Thursday, November 08, 2007

NPR's Point of View

Yesterday Bob Siegel let it be known that waterboarding is either torture or an interrogation technique "depending on your point of view." NPR seems to have settled on its point of view: during the evening hourly news summary tonight I got treated to Jack Spear saying that waterboarding was "an interrogation technique" involving "controlled drowning." Dang, am I ever relieved - if I ever find myself in Gitmo or one of those dandy US black site prisons I'll just remember that being partially drowned, stripped, slapped, kicked, punched, yelled at, kept awake, deprived of bedding, clean water, and sleep, and exposed to extreme temperatures are interrogation techniques - not torture. Thanks NPR.

2 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

Well, I can't imagine NPR altering its definition of torture until the Bush Administration itself does. It's all part of the slavish relationship much of the media has with the sources of power in this country.

Bob Siegel prides himself on being a voice of authority, an urbane arbiter of current events, but in fact he is just a routine publicist for the presidential pronouncements that purport to chart American policy and American conduct. Having someone like Gov. Bush tell us what democracy is, and how 'stuff' works is bad enough, but for supposedly educated media mouths to merely pass along the propaganda, basically intact, is, naturally, contemptible.

Bob & Co. obviously do not think they are shills, but in their lofty positions of authority, truly, they can't see the forest for the trees, and what's more, they don't want to. Business is fine as it is, thank you very much.

Just one of many reasons why NPR invalidates itself.

Anonymous said...

... and overinflates itself as well! (guffaw, guffaw)