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« Freedom of Speech - Has It Been Lost? | Main | The UK's Guardian Is A Fruit Bat - But That's OK »

February 19, 2005

Comments

WvS

Sir,
I am living abroad, but nevertheless have been following the discussion and I'm horrified! Is this the kind of "freedom of speech" the United States want to spread around the world?

Your actions & point of view seem - to me - to stem from an oversized ego, paired with a false sense of importance:
To be on Fox as a "willing instrument" has nothing to do with you - as a person - you could have been replaced by anyone who knows what "blogging" is about. You chose to be there - as initiator of a witchhunt - no need to minimize that now. It will stick to you.
You have no personal knowledge about what is really going on in Iraq, you rely on hearsay, hence you are not in a position to judge about which version of truth you have in front of you.
Your government has repeatedly been caught not telling the truth, in Congress, at the UN. The truth has been twisted to match the intent of the current administration, to say the least.
Wouldn't it have been a better decision to play this safe? Without the kind of damage you caused?
You are right:
Blogging is a way to express oneself - and be heard by a larger audience than ever. But this also means to be even more conscious about what outcome you may produce. "Judge not, lest you be judged!"

[sorry about any spelling/grammar mistakes, not a native speaker!]

rony

I agree with you that I have no personal knowledge about what is really going on in Iraq. I have not made any claims to know what the truth is there. I asked for the truth, which is my right, as is yours or anyone else's. I'm not sure if any complete and satisfactory answer has been provided, because questions remain in the minds of many people around the world. We do know that CNN let Jordan go rather than dig in and defend his original views, which many people around the world believed had merit. Why? I do know what he said, and originally expected a response such as "next week my network is releasing an in-depth news report on this topic - all will be revealed".

Being critical of the U.S., or any government, is fine. But you should also be willing to accept that sometimes you need to be critical of your information source, which in this case was a major media figure. The media is also shaping your opinions and views, and you should consider questioning this as well.

Would it be a better decision to play it safe? To sit back and be spoonfed by the those in power? Why be a passive recepient when anyone can be an active participant, even if what you do is simply ask tough questions? What kind of enormous damage is caused by unquestioned, unchallenged leaders? Look at North Korea - is that the society you would want to live in?

An inflated ego is a bad thing - I hope that does not come across in what I am writing. I am also asking questions, not judging. Others in the media and blogging world became judge and jury, but I have tried to stay away from that. I asked for answers, not someone's head.

Being on Fox or any media, like the BBC? I wanted to make clear what happened and why. From my point of view this was not a witchhunt - it was questions asked, unanswered, followed by media spin, followed by a suppression of a tape. At any time a strong response could have countered anything the Right was saying. I have an independant view - and was suprised at how asleep the Left was at the wheel here. A strong, unanswered Right was one unanticipated reaction from my first posting. If you come from the liberal Left, where were you? As a blogger, my voice is no stronger than yours.

-R

carol herman

Okay. the left is in denial. They had a beautiful product, once. But they've lost their customers. Of course, places like Kos get money from the left ... Maybe, like Arafat did? So when you just have to feed a few ... your corruption can be like a cancer on your organization? It won't be fixed in a day. And, sooner or later they'll have to come to realize THEY LOST THEIR CUSTOMERS! And, bleeding red ink doesn't stop because you spew bile.


The real thing to watch is what the republicans do to remain in control. When Bush began there were some thoughts that the republicans were sliding down hill. And, instead, BUSH STOPPED THE FALL. Or was it 9/11? And, his absolute mastery at politics since then?


We're all lucky that the LSM weren't swift enough to see that Americans WANTED A STRONG APPROACH TO THE War on Terrorism. And, things have been going swimmingly for Bush.


So? It's pretty good news for all of us that all we hear from the left are complaints. The more numbers they shed the very less likely we'll see Florida 2000 replayed. And, that's the only card they have! Maybe, democracies are always works in progress?

E.B.

Has anyone heard or know where is Mr. Jordan Eason? Is he working for El Jazira now? They can use him in line with their good ballanced reporting.

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