Sunday, February 19, 2006

The press trembles

Our friend Russet Shadows at Strange Fire
has an interesting post up titled "The Fearmongers


It is a curious thing how the press walks on eggshells around Islam but can't be bothered to be so respectful of other religions. Why? The underlying truth is that the press can be controlled through fear, and that allows men to destroy freedom of the press without even resorting to censorship. [...]


Well worth a read!

24 comments:

Esther said...

Sounds dead-on to me, no pun intended. But why should the press be any more brave than various governments? Everyone is quivering. Muslims have been following the Yassar Arafat playbook on how to go up against an enemy far better equipped than yourself and win -- and they're doing just that. We need to stand strong and not give in to fear. There needs to be no calls for exiting Iraq any sooner than planned, no upset at places like Gitmo, we need to be tough. If only general Americans were half as tough as I've seen everyone in our blogsphere. Then I'd know we could kick ass.

beakerkin said...

It is not so much fear as the homogeneous nature of the Journalism schools that turn out a bunch of hacks. Four years of Rigoberta, Chomsky and other Marcuse themes breeds a bad crop.

However the internet may end the arrogance of the media elites.

nanc said...

with any luck at all - the trembling is just the onset of parkinson's. G-d forgive me.

something is going on with the internet - today i linked to an aljazeera article from a remote site and afterward i had to shut down everything i had going on and restart my p.c. that only happens after i've read something from some foreign paper or if my kids have loaded us up with cookies which i quarantine once a week on schedule.

i never discount the fact that someone COULD be watching and i say to them - have at it! and on that note, i say "bomb bomb bomb bomb iran!"

Unknown said...

russet shadows has a point about controlling one through fear.

to many, 'Batman Begins' was just an entertaining film, but in reality it also shows an insight to human nature. the same message russet mentioned was in the movie- "if you have a fear of ____, then _____ can control you. you must learn to overcome the fear." once the fear is overcome, you become invincible.

nanc said...

fear NOTHING, but if you do, make sure you have on a dry depends while doing so - they'll never know...that, my friends is called "controlled fear"...think about it...

nanc said...

p.s. elijah - you little sweetie - don't encourage me...

Warren said...

I've thought a lot about fear and bravery and just what they are.

A persom that fears nothing is a fool. Bravery isn't the absence of fear, its doing what you have to do in spite of fear.

I won't allow fear to rule my life or keep me from doing the right thing. (Hince Nanc's suggestion of the depends). ;^)

Beak, thinks that with the MSM, its more a matter of ideology than fear. I won't say that isn't a large portion ofthe way they act but in a way, that represents fear also.

nanc said...

beak - it's almost as though they have a missing chromosone or an extra - or perhaps their genes are too tight!

you're right - there is no humor about them. even in my most serious state, i can find humor in any situation. G-d help the left, they are missing out.

nanc said...

fyi - everybody - you simply see what beamish has done to beak at wtf3 - wear your depends!

Dan Zaremba said...

I think the appeasement, which is at the heart of this issue, is a camouflage for fear.
It is face saving exercise to cover primeval fear of open confrontation.
Confrontation with real enemies.
I can see people taking sides with aggressive strangers against members of their own families.
Why, because the risk of the stranger is greater than any possible feelings towards their own kind.
And so with all our sophistication and culture, when facing brute forcs we have people talking about negotiations and understanding the other side.

Warren said...

Missinglink, I think you have it exactly right.

This face saving mechanism is also an example of how the worse lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

Dan Zaremba said...

This face saving mechanism is also an example of how the worse lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

This would be my opinion as well.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

As someone who dropped out of university-level journalism school after determining that most people sharper than a lima bean are barred from writing editorials and making production decisions for most American newspapers and TV news broadcasts, I can attest to the "crop" of muckraking propagandists Beakerkin refers to. Michael Jackson showing up to his child molestation trial in pajamas was more important than President Bush's speech at Whitehall Palace.

Warren said...

Thank God for the Internet!

Beamish, sorry about borrowing your modis operandi to get johns goat.

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Maxima Mea Culpa!

Warren said...

Elijah, censorship is something worth fighting against in real world terms.

I think the Internet has almost achieved the critical mass necessary for a revolution over censorship can be won.

Warren said...

Sorry, I removed Elijah's comment through a mistake.

Elijah said:

Censorship of the internet, never...that would indeed be great shame..

Warren said...

It does scare the shit out of them or they (meaning repressive governments and the UN) wouldn't be trying so hard to control the Internet.

The free flow of information was one of the major causes of the collapse of the USSR!

China is trying desperately to control access to the Internet but resourceful Chinese, (libertarians for lack of a better word), are running rings around them.

The major news organizations, which have formed their own little shadow government and propaganda mills, are shaking in their boots as a million fact checkers tear their propaganda to pieces and show it for all the world to see.

Its a great time to be alive! :^)

Dan Zaremba said...

It is true that there is the fear element in the msm behaviour, however alot of these people are also devoted to destroying the West as we know it.
Their self importance and inbred eliticism cannot cope with the fact that their superiority is not automatically recognized by us - subhumans.
Islam for them is a tool to help in achievieng their goal - disposal of the Western style democracies.
They are "sure" they can control Islam after their "victory".

Warren said...

Elijah,
I've seen the Internet grow from the Usenet forward and its evolution from a tool for the government and scientists to use, to a world wide means of personal broadcasting.

From the user groups to the newsgroups, chatrooms to forums and message boards and now blogs.

Kim Komando, (real name, google it sometime), started her radio show in 1995, she tried to pitch the idea to ABC and CBS, but was refused and was told by a CBS vice-president that computers were a fad. By 1995, I knew that computers were far more than a "fad" and the Internet was the fuel that was feeding the fire.

Unknown said...

you put the axe man up!! NICE!!!

nanc said...

congrats warren on your mention at beak's! i like the axeman even if it scared me at first...when i need a jumpstart i'll come and look at it.

Warren said...

Missinglink
"Our own radicals are clever (in their own sinister way) and they went underground with their own ideology of socialist revolution as well as with trying to gain political relevance based on their own ideology/program alone."

I have a very good memory, I remember who they are and what they have did. They have put on a new face and their words are different, but the policies are the same. If they have become state socialists instead of revolutionary socialist, their goal is the same.

In a fit of pique, at the UN, Kruchiev pounded on a table with his shoe and said, "We will bury you". I was a child, but I remember.

Warren said...

Elijah said...

"Hialrious comment to the cheney post...dig out the shot yourself, i still cant stop laughing!

***********

Just recognized the axeman...lol."


How do you think I dig it out?

Warren said...

Nanc,
Beak and I are very good friends. He is my best friend on the web. Our minds work very differently but we always seem to come to the same conclusions.

Sometimes we plot together behind the scenes, I know where the bodies are buried!

Glad you "like" the Axeman.

:^)