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Monday, August 15, 2005Why the Media is UselessI wandered by the newstands today and kept seeing a similar image: People hugging each other and staring off into the far distance, beset by worries and cares. Who were these people? Israeli Jews, of course. We're always concerned about Israeli Jews, right? The MSM has spent the last decades telling us how evil the Israelis were to stay on land they won in battle in response to attacks from all sides. They've pounded it into our skulls that this was "occupied" territory, with only Ward Churchillites noting that the same could be said of most of the United States, if you want to split hairs in the right manner. In short, we've been battered with verbiage about the need of the Israelis to let the Palestinians have their homeland. Finally, Ariel Sharon relented. So, what are the pics from Gaza? What's the story from the region? Jubilant Palestinians awaiting the reclamation of lost lands? Do we have declarations from the French about the pain of leaving a land you'd called home? Maybe with an interview from a native Algerian who had to move to France to avoid recrimination? Or how about a chat with a Soviet apparatchik no longer welcome in the state he'd governed about how one tries to do well by the new land and the motherland both but meets impossible difficulties? How about just a few quotes from world leaders about how great it is that Israeli is taking this bold and brave step toward a more peaceful Middle East? Nah. Let's hear about families that grew up here and don't want to leave. About settlers who vow to stay. And about tensions within Israel as hardliners announce plans to disrupt evictions. Even when the whole world gets what it ostensibly wants from Israel, the story of the day is the same: more families uprooted by Ariel Sharon. Ain't it funny? For years, these have been awful people who drove Palestinians from their towns, fired on innocents in "misunderstandings." Created headache after headache for the big dreamers who couldn't let such small-minded Zionists prevent the coming of peace. Now that Sharon's against them, suddenly we discover they're human. Not to worry though. In six months, a Hamas activist will declare that Israel was forced to withdraw from Gaza and will one day be forced to retreat from Israel itself, into the Mediterranean. When it does, these people will swear never again to be driven from their homes. Then they'll be recalcitrant Jews again, just part of a motley population that is so inconvenient to French ambassadors and other sophisticates working for a stable Middle East. By the way, Sharon is probably right to consolidate his positions and in the long run he'll be seen as having done a lot to keep Israel on the map. But in the mean time, you can count on the Palestinian nutcases (as opposed to those who just want to go to work but have to summon the nerve to say so if they want their own country) to make this as bad as possible for all involved. Not to worry about that either though. Their comments will go largely unreported, their actions will be justified in victimology blather and reporting from this end of the Middle East will slow for a while again, until there's another good image handy of someone to whom Ariel Sharon has brought grief. 
posted by gbarto at 5:18 PM |
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