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Posts:
3,583
Registered:
5/1/02
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(1 of 4)
Something bothers me about the Sivits court-martial
May 20, 2004 6:22 AM
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All I've seen on MSNBC and CNN this morning is screaming headlines about this case. We're getting details about the trial, it's disposition, even images. However, I seem to remember a Muslim American sergeant that fragged his command post and killed or wounded some twenty people in the early days of the Iraqi war. After he was taken into custody, we didn't hear another peep from either the media or the administration.
Now call me crazy, but I think an American soldier fragging a CP deserves more coverage than somebody who embarrassed a few POW's. Why such a disparity in coverage?
"Beat Me!" cried the masochist; and the sadist said, "No"
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Posts:
62
Registered:
8/19/03
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(2 of 4)
May 20, 2004 7:05 AM
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That's usually my first guess. Might have something to do with the military, though, and how much they release to the press.
"Colourless green ideas sleep furiously."
-Noam Chomsky, Syntactic Structures (1957)
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
-Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
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Posts:
14
Registered:
5/10/04
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(3 of 4)
Re: Something bothers me about the Sivits court-martial
May 23, 2004 9:33 AM
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Controversies and scandals mean profits for a commercial media. The fragging of a CP by a PFC is not controversy. At most, it is newsworthy only for a week. Almost all commercial media, in various degrees of subtlety, make a mockery of politics and politicians, of government and government scandals, of military and military controversies. This has the affect of making the newsmedia look wise and the only source that can be trusted. In fact, the trashing of the political class is one consistently repeated motif in corporate mainstream media. Its destructive consequences on the public's view is yet to be measured and determined. Ultra-right wing radicals like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and even moderate Republicans constantly whine that the media is biased and has a liberal slant. Bullshit! This false accusation distracts us from the underlying problem of media commerciality. Ideological media, left or right, tend to adhere to an inherently biased opinion which is why we subscribe to them. Newspapers and news magazines are not liberal. They, at times, can be cynical jaded, and cute designed to make money. Any newspaper, whether perceived liberal or conservative, uses stories as commercial product to earn profit. The story can be a scandal, like Whitewater, or another one like the prisoner abuse. What various news print outlets do-or rather don't do-is update the story with exculpatory information. EX: So many improvements have been made in Iraq despite the overwhelming soldier deaths but the media does not present them. Everything is overwhelmed by the prisoner abuse scandal.
The point of all this is, the media capitalizes in scandals and controversies. It does not care whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. It does not care about your reputation as long as it gains them profits.
Frank Leòn
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Posts:
48
Registered:
8/27/03
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(4 of 4)
Re: Something bothers me about the Sivits court-martial
Jun 3, 2004 11:29 AM
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You are right...I think there's a skunk in the woodpile! Did you also notice that it was lower rank enlisted personnel who took the hit? Anyone above the rank of E-8 won't even see a letter in their file. The Press kinda missed that one. I think I want to puke!
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