Tuesday, January 25, 2011

When the Shit Hits the Fan - Make Brownies!


The bombshell release of The Palestine Papers by Al Jazeera and The Guardian hit the news this week and provide stark evidence of the moral bankruptcy of the Israeli government and the US government in the sham "peace process" - (not to mention the craven subservience and collaborative nature of the Palestinian Authority). As The Guardian editorialized
"It is hard to tell who appears worst: the Palestinian leaders, who are weak, craven and eager to shower their counterparts with compliments; the Israelis, who are polite in word but contemptuous in deed; or the Americans, whose neutrality consists of bullying the weak and holding the hand of the strong. Together they conspire to build a puppet state in Palestine, at best authoritarian, at worst a surrogate for an occupying force."
So what does NPR do when someone else has done all the work for them and hands them a huge trove of damming evidence?

First, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro did a decent job of reporting on reaction by the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians, and the Israeli government.

This modest piece was followed by a sad hodgepodge of spin from the awful Michele Kelemen - a story that the NPR scribe monkeys titled "Release of Palestinian Papers Raises Issues for the US." Raises issues!? Sheesh...

Melissa Block introduces the piece, asking "And how does the U.S. try to revive talks when all sides seem to be losing credibility?" as if the complete lack of US legitimacy and credibility has not been exposed in these documents. From there Michele Kelemen turns to Professor Kurtzer of Princeton who states that one thing the documents show is that the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians
"are far narrower than people would have assumed....therefore...the administration...now has evidence that the bridge can be built."
Kelemen then turns to - as she says -
"Another U.S. veteran of the peace process, Robert Danin, of the Council on Foreign Relations, cautions against reading too much into the documents."
Kelemen and NPR definitely take this advice to heart, and - instead of any scrutiny or critical assessment of these damning records of the US/Israel/PA attempt to destroy any hope of justice for Palestinians - opts to continue airing the views of other US official participants in the peace process sham. As if to drive the point home that the revelations will have no effect on Michele Kelemen and NPR's determination to echo the views of the US State Department, Kelemen allows State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley to have the final word:
"The best and only way to fundamentally resolve the core issues, reach an agreement and end the conflict once and for all is through a negotiation, not through unilateral statements, unilateral actions."
Unbelievably, it's not meant as some kind of sick joke...

10 comments:

Boulder Dude said...

Yeah....I would love to be a fly on the wall in the NPR HQ to see what in the world managed to completely change their editorial stance in a mere 6 hours time.

The ATC's pieces were a travesty of journalistic integrity, and people should have been fired for it.

Porter Melmoth said...

Fox News teaches all the other US MSM how to 'interpret' the world for the average (and above average) US consumer.

After Bush Era blatancy, the propagandists can now fully engage in what they do best: obfuscate, omit and custom craft information for hire, and the pay is good. Subtlety and subversiveness always work better on the thinking classes, and in an Obama climate, that's a detectable trend. Softer, more subtle approaches make the consumer feel like their intelligence isn't being insulted, and it makes them feel good about themselves.

It's also very important to ensure that the 'thinking' consumer thinks that he or she is right in their media choices, and will quote them as trustworthy sources when in discourse with others or when voting, or in any other civic or moral decision-making process.

Proto-fascism and full fascism require propaganda machines to be fully operative, assertive, and aggressive when needed, and finally, coercive if a populace gets out of line.

We're well on our way.

Patrick Lynch said...

I think as far as the propaganda machine is concerned, it's fully up and running.

JayV said...
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JayV said...

Inskeep interviewed Chris Hedges today on ME. He critiqued the SOTU, but also gave Inskeep a much needed civics lesson!

geoff said...

JayV - Yeah, I was amazed that Hedges was on at all. Inskeep asked him something like, "And how long have you been a member of the Red Army?" He is as rude to those on the side of truth and justice as he is deferential to the rich and powerful.

Porter Melmoth said...

(Repeat of post in previous entry, re: Hedges)

Lo and behold, Chris Hedges was allowed onto ME this morn, but only on the pretense that he’s a critic of the left, but FROM FURTHER LEFT. That is, it’s OK to have a weirdo crackpot on if he’s willing to slam the mainstream lefties (Hedges of course is a model of measured rationalism and sanity). Inskreep, with calculated best-behavior, lets Hedges talk, expecting him to do Neocon-level work in putting liberals in their place for tender NPR ears. Chris does not take the bait that he knows is being dangled before him. For the record, he denies being Marxist/Communist/Anti-Capitalist, but goes on to target essential problems in Obama’s speech (e.g. obedience to Wall St., etc.).

It goes without saying that NPR is no decent venue for Chris to really be allowed to speak his mind, but I imagine he agreed to an NPR interview so as to, at the very least, introduce certain notions to NPR listeners. It was certainly a much more cogent analysis of the SOTU than NPR’s little smuggy ‘fact check’ of the speech the day before - typically laughable. He also has a book to market, but he knows what that circus is all about. The important thing is that he got to deliver a mini-critique, and he did it with a finesse that avoided any planned NPR pitfalls, so that any strategy cooked up by Neocon Publicity Radio would naturally backfire. In short, to any listeners who are still critical thinkers, Chris’ message got through, loud and clear. Thank you, NPR, for facilitating.

bfpb (sdrawkcab ti yalp) said...

g-dawg, el 'Kreepo actually said that?! Cripes, who does he think he is now, Bill o'Riled-Up??

Saints be praised, if that arse is getting any recompense from me it is only in residual interest from loooooong-lapsed pledge contributions.