Politics aside...

[heidi]

1. This is extremely funny and extremely scary. You can't find me on here, since we haven't given more than $100 to any candidate yet, but you can find a bunch of other people. Including their addresses, which is a little ick. I hope some people have given "work" addresses.

2. I got a phone call last night from ELECTION RESEARCH who do a lot of pollstering for Republican candidates & projects. Among the questions were whether I was voting for Bush (no!), whether I supported the "war" in Iraq (which I found weird, as didn't Bush say the "war" was over like six months ago; anyhow I replied that I supported the troops), whether I described myself as pro-life (no!), whether I supported a constitutional amendment that a marriage is between one man and one woman (no!) and whether I had, in the past year, given money to a philanthropic organization or a church (Christianocentric question, isn't it, but I said yes I'd given to philanthropies). There was also a question about whether I wanted my taxes to go up (yes!) but I really wanted the word-for-word from that one again.

So I called them today after googling them, and asked them to send me a copy of the poll. If I get it, I'm sharing it with a friend who used to work for the Democratic side of the House Justice Committee, and I'll post some of the questions here, too.

3. From today's Salon Magazine:
Jack Kelly, former star reporter at USA Today (also home to last week's really inaccurate article about PoA), has admitted to fabricating extensive sections of many of his articles, including the Jewish settler who riddled a Palestinian taxi with bullets and an Arab youth who wanted to blow up the Sears Tower.

And what makes him emerge as a more dangerously misguided figure than his tarnished peers -- Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass among them -- is how influential those tales became.

On Sept. 30, 2001, for example, Tim Russert ran the Sears Tower kid anecdote past Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on "Meet the Press."

"I want to read that to you and our audience," Russert said, "give you a chance to think about it and talk about it ... How do we change their mindset?" (The secretary's reply: "There isn't a big 'they.'")

The kid -- whose classmate completes the picture of evil in the story by telling Americans, "I will get your children, I will get their playgrounds" -- became a mascot of the dangerous new world post-9/11. The week he spoke to Rumsfeld, Russert also asked former Sens. Gary Hart and Warren Rudman to consider the report. Kelley's fiction inspired a Oct. 13, 2001, column by syndicated columnist Armstrong Williams, a conservative voice picked up in more than 75 newspapers. As readers passed his story around, the kid showed up in the letters section of Stars and Stripes, and in an Oct. 18 letter to the Syracuse, N.Y., Post-Standard. Shawn Harmon, a 35-year-old reservist, dared pacifists and "the whole UC Berkeley Crowd" to turn the other cheek, in the light of Jack Kelley's article -- proof, he said, that we have to "rid the world of this virus."

As for Kelley's murderous Avi Shapiro: The piece, wrote Arab Coalition for Media Equality spokesman Al Kadri in a Sept. 10 letter to the Canadian Windsor Star, was one that "everyone should read." According to Kelley himself, almost everyone did.

"Last August," he recalled in a 2002 CNN Reliable Sources round-table discussion of fairness in Middle East reporting, "I wrote one cover story on Jewish vigilantes in the West Bank and how they fired on a taxi carrying Palestinian women and children -- received 3,000 e-mails per day, for 10 straight days. After that, we had to switch my e-mail address. Got seven death threats and got a bouquet of white funeral flowers sent to our building." Washington Post media critic (and Reliable Sources host) Howard Kurtz mentioned the anecdote in his column, and Slate referred to the story a "long disturbing look at Jewish extremists" by a reporter who was "on-a-roll."

Plenty of people did question the story, calling it absurd from the first sentence (they laughed at the idea that Orthodox Jews would "put on their religious skullcaps" for a vigilante outing, reasoning they would have them on all day).

But that didn't stop Avi Shapiro from becoming a favorite among Israel critics, and also extremists -- in particular, Nazi sympathizers. As a torrent of e-mails complained about USA Today's depiction of Jews, an infamous Holocaust denier leapt to his defense.

Kelley was recently listed on the faculty of the World Journalism Institute, which trains Christians to be journalists. Its purpose: "The need to be faithful to the Christian example of accurately reporting (e.g., being reliable eyewitnesses) the work of God in today's world." And he's said of his work: "I feel God's pleasure when I write and report. It isn't because of the glory, but because God has called me to proclaim truth, and to worship him and serve through other people."

But because the memes of his stories have become so ingraned in the US hive mind, and to a large extent the world-mind as well, how will we ever be able to completely separate his lies out from what it is that we think or think we know about the way the world is?

Comments

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

I hope you get a copy of that. I love looking at polls along those lines and seeing their biases (as you pointed out the Christian one). Polls are so easy to skew, it scares me to see them used so often as some kind of indicator of the national mind or something.

As for the reporter. I think I'm just gonna shake my head and go watch "Wag the Dog" again.

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

Shock, media, biased hive minds, lies and the world's world view aside that man is a right wanker.

[amandageist.livejournal.com]

You want your taxes to go up?

(looks sideways at Heidi)

~Amanda

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Sure! The state is looking at taxpayer-funded pre-K, and I want to be able to keep both kids in public school as long as possible. But the private pre-K will likely be 6000/year when Jon's ready - the pre-K located in our local public school right now is 3500/semester but includes lunch and snack. And the prep schools here are 13g/year.

I'd rather pay a few thousand more per year in taxes than try and cover those costs.

[amandageist.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

I think the public system takes control of my children away from me far too early as it is--I was planning to homeschool as long as I could (which finances didn't allow very long), and I'd happily sacrifice to be able to get them into a private school. I cannot *wait* until enough debts are paid down to allow this.

What with being at the mercy of the bus schedule, which takes absolutely no notice of home or parent needs (and takes up 3-4 *hours* of their day, each day); already losing one meal with my kids (lunch); the pressures to lose another (breakfast--which I staunchly refuse to do, and wake my kids at 5:30 so that we can still eat together in the morning); the absolute lack of any control of curriculum--I have felt my children, and any input I had on their schedule and learning--have been taken from me.

Add to that, that one of my children is special needs, and another entire layer of loss-of-control is laid down--I must comply with ARDs and the school ordering any testing it sees fit, I must agree with their analysis and diagnosis, I have limited ability to contest same, and all of this for the privilege of participating in a system that marginalizes the parents and makes the school central. And mostly to make sure my little boy can march in a line and sit quietly in a desk, not to make sure he can *learn,* for his academics have never been in question. And I must justify removing him from the system if I ever do become able to homeschool him, for they know he exists now and homeschoolers still face legal challenges from school districts.

Ah. Public school. That sent my then-5-year-old home asking me if her grandparents had been bad people because they smoked. What a wonderful system. I hate it with a passion; it has not been kind to me as a parent, or to my children.

If they try to make kindergarten obligatory in Texas I will go out and campaign against it. Bad enough that the schools offer pre-K.

~Amanda

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Well. Our public elementary is ten minutes from my house by car, or twenty if you walk it, and it's across the street from the Hebrew school that, after second grade, my children will attend two days a week (and until then will likely attend four times a week for karate, science and computer classes).

I started there at six, and my sister started there at five, and some of our teachers still teach and administer there. The gifted program is different from the way it was structrued 22 years ago but two of the four teachers were mine, and I still visit them on occasion. So I have a lot of trust in the place, even though things like their decision 25 years ago (since overruled) to prohibit bringing books into the lunchroom (the policy didn't even last a whole school year). I like the bilingual education, the science projects that start in kindergarten and the 45 minutes a day of recess through second grade - after that, it's 3 hours a week and that's usually divided over 4 days (often skipping early-dismissal Wednesday).

The parents&friends committee funds professional aides in each classroom - two for the kindergarteners, one for each class through fifth grade (the structure of sixth sort of eliminates the need). And my kids will be in school with the grandchildren of the boys their grandfather grew up with, and the children of the girls I spent years playing with.

So yes, higher taxes for that education, for generational continuity, and the priviledge of sending my kids to my school, to my dad's school?

Oh, yes.

[sageofgodalming.livejournal.com]

I have a child with special needs and live in a country where there is fairly extensive public educational provision. While my child's school is not perfect, it is responsive and shows some flexibility. I'm really relieved that I don't have to find the money for his education myself and am more than happy for the government to take my money for other things in which I have no personal stake.

Amanda - happy to discuss, but I think there is a case that you get such a runaround and poor service because your system is underfunded, rather than because public provision is inherently inefficient.

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

As someone who considers himself a journalist, these people make me sick. They shouldn't be allowed to just retire and let it go. These lies he has told have had too much of an impact for him to be allowed to walk free.

How can he sleep at night, knowing that he's misled the nation? We trusted him, and he let us down. This is what you get when the news is about ratings and fame, not about information.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

The fundrace.org link leaves me goggled-eyed. Funny and scary, I suppose.

As for Jack Kelly, while cordially despising him and what he did, I'd like to point out one thing that makes all the difference between the US press and that of entirely too many countries worldwide: He got smoked out, his lies were painstakingly exposed one by one, and his employers apologised to their readers.

Now compare this with the canard floating about the Arab press and even Russia's Pravda, according to which no Jews died in the World Trade Center, because 4,000 of them were warned in advance not to show up for work that day. (And assuming you wanted to dignify this with any attention, just reading the list of victims proves it wrong.) No apologies, no self-examinations, no rebuttals.

And compare it with the tale of the deputy editor of France's main Catholic daily newspaper, who got fired because he published a book looking in a critical way at the reporting accuracy of France's five main dailies (including his) during the Iraq war: his paper, instead of examining the damning evidence, got rid of him - and most of the stories about him appeared in foreign newspapers (in Belgium, Britain, the US, etc.)

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

I have only three questions for you:

1. Do you read the Pravda and do you consume all available Arab newpapers and TV news?

2. Where did you get your information about the Pravda and the Arab press from?

3. Can you guarantee me that they are actually correct?

That's the Catch-22 when talking about the media - the source of information tends to be the media itself.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

1. Pravda has both a web site and an English version, as do many Arab newspapers. The article about the 9/11 myth was published on 21 September 2001, and the link was
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/09/21/15846.html
but Pravda removed it since, as described in this piece in Slate.

2. Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist, mentioned hearing the myth as far as Indonesia in this interview with Jim Lehrer on PBS.

3. Palestine Indymedia mentioned and expanded on the myth by explaining how, since an Israeli company serviced all four airports, only the Israelis could have organised 9/11.

4. Al Manar's version of the same myth was documented on the Urban Legends Reference Page.

5. The myth was described and commented upon in many papers, including the London Observer,

6. The entire myth that 9/11 was perpetrated by Jews is covered in a special report by the Middle East Media Research Institute, presented by Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA). In chapter III you'll find notes detailing which papers carried the canard about Jews being warned not to come to the office in the WTC on 9/11.

I don't see why I should have to "guarantee" you anything; but as a journalist myself, I am satisfied with these sources. "The media", as you call it contemptuously, is neutral: some is good, some is adequate, some is bad, some does lie. Knowing which is which requires experience and commonsense.

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

I don't see why I should have to "guarantee" you anything; but as a journalist myself, I am satisfied with these sources.

Using the only source of yours that isn't media-based: the WTC myth was carried by: conservative Iranian daily Kayhan, Saut Al-Haqq Wa-Al-Hurriyya (Israel), Al-Hayat (London), Egyptian government daily Al-Ahra, Al-Azhar University's unofficial web site (Egypt), Hizbullah television network Al-Manar, Al-Dustour (Jordan).

So you are telling your are juding the whole Arab media on the basis of seven articles? If I pick up the right five newspaper at some random American newsstand, find the right article on the web written by an American and watch some local news in Western Kentucky, then I probably have to believe that the American media believes that the Aliens have already landed and doing some anal probing right now.

Sorry, I have no doubt of the existence of the myth, but judging other people's media while relying on your own, is potentially dangerous, since the media is not completely reliable.

The war stories, this guy invented, worry me on the same level, your blanket statement against Arab and Russian newspapers worry me. Because they purport the myth of the angry, prejudiced and mis-informed Arab and Muslim.

That doesn't mean that I don't know that there are some pretty bad propaganda newspapers out there or that I have illusions about which kind of news Al-Manar carries, but I don't think that blanket statements about the state of the "Arab" - whatever you define as "Arab" - newsmedia are something, you should make so lightly.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, give me a break with the sanctimonious political correctness already. You've just admitted major newspapers carried it (and believe me, I travel to these countries, I do know which newspapers are major, not to mention that in every single one of the countries of the papers you quoted, nothing is published without being subject to government censorship.) Polls have shown that alas, a majority of citizens in the 22 Arab countries (excepting perhaps Morocco) believe the myth. If I had time I'd track down said polls, but I'm off to work now. If you won't see a difference between a plagiarist and a newsperson giving you some insight based on solid data and 20 years' reporting experience, there's no way I'll change your tone.

[no-remorse.livejournal.com]

The Sun is Britain's biggest newspaper. Today's headline: Christina To Wed. Becks Met Bomber. You quoted an article by the Pravda: I am not sure if this one is going to make you laugh, but it is real: Aliens were definitely involved in September 11 attacks. Yes, they are talking about the non-human aliens.

As for statistics, a popular survey once reported that 0,5 percent of all Americans believed that had a sexual encounter with an extra-terrestrial life form. Another by Popular Science from 2000 reported that 45 percent do believe that Aliens have landed on this planet, in 2001 a NSF reported that 30 percent believe that and the same number was the result of Gallup poll on that topic.

My problem with your judgement is that on the basis of five newspapers from Britain, Iran, Israel, Egypt and Jordan you make such a blanket statement about the mindset of at least half a billion people. Sorry, but that does call for some "sanctimonious political correctness" that is based on more than some sporadic visits to the "region" and Alien Invasions newspaper types.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, go away. I haven't even quoted the Sun and you are being wilfully obstuctive by means of silly sophistry ("All dogs have four legs, my cat has four legs, ergo my cat is a dog." "Some newspapers print rubbish, ergo newspapers print nothing reliable.") Although, come to think of it, the Sun does influence British public opinion. So do the papers I quoted. If you don't know them, tough. Deal.

Pravda was only the Soviet Union's largest newspaper, and is still bought by over a million people. I don't especially recommend it (I prefer the Moscow Times and Komersant) but it it durned influential. You are clinging to your own little graduate student drama from your safe nest somewhere in Continental America while being insulting about "sporadic" visits you know exactly zilch about, dismissing anything that will not serve your one-note blanket argument. I am willing to consider informed criticism of the professional experience on which I base my assessment of Arab public opinion; but I don't plan to answer any more of your posts, so don't bother to reply.

[noblerot.livejournal.com]

You know, I hate to sound cynical, but... I work in the media, have for a good while, and fabrication isn't an isolated phenomenon. It's just a question of degree and who gets caught. Man, listen to me. I need a new career.

By the way, have friended you in the aftermath of mctabby's Grand Social. I've been reading your LJ and puttering around FA and Yahoo for a few years, but only just got an LJ of my own. Your posts cover a diversity of topics that always engage me -- from law and politics to HP and the dailyness of family life. In other words, the best and worst of all possible worlds.

So there. Off to argue with my editor now. Am bitter.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

: friends you back, in part because your LJ title is from Peter Pan.

: also gestures vaguely towards icon

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! People in my building gave money to Bush! Ack yech blech ptui! I don't have that much money--am I allowed to pour epoxy in their locks instead?

Thanks for the website. It is a) creepy; and b) really useful.

Only, now I have to move to a new zipcode. Mine is no longer acceptable to me.

[angelamermaid.livejournal.com]

So I could grab addresses of people who gave money to Bush, and send postcards asking "What were you thinking?"? ;-)