[Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI
Morton K. Brussel
brussel at illinois.edu
Tue Dec 2 17:31:46 CST 2008
David's letter to the DI makes the DI better, and some undoubtedly
appreciate it and learn from it. --mkb
On Dec 2, 2008, at 1:41 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON wrote:
> Whether it is the fault of those who read it or not does not really
> matter since I never said it was the fault of the readers. I was
> merely describing what I saw as being the majority and probably
> target audience of the DI. I am not sure that I concur in your
> optimism regarding the openness of the readers on this or other
> issues (since the meaning or openness itself is open to question).
> As for attempts to improve the paper, I think that this is
> probably a fool’s errand; and one can waste one’s time doing other
> things that are more productive and feasible. However, it
> certainly is a matter of choice and what one sets as their
> priorities. I still find it hard to understand why anyone treats
> the DI seriously even in the light of any justifications based on
> optimism about improving the DI. When offered the suggestion that
> one is trying to improve the paper under the optimistic assumption
> that this is possible, I then find it hard to understand where this
> optimism and faith comes from. It is a mere leap of faith; or do
> people have actual supporting evidence that such optimism is
> warranted and that change is really possible with a high
> probability of success?
>
>
>
> I suppose it is just not in me to be optimistic, to be accepting,
> to be trusting, or to take leaps of faith without some form of
> supporting evidence or reason to do so.
>
>
>
> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-
> discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of David Green
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:53 PM
> To: LAURIE SOLOMON
> Cc: Peace Discuss
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI
>
>
>
> Laurie,
>
>
>
> Sure, it's a crappy paper, fit for a world class university. But
> that's not the fault of those who read it, who are probably more
> open than you think, especially about this issue. And that's no
> reason not to try to improve on it.
>
>
>
> David
>
>
>
> From: LAURIE SOLOMON <LAURIE at ADVANCENET.NET>
> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>; Peace Discuss <peace-
> discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 11:55:00 AM
> Subject: RE: [Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI
>
> I find it hard to understand why you and others treat the DI as if
> it were a real newspaper when even the so-called real newspapers
> these days are not real to newspapers. The DI in the end turns out
> to be an experimental training ground which allows students to play
> at being reporters. Being students who may wish to become the
> future journalists of Amerika and get jobs in corporate media, it
> is no wonder that they and their professors and advisors take their
> lead from the establishment press rather than going out on their
> own and establishing alternative papers and media of their own in
> which they can take critical, ideological, and/or novel innovative
> approaches to editorial and story writing about things that they
> are familiar with and are important to them and their audiences in
> which they have firsthand knowledge. Unfortunately, they have
> selected to take the easy route taken by many small medium sized
> city papers (like the News-Gazoo) and rely on wire service reports
> and other media for their subject matter and stories, as if this
> will train the students in investigative journalism or how to ask
> the right critical questions of authority so as to get the back story.
>
>
>
> I suppose one could argue that one is concerned with the DI content
> because members of its audience read the stories and buy into them
> as THE TRUTH and as documentation of reality; but I propose that
> those who do this are the very people who could not give a damn
> about any criticisms that might be leveled at the DI, its editorial
> board and staff, or its writers, probably will not or do not read
> any articles or letters to the editor that you or others might
> submit that require time to think about, and/or may already access
> alternative sources of information to balance what they get from
> the DI if they do care about accuracy and truth in journalism.
>
>
>
> I would not be at all surprised to find out that the article in
> question with the dateline from Ramallah, West Bank, turned out to
> be a propaganda piece written by the Israeli government (on its own
> or at the behest of the US government) or by a Zionist group and
> distributed by the AP. We know that the US government via the CIA
> and even the Defense department have been circulating propaganda as
> legitimate journalism via the wire services, the New York Times,
> the Washington Post, and other papers of record for years. The
> planting of stories is not something new and probably not
> restricted to the US government. Now why on earth would I even
> suggest such a thing; maybe because it was a Jewish facility that
> was among those attacked and some Jews of Israeli citizenship were
> among those killed which typically tends to elicit an extreme
> response by Zionist groups and the Israeli government usually after
> a concerted effort to demonize those that they wish to attack.
> Thus, if this is again the case, what better way to set the stage
> than by planting news articles on the wire services as if they were
> legit news reports asserting motivations and linkages that may or
> may not exist.
>
>
>
> Obviously, I am a snob who thinks that there are better places to
> get one’s news from than the DI – especially international news. I
> also think that there are better places and more qualified people
> to get ones editorial opinions and evaluations from than the DI.
> In fact, I am so much of a snob that I do not think much of people
> who take the DI seriously as a newspaper or treat its articles with
> seriously, unless you are a young student who does not know better
> or a student or faculty/staff member who wants information about
> what is happening on campus that is of interest mostly to campus
> dwellers. But I guess that that might cover most of the people in
> this University dominated community, including many on this list
> and many non-university types who suck at the tit of the University.
>
>
>
> From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-
> discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of David Green
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 8:50 AM
> To: Peace Discuss
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Letter in today's DI
>
>
>
> The DI’s coverage (12/1) of the Mumbai atrocities, an AP wire
> story, has the bizarre headline “Muslims condemn attacks on Mumbai
> as foolish terrorism.” Is there any doubt that over 99.99% of the
> world’s Muslims condemn these events? Nor do they support any kind
> of terrorism, foolish or otherwise. The origins and motives of the
> perpetrators are not yet clear. Nevertheless, it is misguided from
> the outset to understand such events in fundamentally religious
> terms, with only secondary reference to regional conflict (India,
> Pakistan, Kashmir), class/caste politics within India, or the
> general conditions created by our insane “war on terror.”
>
>
>
> The latter has been used to justify invasion, occupation, and
> destruction in a predominately Islamic region of the world that
> happens to produce vast amounts of oil. The consequences of our
> invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, our manipulation of Pakistan,
> and our continued support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine have
> created numerous hells on earth (dwarfing Mumbai’s), from Kabul to
> Gaza and beyond. Our geopolitical ambitions do nothing to promote
> reconciliation in this region, to say the least.
>
>
>
> The article has the equally bizarre dateline of Ramallah, West Bank
> (that’s Palestine, the word that cannot be spoken). How did
> Palestinians and Hamas get mixed up in this story? Oh yeah, we have
> to take every chance to imply that “Islamofascism” is behind all
> this, including Israel/Palestine, rather than American-supported
> Zionist ethnic cleansing, apartheid, forced starvation, and
> incipient genocide. The article outrageously refers to the killing
> of hundreds of Israeli civilians, without context, as if Israel
> hasn’t been terrorizing and murdering Palestinians for over 60
> years, and as if it isn’t getting ready to finally finish them off.
> Perhaps, for a change, the DI might pass on the opportunity to
> gratuitously denigrate the most sadistically crushed and abandoned
> people on earth.
>
>
>
> David Green
>
>
>
>
>
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