut-and-run faction, who would like nothing more than a terrorist victory. Sorry to disappoint them but that won’t happen. We are the best trained, the best motivated, toughest Army on the planet. The al Qaeda is in deep shit, and the Taliban is on the run. They resort to IED’s and killing primarily civilians.
This war is unconventional, and we are fighting it with unconventional means. With the advent of the Internet average citizens now have a venue for counterpoint, much to the chagrin of the media elite. It gives the rest of us a vantage point to skewer them in return.