| GREG-STRANGE.COM |
"If you haven't found something strange during the
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
PROVIDING SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTARY ON THE
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
Flushing Their Credibility Down The Toilet
“We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and
extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the
U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.” --- Mark Whitaker, Newsweek
magazine editor, in a written apology for the magazine having
inaccurately reported that U.S. military interrogators at
Guantanamo Bay had flushed a prisoner’s copy of the Koran
down a toilet, the reporting of which led to outbursts of
violence all over the Islamic world from the Gaza Strip to the
Java Sea.
Call them the “Newsweek riots” since there’s no way around
the fact that Newsweek incited them. That’s not to absolve the
rioters themselves of responsibility, but why antagonize a rabid
dog? It was all so unnecessary, but for some inexplicable
reason the big media outlets these days seem locked in an
irreversible death march off the cliff of responsible journalism.
I have to admit that at first, for a couple of nanoseconds, I
was disinclined to chastise Newsweek for running the blurb in
its Periscope section about an alleged nonviolent occurrence
during an interrogation of a Guantanamo prisoner. If we
weren’t dealing with fanatics, this alleged incident would have
been about as significant as sending a prisoner to bed without
his supper.
But we are dealing with fanatics, and after thinking about it
a few more nanoseconds and considering how it might affect
that part of the war against terror that involves the hearts and
minds of millions, I changed my mind. Do large American
media outfits ever take such things into consideration before
they run with the latest war-related scandal du jour? Do they
have any particular interest in or preference for who ultimately
wins the war against terror?
At the very least, because of the incendiary nature of the
unsubstantiated Koran-flushing anecdote, Newsweek knew it
would incense vast hordes of fanatical Muslims. In a lot of
Islamic countries desecration of the Koran gets you a long
prison term or even the death penalty, so you know they’re
testy about it. We can be pretty certain that someone on the
Newsweek staff was aware of that particular factoid.
We can also be certain that Newsweek is savvy enough to
realize that Al Jazeera would be all over this Koran desecration
story like white on rice, using it to inflame the fanatical masses
against the great Satan.
And heaven knows, inflaming those masses isn’t exactly a
difficult challenge to begin with. A couple of years ago, for
example, in Nigeria, where the Miss World beauty pageant was
scheduled to be held and about which a lot of faithful Muslims
were upset, protestors were asking what Mohammad would
think about a beauty contest. The inference was that he would
certainly consider it sinful. When a local journalist innocently
suggested that the great prophet would have probably chosen a
wife from among the contestants, bloody rioting ensued all over
Nigeria, during which hundreds of people were killed and a
newspaper office was burned to the ground.
If Americans blindly acted on mindless passions like those
Nigerian mobs, the offices of Newsweek might well be a
smoldering heap of ashes right now because what that
magazine has done is make it that much harder for America to
wage an already excruciatingly difficult war against Islamic
terrorism. That being the case, it’s almost impossible to not
ask the question: Whose side is Newsweek on?
So, yeah, Newsweek deserves chastising, and that’s even if
you allow that the story is actually true. If it’s not true, or if it’s
simply unprovable, one of which appears to be the case, then
Newsweek deserves an excoriating the likes of which makes
CBS’ Rathergate look like a five minute time-out.
There are other dimensions of this story, by the way, that
are easy to lose amidst the swirling maelstrom of
Newsweekgate. For instance, one could almost forget the
infuriating fact that the incited violence was especially
pronounced in Afghanistan where rioters chanted “Death to
America” as they indulged in their merry melee. There’s
gratitude for you. The United States saves Afghanistan from
the murderous Taliban, but because of one alleged Koran
flushing, it’s back to “Death to America.”
What do the rioters want, to go back to the most medieval
dictatorship on earth whose official policy was to perpetuate
the Dark Ages forever? Could they possibly be wistful for those
halcyon days when the Taliban routinely hung people from the
goalposts of the local soccer stadium which had been
transmogrified from sports venue to staging area for mass
executions?
Another infuriating consequence of Newsweek’s
irresponsibility is the humiliation of the U.S. government
having to grovel obsequiously to try and calm the outrage
throughout the Islamic world. Before Newsweek backtracked
on the accuracy of its story, Condoleeza Rice was promising an
inquiry and punishment for any proven offenders. Besides
that, the usual platitudes were tossed out about America’s
respect for the great religion of Islam and the State
Department declared that “the destruction of any kind of holy
book . . . is something that is reprehensible and not in keeping
with U.S. policies and practices.”
It might not be quite so infuriating if the people whose
religious feelings needed such assuaging weren’t themselves
the most religiously intolerant people on the face of the planet.
You know how they feel about non-Muslims in general--all of
whom are disdainful infidels deserving of eternal damnation--
and you know how they feel about Jews in particular. In most
Islamic countries, not only could you flush copies of the Torah
down the toilet all day long (assuming you could find a toilet),
but you could slaughter the people who read them and be
considered a national hero.
So, Muslims aren’t the only ones feeling a lot of outrage
right now. Here’s what occurs in my more fancifully
malevolent daydreams these days. All copies of the Koran are
confiscated from the prisoners at Guantanamo. Then the
prisoners are gathered around a gigantic, industrial strength
commode set up in the middle of the camp and are forced to
watch as the books that inspired them to wage jihad and
commit acts of terrorism are unceremoniously flushed to
kingdom come.
It’s just a daydream that will never happen, of course, but
flushing Newsweek down the toilet can very easily be made a
reality.
“We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and
extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the
U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.” --- Mark Whitaker, Newsweek
magazine editor, in a written apology for the magazine having
inaccurately reported that U.S. military interrogators at
Guantanamo Bay had flushed a prisoner’s copy of the Koran
down a toilet, the reporting of which led to outbursts of
violence all over the Islamic world from the Gaza Strip to the
Java Sea.
Call them the “Newsweek riots” since there’s no way around
the fact that Newsweek incited them. That’s not to absolve the
rioters themselves of responsibility, but why antagonize a rabid
dog? It was all so unnecessary, but for some inexplicable
reason the big media outlets these days seem locked in an
irreversible death march off the cliff of responsible journalism.
I have to admit that at first, for a couple of nanoseconds, I
was disinclined to chastise Newsweek for running the blurb in
its Periscope section about an alleged nonviolent occurrence
during an interrogation of a Guantanamo prisoner. If we
weren’t dealing with fanatics, this alleged incident would have
been about as significant as sending a prisoner to bed without
his supper.
But we are dealing with fanatics, and after thinking about it
a few more nanoseconds and considering how it might affect
that part of the war against terror that involves the hearts and
minds of millions, I changed my mind. Do large American
media outfits ever take such things into consideration before
they run with the latest war-related scandal du jour? Do they
have any particular interest in or preference for who ultimately
wins the war against terror?
At the very least, because of the incendiary nature of the
unsubstantiated Koran-flushing anecdote, Newsweek knew it
would incense vast hordes of fanatical Muslims. In a lot of
Islamic countries desecration of the Koran gets you a long
prison term or even the death penalty, so you know they’re
testy about it. We can be pretty certain that someone on the
Newsweek staff was aware of that particular factoid.
We can also be certain that Newsweek is savvy enough to
realize that Al Jazeera would be all over this Koran desecration
story like white on rice, using it to inflame the fanatical masses
against the great Satan.
And heaven knows, inflaming those masses isn’t exactly a
difficult challenge to begin with. A couple of years ago, for
example, in Nigeria, where the Miss World beauty pageant was
scheduled to be held and about which a lot of faithful Muslims
were upset, protestors were asking what Mohammad would
think about a beauty contest. The inference was that he would
certainly consider it sinful. When a local journalist innocently
suggested that the great prophet would have probably chosen a
wife from among the contestants, bloody rioting ensued all over
Nigeria, during which hundreds of people were killed and a
newspaper office was burned to the ground.
If Americans blindly acted on mindless passions like those
Nigerian mobs, the offices of Newsweek might well be a
smoldering heap of ashes right now because what that
magazine has done is make it that much harder for America to
wage an already excruciatingly difficult war against Islamic
terrorism. That being the case, it’s almost impossible to not
ask the question: Whose side is Newsweek on?
So, yeah, Newsweek deserves chastising, and that’s even if
you allow that the story is actually true. If it’s not true, or if it’s
simply unprovable, one of which appears to be the case, then
Newsweek deserves an excoriating the likes of which makes
CBS’ Rathergate look like a five minute time-out.
There are other dimensions of this story, by the way, that
are easy to lose amidst the swirling maelstrom of
Newsweekgate. For instance, one could almost forget the
infuriating fact that the incited violence was especially
pronounced in Afghanistan where rioters chanted “Death to
America” as they indulged in their merry melee. There’s
gratitude for you. The United States saves Afghanistan from
the murderous Taliban, but because of one alleged Koran
flushing, it’s back to “Death to America.”
What do the rioters want, to go back to the most medieval
dictatorship on earth whose official policy was to perpetuate
the Dark Ages forever? Could they possibly be wistful for those
halcyon days when the Taliban routinely hung people from the
goalposts of the local soccer stadium which had been
transmogrified from sports venue to staging area for mass
executions?
Another infuriating consequence of Newsweek’s
irresponsibility is the humiliation of the U.S. government
having to grovel obsequiously to try and calm the outrage
throughout the Islamic world. Before Newsweek backtracked
on the accuracy of its story, Condoleeza Rice was promising an
inquiry and punishment for any proven offenders. Besides
that, the usual platitudes were tossed out about America’s
respect for the great religion of Islam and the State
Department declared that “the destruction of any kind of holy
book . . . is something that is reprehensible and not in keeping
with U.S. policies and practices.”
It might not be quite so infuriating if the people whose
religious feelings needed such assuaging weren’t themselves
the most religiously intolerant people on the face of the planet.
You know how they feel about non-Muslims in general--all of
whom are disdainful infidels deserving of eternal damnation--
and you know how they feel about Jews in particular. In most
Islamic countries, not only could you flush copies of the Torah
down the toilet all day long (assuming you could find a toilet),
but you could slaughter the people who read them and be
considered a national hero.
So, Muslims aren’t the only ones feeling a lot of outrage
right now. Here’s what occurs in my more fancifully
malevolent daydreams these days. All copies of the Koran are
confiscated from the prisoners at Guantanamo. Then the
prisoners are gathered around a gigantic, industrial strength
commode set up in the middle of the camp and are forced to
watch as the books that inspired them to wage jihad and
commit acts of terrorism are unceremoniously flushed to
kingdom come.
It’s just a daydream that will never happen, of course, but
flushing Newsweek down the toilet can very easily be made a
reality.