Yasser Arafat died last week folks. Take it to the bank.
Maybe they are using machines to force air in-and-out of the lungs of his "brain dead" carcass just for 'ol times sake, but he's dead.
Now I understand the need to delay certain news announcements for a day in order to make sensitive preparations (security, etc.). But really...the press has now crossed the line into a full-fledged insult on our intelligence.
Let's recap some statements of the last 24-hours, shall we?
[World News]: Paris, Nov.8 : The medical condition of ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has been described as "very complex and very serious" by French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.
Barnier was quoted by a foreign news agency as telling a local television channel that
Arafat, 75, was alive, but in a serious though stable condition.Asked about reports that Arafat had been declared brain dead, Barnier replied: "I wouldn't say that."
The AP: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remained in "stable" condition in the intensive care unit of a French military hospital, a hospital spokesman said.
"He remains there and his condition is stable," hospital spokesman Christian Estripeau told reporters at the military hospital outside Paris.
BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhuanet): Conflicting reports emerged about Arafat's condition, with some saying Arafat is brain-dead and on a life support machine, while others say he is in a critical but stable condition.
And not to be outdone, the ever-delusional Mrs. Arafat told the press that Arafat "is well and he is coming back to his homeland."
Is it ok to start laughing now?
I would, except that I am too busy marveling at the supreme laziness of the International press on this.
Let's break it down -
When the French Foreign Minister described Arafat's condition as "very complex", any competent journalist would start demanding answers to some basic questions. But what do these pencil-pushing chimps do instead? They simply write down "very complex" and regurgitate it to us.
Let me lay it on the line. One's medical condition is never...I repeat, never complex. The causes of medical conditions may be complex - but not the condition itself.
Either Arafat is conscious, unconscious, or slips in-and-out of consciousness.
If he is conscious - either he can communicate or he can't. Either he can recognize objects and people, or he can't. Either he responds to certain stimuli, or he doesn't.
If he is unconscious - either he still has brain functions, or he doesn't.
Either his pupils dilate when exposed to light, or they don't.
If he has brain functions - either they are higher brain functions, or lower brain functions.
[ If he has no brain functions - then he is dead. I repeat dead. Even someone in a "vegetative" state has active brain functions that keep him alive. ]
Either he can breathe on his own, or he needs a machine to help him breathe.
Either he is in a coma, or he isn't.
If he is in a coma, it is either diagnosed as a reversible coma, or it isn't.
These are all straightforward, basic yes-or-no questions that the most minimally competent journalist should be forcefully asking.
If we get the answers to these simple and straightforward questions, then how on Earth can Arafat's condition possibly be described as "complex"?
Again, we might not know the causes of his condition, but we will know his condition in straightforward and simple terms.
The press could report on this, but they would rather be a party to this continuing charade.
Then there's this classic line: "Conflicting reports emerged about Arafat's condition, with some saying Arafat is brain-dead and on a life support machine, while others say he is in a critical but stable condition."
How is that "conflicting" exactly? I suppose it could be considered conflicting to say that he is brain-dead AND on a life support machine. But that is not what the reporter was getting at.
He was trying to suggest that "brain-dead" and "stable condition" were somehow conflicting descriptions. Quite the contrary - being "brain-dead" is the most "stable condition" you can possibly be in.
Our modern-day reporters are living proof of that...