
The NY Times, seemingly over its non-guilt at having damaged national security, continues along her tired and true path of smearing the military. You see the anti-war wonks at the NY Times never seem to find time to research heroic stories about soldiers who put their lives on the line protecting the innocent who were brutally suppressed under their former dictator Saddam Hussein. Nor do they report on any progress in Iraq without presenting those reports alongside a negative spin that is designed to invalidate any claim to such progress.
[Editorial soc] No, not the, ahem, how would you say it, what is the opposite of jingoist; the far left's characteristic portrayal of the right? Hmm, only traitor comes to mind.
I continue.
No, not the traitors at the New York Times. They are too busy digging up the liberal equivalent of dirt on military recruiting practices to be concerned with an objective portrayal of an enemy who would slit their throats as quickly and brutally as that of Daniel Pearl.
The Times staffers seem to spend an inordinate amount of time penning articles that are rife with allegations of atrocities that can be applied to the military with a sweeping brush and contrived moral equivalency anecdotes. This is the delineation between true journalists and journalist wannabes. In other words, journalists report the news and journalist wannabes use the news as a penumbral protective layer to surround an editorial bias that is presented as the real news.
It is this kind of wannabe journalist that allows himself to equate an accused rapist with Christians by mentioning not once but twice that Private Steven D. Green "immersed himself in a baptismal pool in the back of an Army chapel in Fort Benning, Ga., one of hundreds of young recruits who embraced religion as they faced certain violence."
Frankly I don't quite see what the baptism has to do with a story about a violent person who made his way into the military. Yet NY Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Robert F. Worth find a way to mention that baptism twice. But then I digress, this must be a figment of my imagination.
Side note, liberals fall all over themselves to put "rehabilitated" rapists and criminals back on the street as well as shield them from community notification laws. I wonder why this standard doesn't apply to the people who join the military to try and put themselves on the right path. Especially those whose biggest crime is a misdemeanor and spent time in a Texas jail on a (gasp) underage alcohol possession. Shame on the military for not calling the Times every time they recruit someone with a misdemeanor conviction on their record.
How could the military possibly recruit a person who was charged with posessing drug paraphernalia, charged as a minor in possession of tobacco and charged as a minor in possession of alcohol? They should have known better and sent him to Hollywood where he would have been a better fit as an aspiring druggie - kleptomaniac.
Perhaps the Times would like to release their background checks and let us know how many of their employees have been convicted of a misdemeanor. We wouldn't want people like that writing important stories about National Security.
A great example of journalistic fraud as typically found in the New York Times can be seen in last weeks hit piece that exposed sliding military recruiting standards as being responsible for an influx of Hate Groups and gangs in the military. Thus the Times would like you and all you military parents to know that your sons and daughters are gangbanging neo-Nazi racists who were too dumb or too poor to get a liberally acceptable job at some highfalutin bistro on Fifth Avenue.
The Kifner/NY Times article, Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts, is the journalistically lazy recanting of a Southern Poverty Law Center "report" called "A Few Bad Men" that was released not-too-coincidentally on the same day as the Times smear job.
One obvious problem with the story is that the Southern Poverty Law Center itself has been surrounded by controversy as people from within the organization itself accused the group that "tracks racist and right-wing militia groups" of being racist themselves. Jump down to the controversy section of this Wikipedia entry as witness to what the NY Times Reporters consider to be objective sources.
Not surprisingly, the Southern Poverty Law Center has now turned its attention on protecting the innocent yet law breaking (my characterization) "undocumented immigrants".
Another obvious problem with the current NY Times/SLPC portrayal is that they blame the Iraq war as the reason for such a trend.
"The groups are being abetted, the report said, by pressure on recruiters, particularly for the Army, to meet quotas that are more difficult to reach because of the growing unpopularity of the war in Iraq."
Perhaps it is just me but didn't the Army exceed its recruiting goals for a 13 consecutive month? This doesn't include re-ups and all that idle stuff that is ignored by the MSM.
No matter, the NY Times source gives his own perspective on why he believes so many racists, gangbangers and neo-Nazi's gravitate to the U.S. military.
Mr. Barfield said Army recruiters struggled last year to meet goals. "They don't want to make a big deal again about neo-Nazis in the military," he said, "because then parents who are already worried about their kids signing up and dying in Iraq are going to be even more reluctant about their kids enlisting if they feel they'll be exposed to gangs and white supremacists."
Funny, even though Barfield strains himself to get out the liberal anti-Military message I didn't have too much trouble finding this 1995 Newsweek Weekly Journal article titled "LA street gangs infiltrate US army". At least the Newsweek reporter put a hint of objectivity in the report.
Newsweek believes "the US military is inevitably affected by all the problems of society at large - including the spread of gang-related crime and violence".
Which is the point after all. The military is made up of members of society just like Wall Street, the NY Times, the writers at the Daily Kos and everywhere else. A point that is conveniently lost on the NY Times because they are too busy publishing classified military defense secrets, attacking Christians and their religions, conjuring up white guilt and generally acting as un-American as one newspaper can be.
Related : House Democrats Team With Radical Leftists to Criticize Iraq War h/t Michelle Malkin
Captains Quarters Notes that the NY Times once again comes to bat for Hezbollah in NYT: Give Hezbollah What They Want
Blue Crab Boulevard has a slightly different take on the Times editorial although I believe that both BC and CQ agree in principle and come to the same conclusions.
The always excellent Flopping Aces has a great article titled The MSM Making It Up As They Go Along that fits well with the theme of this article although it applies to the MSM in general. It is a must read.
Your paranoid screeds about the NY Times and other media are hysterical and overreaching, which is typical of the far right. Armchair patriots don't like to hear the truth about the military's shortcomings, and believe me, there are many.
The Times' articles about the alleged atrocities in Iraq have been fine; they merely reflect the allegations being investigated by military authorities.
I am a combat veteran of Vietnam and find little objectionable about the MSM's treatment of our troops in Iraq. Indeed, the media tend to be too gullible and trusting of the Pentagon in covering military affairs.
More power to the Times and other media in telling the truth about this incredibly stupid war.
The media don't try to portray the military as racists and cold-blooded killers. If anything, the media tend to suck up to the military. A few bad-apple troops do the damage when they murder children and women and treat other innocent civilians with contempt. And the My Lai comparison is an obvious one; to not make that connection would be strange.
Our country is facing a lot of serious problems right now, and media bias should be far down anyone's list. The people in the White House and most in Congress are corrupt and incompetent, and it's time to move beyond patriotic posturing to clean up our government.
Webloggin Editor, my dear sir, you deserve a handshake, a slap on the back, and a cup of coffee (it's on me).
Well-researched, well-executed, well-spoken.
Well, I think you gave him exactly what he can expect to get -- a pat on the back from people who already agree with him. I like to think that I'd call out this sort of obvious bias if I saw it on the left too -- but as Keld has to put up with being called out every time he writes something (probably deservedly so in a lot of cases) I figure I'll take a stab at it:
The NY Times, seemingly over its non-guilt at having damaged national security, continues along her tired and true path of smearing the military. You see the anti-war wonks at the NY Times never seem to find time to research heroic stories about soldiers who put their lives on the line protecting the innocent who were brutally suppressed under their former dictator Saddam Hussein. Nor do they report on any progress in Iraq without presenting those reports alongside a negative spin that is designed to invalidate any claim to such progress.
I can see right off the bat where this is going. It's a good idea to save your most obvious bias for later in the article -- lest you turn most of your readership off. How can I be expected to come around to his point of view if he rapes me with it in his first paragraph?
As such, I can't concur with the "well-executed" sentiment. Well research? Sure -- as he managed to find evidence to support his clearly biased point of view. Based on the vigor with which he presented his opinions I don't doubt for a second that he would have ignored any contrary evidence found during his research.
The thing is -- if you want people to believe (and/or trust) you -- you're better served to not come off so strongly right out the gate. As such, I took every single thing he said with a boulder of salt.
Essentially -- he's engaging in the exact same type of journalism that he damns the NY Times for engaging in.
Except that he makes up far more than the NY Times ever could in an effort to undermine any legitimacy he could ever hope to conjure up:
A point that is conveniently lost on the NY Times because they are too busy publishing classified military defense secrets, attacking Christians and their religions, conjuring up white guilt and generally acting as un-American as one newspaper can be.
All in all -- I've seen less biased work from Ann Coulter. Seriously Edward -- if you're going to pick and choose a conservative voice to support on Newsvine -- I highly suggest you pick any number of credible authors that won't damn their own cause through sensationalist discourse like this.
Eh, but I like this sensationalist discourse! Makes me feel fuzzy inside...
;-)
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