Why does the MSM seem not to be able to understand that everyone outside the Afghan airport is NOT

[joetheman]

necessarily an Afghani who helped us or an American citizen? I for one, want to be sure that only the Afghanis who are either American citizens, Afghani translators and their families who helped us. As the President just told us there are many people outside the airport who do not fit into either category but simply Afghanis who want to leave. We cannot and should not try to evacuate an entire nation and resettle them all over the world including in the US. Hell, i didn't hear this much complaining from our MSM about Katrina evacuations except to blame the problems on the NO Mayor at that time.

[Sympthsical]

1. I'm very confused by this question

The reporter who asked the question asked about Americans and Afghans who helped us. President Biden responded that Americans are being let through checkpoints with passports.

The reporter, very rightly, asked the obvious. "Yeah, but you see what's going on, right? How do people even get to those checkpoints given the chaos?" (I'm paraphrasing)

The whole exchange was weird. I'm not super thrilled with this press conference. Seemed all over the place.

[agingdem]

5. you're wrong...

Last edited Sat Aug 21, 2021, 02:17 AM - Edit history (2)

he said this is what we've done, this is what we're doing, this is what we will continue to do until every American citizen/Afghans support staff is out of the country...that was and is Biden's commitment..the evacuation was always going to be chaotic, too many variables/too many outliers.. ...he is not responsible for evacuating every Afghan who wants to get out because they are unhappy with the Taliban (there's a reason the Taliban took over without major pushback)...as for the reporters ...the evacuation was never ever going to be anything other than a cluster-fuck ...too many variables and outliers, but as the facts on the ground change so will the responses ... Biden was clear...messy exit, terrorist threats from other countries more plausible than Afghanistan, getting our people out...if only the "reporters" would listen instead of salivate in anticipation of their next already answered gotcha question...maybe then we could almost but not quite forgive them for 4 years of non-stop coverage of Trump's verbal farts..

[Sympthsical]

13. You didn't really address what I was specifically discussing

You just summarized what President Biden said.

I'm talking about the actual question the reporter asked that the OP seemed to be reacting to.

[Treefrog]

27. Afghan, not Afghani.

[uponit7771]

24. Every square inch of Afghanistan is chaos?! Need to see proof

[Sympthsical]

26. We're talking around the airport

Ostensibly, the Taliban are supposed to let Americans with passports through checkpoints at the airport.

However, getting to the airport and through the chaos and violence around the airport is another matter entirely.

That's what was being addressed.

[napi21]

2. They don't mention that because it wouldn't gain & keep viewers like showing thousands that MIGHT

be "left behind". EVERYTHING said & done on air is done for that reason...more viewers = more advertising dollars!

[Dream Girl]

3. My thought too. How many are random Afghani who just wanted to get the hell out.

[Treefrog]

9. Afghani refers to their currency.

Afghan is a person from Afghanistan.

[Dream Girl]

10. Thanks. I'll Romberger that on my next trip.

[Treefrog]

28. Sure thing.

Carry on.

[WHITT]

4. Richard Engel Is A Liar

Biden made a statement in regards to "Americans", and when Lester Holt went to Engel, he substituted "Afghans" in regards to the statement Biden made about "Americans", and went on a long litany of why Biden was wrong.

Disgusting.

[2naSalit]

15. I've been noticing a bias on his part.

He's probably too close with his subjects. Unfortunately he's using hos megaphone to tote the media bosses' line. You have to be clever to get the message out there unless you're Rachel or Lawrence who tell the truth and back it up regardless of any threats.

[pwb]

6. Republicans have people over there throwing money in the air?

I wouldn't put it past them to stage all these familiar [Vietnam] scenes.

[2naSalit]

16. +1

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[dalton99a]

7. Half of the country want to get out

Afghanistan is a poor country with a high birthrate and low literacy. Afghans have been trying to migrate to Europe through Turkey for years

[Treefrog]

8. The Afghan people are not called "Afghani".

Several have made this point here.

[WHITT]

11. Now It's ABC News

Again, Biden made a statement in regards to "Americans", and Stephanie Ramos is saying, well we spoke to Abdul, who was a former translator, and what the president said is not the case.

IS ABDUL THE FORMER TRANSLATOR AN AMERICAN?

What the hell is wrong with these people?

[wackadoo wabbit]

12. Whereas I believe that any Afghan (Afghani is the currency; Afghan is the person) who wants to...

escape a repressive regime — especially women — should be welcomed with the proverbial open arms.

There seems to be a serious lack of compassion these days.

[Elessar Zappa]

14. Maybe but Americans and our Afghan allies get first priority.

Otherwise it’s chaos which helps nobody.

[2naSalit]

17. should be welcomed with the proverbial open arms...

Where would that be? We can't just bring in several million people via airlift and bring them here. So where would they all go? There are refugee camps surrounding the region busting with people already and things are getting pretty crowded in most other places. Someone has to stick around and do what the people of the country who want change can do to make that change. That is not for us to do in a far away culture in a far away land.

I feel for anyone who suffers violence and other abuses but we can't go around the world and tell everyone else to live like us. That's what the damn xtians do. The Afghans, at some point, have to figure it out for themselves. We had no business being there, especially for that long, based on lies in both directions. We can still help them in some ways but we can't jut evacuate 89% of all females in the country. We owe them something but what you suggest may sound good when you say it, it isn't very likely or possible.

[wackadoo wabbit]

19. At the risk of repeating myself, there seems to be a serious lack of compassion these days

If things go as badly as many climate scientists are predicting and a goodly proportion of the U.S. population tries to immigrate to Canada to escape fatal heat in the future, I wonder how many of them/us will look back on this time and recognize the irony.

This isn't a case of "go[ing] around the world and tell[ing] everyone else to live like us." For 20 years we've already shown the Afghans (and, especially, the women) what living life that's not under a repressive theocracy could be like. There are adult women who weren't even born when the U.S. occupation began. Now you're telling them they need to live under the Taliban? We broke it, we need to buy it (i.e., we need to take responsibility for going there in the first place — which was a terrible, terrible idea, but what's done is done — and not abandon people who got used to living under the U.S. regime).

[joetheman]

20. Anyone who is trying to make practical sense is not demonstrating "lack of compassion." Compassion

is an emotion. I feel compassion for suffering people all over the world. I felt "compassion" for the women and girls suffering at the hands of Boko Haram, women and children suffering under ISIS, the Palestinian women and girls...and the suffering men and boys as well. However, there also has to be compassion for many here at home who are suffering and who will continue to suffer as resources are strained to the breaking point. But there is no way we should be expected to bring everyone who here who just wants to flee their country because of the Taliban.

[treestar]

22. There's a law on refugees

and a lot of countries that are repressive regimes. Nobody lacks compassion.

[manicdem]

23. I agree

I'm not sure whats going on here either with the anti-immigration. We welcome people from Mexico, South America, etc where things are bad, but nowhere as bad as it will get in Afghanistan where tens of thousands will be killed, tortured, and enslaved.

[wackadoo wabbit]

30. I know, right? Is it that Afghans are from the Middle East?

I just don't understand the lack of compassion that I'm seeing for Afghans on here recently.

Thank you for posting this. I was beginning to feel like I was literally the only one on DU who felt this way.

[spanone]

18. Our media has shown it's ass with it's coverage.

[Generic Brad]

21. Aren't the Taliban Afghan people?

It's not like they are a foreign occupying military presence. Oops. That was us.

[iemanja]

29. This seems to fit under the pottery barn rule

We broke their country. We bear some responsibility for those whose lives have been ripped apart because of our actions.
The country enabled Vietnamese, Laotians, and Hmong to come to the US. Why not Afghanis?
I expect many will come to my state of Minnesota, since it's an immigrant friendly place (police aside).

[wackadoo wabbit]

31. Yes, exactly! Thank you for posting this /nt