Oct 29, 2006
late and bored and lonely
that he should mention edward bernays and the creel commission kind of made me glad, because it is entirely timely and necessary, but also filled me with a little dismay; times are grim when rushkoff is making reference to the likes of bernays. i tried not to link to a wikipedia entry there but i’m particularly lazy right now and i honestly looked for the lip magazine feature article, which i read in hard copy and wanted to link to, but couldn’t find online.
combining that pretty lucid rushkoff commentary with this report on worsening conditions for reporters around the world (courtesy of kenny) and the o’reilly vs letterman rematch made me do a double-take.
like i was saying to doug earlier:
me: but don’t you find it a little strange?
me: even when the argument is SOO logical that the alternative is absurd
me: there is still this notion of a necessary ‘debate’?
doug: lol yea it is kinda strange
doug: but the guest has to fill that 5 minute spot
doug:
me: sometimes i find myself totally baffled
me: but like, you know shit’s obvious when it’s being sounded off on network tv
me: and yet … nothing
me: hehe
doug: yea, i read an article in newsweek about just that
doug: how we’re kind of all just standing around on the outside of the unstoppable brawl
doug: and dinner’s getting cold
doug: but we can’t leave because they have the keys
the only way someone like david letterman would make vocal his opinion on someone like bill o’reilly, on a nationally televised network talk show, is if his point of view were overwhelmingly obvious … and it is, what he’s saying isn’t new and barely even begins to touch the surface of ‘what’s wrong’. and yet, this ‘democracy’ carries on, with its faux debates, and the totally absurd notion that being fair to ‘both sides of the argument’ should involve equally weighted consideration of reports like this (thank you kenny again). and thank you, national post, for dedicating an entire article on a report with this to say about its source:
“Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, said not much was known about the author of the document, Hossam Abdul Raouf, except that he is described as a member of al-Qaeda’s information and strategy committee and editor of the electronic periodical Vanguards of Kharasan.”
*sigh*
… though i never expected this blog was gonna turn into a personal ‘rant-space’ i’m left wondering now what else it could have been.
