Thursday, October 14, 2004
ABC tries to stoke Muslim outrage
Always ironic to hear Hannity's radio show interrupted by ABC newsbreaks. Today a female news-mouth intoned, with all the gravity she could muster, that U.S. warplanes were bombing the "holy city" of Fallujah.
This appellation has been used many times for Najaf and Karbala, but google indicates that this may be a first for Fallujah in the American media. There are two previous "holy city of Fallujah"s in online print, one by the U.K.'s Guardian (no surprise), and one by something called The Australian. That means ABC went head first into the sewer even before roto-Reuters got there! Wow.
But hey, why shouldn't ABC extend the "holy city" label? There is clearly an element of arbitrariness to these designations, so ABC would not be making full use of its resources if it did not use the label flexibly to further its goal of making our war effort look bad. If airstrikes against targets in a holy city are not necessarily outrageous in themselves, they would certainly carry the risk of stirring up widespread Muslim outrage. If outrage against Bush is your goal, Muslim outrage is as good as any, right? Good going ABC. Now get back to Hannity please.
This appellation has been used many times for Najaf and Karbala, but google indicates that this may be a first for Fallujah in the American media. There are two previous "holy city of Fallujah"s in online print, one by the U.K.'s Guardian (no surprise), and one by something called The Australian. That means ABC went head first into the sewer even before roto-Reuters got there! Wow.
But hey, why shouldn't ABC extend the "holy city" label? There is clearly an element of arbitrariness to these designations, so ABC would not be making full use of its resources if it did not use the label flexibly to further its goal of making our war effort look bad. If airstrikes against targets in a holy city are not necessarily outrageous in themselves, they would certainly carry the risk of stirring up widespread Muslim outrage. If outrage against Bush is your goal, Muslim outrage is as good as any, right? Good going ABC. Now get back to Hannity please.
