Calblog

OUR SOVIET MEDIA

Calblog Husband here. I have not been around much lately because there was nothing that was really pissing me off. Now the media is.

In the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet press did not so much make things up rather than misinterpret them. For example, the Soviet media never (or rarely) reported on disasters occurring in the Soviet Union, but would often highlight disasters in the West, particularly when disasters had occurred in the Soviet Union. I also recall when the KAL ariliner was shot down over Sakhalin Island. Pravda reported that an "unidentified plane" had flown over the island, and had continued on its mysterious journey. Of course, Jeanne Kirkpatrick made sure that we really knew the truth.

In the days of Democrat hegemony in this country, the media, while biased and liberal, essentially told the truth. Now, however, with power slipping out of the grasp of their liberal allies, they are increasing adopting a reporting style reminding one of the Good 'Ol Soviet Days, in an effort to regain power for their allies reagrdless of the cost.

Let us look at the current political situation. The two central issues of the Presidential Election are (1) the economy and (2) the War on Terror, which the media has now morphed into Iraq. If both go badly for Bush, he goes down in flames. If one goes well and the other does not, it's 2000 redux. And if both go well for Bush, Kerry is the next Dukakis.

The problem for the Soviet Media and their liberal Democrat allies is that neither of these issues is going well for them right now. So they have to re-invent the facts. I once had a law professor who would tell little stories. One of those stories was that "There were two great law firms in Toledo, Ohio. While one was busy looking up the law, the other was busy changing the facts." While maybe law firms should re-invent the facts for their clients, should the media be re-inventing our news?

The Soviet Media have essentially ignored the economy over the last several months, as the economic news had increasingly become better. Now, they can't even talk about jobs. I suppose, however, that it will be Bush's fault when interest rates go up and "middle-class families" can't afford their mortgage payments.

It is on Iraq where the media has really implemented their Soviet-style tactics. These include the following recently:

1. The Soviet Media (that is, everybody but Fox News) not reporting the new Iraqi President and Prime Minister both expressly thanking the American people for liberating their country and the sacrifices made in doing so.

2. The incessant reporting of criminal activity in Iraq (such as car bombs, where, in most cases, the overwhelming number of victims are Iraqis themselves), rather than reporting the good things that are being done to rebuild the country, by both our troops and the Iraqi people. It would be one thing if the criminal activity was reported in balance with the good. But the emphasis is totally on the negative, which of course plays into what the terrorists want to acoomplish anyway.

3. The fixation on the prison abuse issue. This would have been like the media, right after World War II, fixated on Japanese interment, rather than what happened at Auschwitz.

One can only hope that a majority of the American people will see through this come November.

Posted by Calblog husband at June 19, 2004 09:51 PM | TrackBack