Right-Wing
Media Manipulation Is Escalating
To
the Editors:
Before
even firing a shot in the bowels of Afghanistan, the United States
has already lost the so-called War Against Terrorism.
And heres why:
Political satirist Bill Maher made the accurate and truthful comment
on his ABC program Politically Incorrect
a show, mind, that is devoted to presenting a wide variety of political
viewpoints that the United States in the past has launched
its own cowardly bombings over past administrations.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer comments that such a statement shouldnt
be made ever. (This is the Federal Government, mind,
dictating what Americans should or should not
be saying in their political discourse.) The next thing you know,
Disney Chairman Michael Eisner calls Maher on the carpet, his job
now in jeopardy. (Disney owns ABC, if you didnt know.) Because
of a right-wing telephone campaign, Federal Express and Sears have
pulled their sponsorship. All because of one comment a truthful,
accurate comment Maher made that ruffled the feathers of
the present administration.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee has received masses of hate mail and death
threats, because she voted against giving President Bush carte blanche
to wage a war that has yet to categorically define its strategems,
long-term objectives or even a proven enemy.
Congressman Marty Meehan has suffered a similar fate by voicing
his skepticism that Air Force One was ever really a target.
Rush Limbaugh attributed a similar comment to Peter Jennings that
allegedly, Jennings called Bush a coward
a comment that Peter Jennings did not make, reports Howard Kurtz
of the Washington Post. Due to right-wing pressure, ABC News is
now no longer showing in Detroit, the nations fifth largest
market.
A college professor in the Southwest has been threatened with disciplinary
action for comments he made about the World Trade Center disaster,
and at least two small-town journalists have lost their jobs after
criticizing the president
Here is one other story, not flattering to President Bush, that
the mass media are not reporting:
On Sept. 11, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida declared, by executive
order, a state of Emergency in the State of Florida, which will
last until the year 2003. This was rapidly on the heels of the terrorist
attacks. Florida was never an apparent target of the bombings. What
the State of Emergency does do, however, is protect
the Florida government from sunshine laws
their obligation to hand over government documents to the press
and made available to the public. Conveniently, these documents
would include documents that might incriminate the handling of the
2000 Presidential election by Florida officials.
Two war-time presidents Abraham Lincoln, a Republican,
and Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat led the country
by the inspiration of their words and the considered correctness
of their deeds. They did not lead by seizing the moment to stifle
any dissent in order to create the fragile illusion of leadership.
Flags, yellow ribbons and symbolic demonstrations of patriotism
are only idols and totems it is liberty itself that wields
the only true meaning, the only concept to warrant patriotic allegiance.
The Pledge of Allegiance is not only said to the totem that is the
flag, but also to the concepts for which it stands. We must honor
those concepts themselves, and not just wallow in a feel-good conformity
that offers shallow comfort in the face of 7,000 dead.
And when our liberties are taken away, by us, ourselves by our own
unthinking, blind consent, no matter how many Afghan soldiers we
manage to kill, the terrorists will have won.
Robert Gross
OC 95
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