Columnist Sowell Suffers From Misperceptions/Misinformation
Saigon, Viet Nam--In his August 10, 2005 column at townhall.com conservative columnist Thomas Sowell is concerned about the lack of news surrounding the heroics of the troops in Iraq by the mainstream media, specifically the New York Times and the "big three broadcast news programs." With the lack of responsibility of the mainstream media to report the truth leading up to the invasion of Iraq, it seems peculiar that Sowell would now take temporally displaced pokes at them.
Mr. Sowell claims the media portrays the troops as victims and nothing is noted about their heroics. He cites front page stories of Marine funerals and the financial hardship of National Guardsmen who have been called to active duty, citizen-soldiers who never thought they would be fighting in a war. Sowell mistakenly refers to Senator Kerry’s remarks about the National Guard becoming a "backdoor draft" stating that joining the reserves or Guard will exempt one from having to fight.
Sowell should understand a "backdoor draft" is to the benefit of the Bush Administration to draw troops from the civilian population without having to actually activate the Selective Service System.
Sowell simply states that "The theme of troops as victims has been a steady drumbeat in the media, because of the way the media have chosen to filter the news, filtering out heroes, among other things."
Mr. Sowell, you may recall this is the same media who helped whip the American public into a frenzy of patriotism (read "jingoism") as the mainstream media and the Republican Party-oriented Fox News incessantly reported the manufactured lies of the Bush administration alleging Iraq’s ties to Al Queda, possession of weapons of mass destruction, the threat of Iraq to "attack" the United States military bases, and Iraq’s attempts to buy nuclear material. Sowell doesn’t seem to know which way the wind is going to blow and his memory has become as selective as the Bush administration.
Sowell also claims this is a re-creation of the media’s reaction to the American War in Viet Nam (my words not his, Sowell used "Vietnam war") when "victories on the battlefield were turned into defeat on the home front by the filtering and spin of the media."
Sowell should recall there were no "battlefield" victories in Viet Nam, nor were there actual battlefields. The American War in Viet Nam was a guerilla war. Sowell claims current Vietnamese leaders claim they were losing the war militarily but expected to win politically.
As it is, Viet Nam was wearing the United States down militarily, but it wasn’t the "Jane Fondas, Walter Cronkites or a "cast of thousands in the streets and on the campuses across the country" who lost the war for America" it was the American political leadership and the military’s attempts at cover-ups.
The reader should recall that news about the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, could not be confirmed until 8 months after the fact. On that March day, over 500 Vietnamese civilians were murdered by three infantry divisions in the Son My district. Nixon had his own secret war in Laos and Cambodia, and when the North ventured across the 17th Parallel in 1972, Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, in which over 200 B-52s caused devastation on the ground during Christmas of 1972.
There is a fraction of a point that I can agree with Sowell. He writes that the media filtering and gullibility of those who accept the truth by the media are at fault. Yes, Mr. Sowell, the gullibility of the American public who believe Fox News and the mainstream media about the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Wolfowitz created virtual reality led to an immoral, illegal and unprecedented unprovoked invasion of another sovereign nation by America.
Mr. Sowell, it is not the "dumbed-down education in our schools" that caused the American public inability to see through the "most blatant hypocrisy" but rather it was the American public’s primal need for revenge and to blindly follow leaders that has led to the quagmire America is in. America doesn’t seem to learn from history.
It’s about time, albeit late, that the mainstream media is beginning to educate the public about the futility and error of Bush’s War in Iraq. Mr. Sowell should be reminded of two things: the Iraq war is not the same as WWI or WWII and not everyone will believe the Bush Fairy Tales anymore.
Mr. Sowell claims the media portrays the troops as victims and nothing is noted about their heroics. He cites front page stories of Marine funerals and the financial hardship of National Guardsmen who have been called to active duty, citizen-soldiers who never thought they would be fighting in a war. Sowell mistakenly refers to Senator Kerry’s remarks about the National Guard becoming a "backdoor draft" stating that joining the reserves or Guard will exempt one from having to fight.
Sowell should understand a "backdoor draft" is to the benefit of the Bush Administration to draw troops from the civilian population without having to actually activate the Selective Service System.
Sowell simply states that "The theme of troops as victims has been a steady drumbeat in the media, because of the way the media have chosen to filter the news, filtering out heroes, among other things."
Mr. Sowell, you may recall this is the same media who helped whip the American public into a frenzy of patriotism (read "jingoism") as the mainstream media and the Republican Party-oriented Fox News incessantly reported the manufactured lies of the Bush administration alleging Iraq’s ties to Al Queda, possession of weapons of mass destruction, the threat of Iraq to "attack" the United States military bases, and Iraq’s attempts to buy nuclear material. Sowell doesn’t seem to know which way the wind is going to blow and his memory has become as selective as the Bush administration.
Sowell also claims this is a re-creation of the media’s reaction to the American War in Viet Nam (my words not his, Sowell used "Vietnam war") when "victories on the battlefield were turned into defeat on the home front by the filtering and spin of the media."
Sowell should recall there were no "battlefield" victories in Viet Nam, nor were there actual battlefields. The American War in Viet Nam was a guerilla war. Sowell claims current Vietnamese leaders claim they were losing the war militarily but expected to win politically.
As it is, Viet Nam was wearing the United States down militarily, but it wasn’t the "Jane Fondas, Walter Cronkites or a "cast of thousands in the streets and on the campuses across the country" who lost the war for America" it was the American political leadership and the military’s attempts at cover-ups.
The reader should recall that news about the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, could not be confirmed until 8 months after the fact. On that March day, over 500 Vietnamese civilians were murdered by three infantry divisions in the Son My district. Nixon had his own secret war in Laos and Cambodia, and when the North ventured across the 17th Parallel in 1972, Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, in which over 200 B-52s caused devastation on the ground during Christmas of 1972.
There is a fraction of a point that I can agree with Sowell. He writes that the media filtering and gullibility of those who accept the truth by the media are at fault. Yes, Mr. Sowell, the gullibility of the American public who believe Fox News and the mainstream media about the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Wolfowitz created virtual reality led to an immoral, illegal and unprecedented unprovoked invasion of another sovereign nation by America.
Mr. Sowell, it is not the "dumbed-down education in our schools" that caused the American public inability to see through the "most blatant hypocrisy" but rather it was the American public’s primal need for revenge and to blindly follow leaders that has led to the quagmire America is in. America doesn’t seem to learn from history.
It’s about time, albeit late, that the mainstream media is beginning to educate the public about the futility and error of Bush’s War in Iraq. Mr. Sowell should be reminded of two things: the Iraq war is not the same as WWI or WWII and not everyone will believe the Bush Fairy Tales anymore.
posted by NewsstandGreg at 4:14 PM
2 Comments:
hey thom!
good article. i just want to chime in with the fact that from the beginning i never believed the bush fairy tales. his "bullhorn" photo op of 9/11 was just that. i don't believe that one has to follow the clueless leader to be patriotic, yanno?
Another excellent column, Thom. Keep 'em coming.
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