Reply #17: explanation from other thread [View All]

[demobabe]

- May 9 edition of Newsweek reports Koran flushed down the toilet.
- McClellan says Newsweek has damaged the image of the US, caused deaths, and fell short of journalistic standards
- Newsweek retracts their article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aSz...

So Newsweek is at fault for reporting that we're desecrating the Muslim Holy book down in Guantanamo. The message is that we should be more thoughtful about what we report, and not report anything that could possibly make the US look bad in anybody else's eyes. So if we violate human rights, Geneva convention, whatever - just DON'T TALK ABOUT IT. Amnesty International speaks up about Guantanamo, and they're written off as "absurd". http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050531/w...

Now Symbolman and Stranger come along and "flush" a Bible on the radio. Their theory is while the Koran flushing was downplayed and dismissed, would flushing a Bible down a toilet be a different story?

Contrary to what you'd think, some right wingers have no qualms about trashing anybody's holy books. Instapundit said he didn't think there was anything immoral about flushing the Bible or Koran, and that doing so was not torture. Maybe he'd have a different opinion if he were sitting in Gitmo and experiencing this first hand (but I digress)... http://instapundit.com/archives/023026.php

Instapundit also quoted David Price in saying that the Gitmo detainees are trained to lie, and that it's even in their instruction manuals if they're detained: lie about flushing the Koran. I'm not kidding:
http://semirandomramblings.blogspot.com/2005/05/newswee...

So the logic here is that Al Queda are trained to lie, so the Koran toilet flushing thing never happened. I don't buy it. Taking it a step further, supposing no Koran was flushed at Gitmo, we still have had more than a few reports (and pictures) that torture is occuring there - yet the torture goes on.

Newsweek lied, people died. That's what David Price says. Never mind the US's part in invading these countries and the torture going on in Gitmo, people are dying because Newsweek ran a story reporting on what is going on. It's not that we're torturing people and we shouldn't be doing that or that we've invaded countries that don't want us there. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

The whole idea that Sym and Stranger would "flush" a Bible is absurd: Will Bible-thumpers kill liberals for such an ungodly act? Would Bible flushing be met with more criticism than Koran flushing? What justifications and arguments would arise from such an act?

Well, some folks here bought it hook, line, and sinker...

"Childish!"

"Insensitive!"

"Stupid!"

Which is it going to be, folks? Do you want a true free media, or would you rather fashion the First Amendment to your liking?

Saying that a mock Bible-flushing will incense the Muslims is the same exact argument used by the Whitehouse to shut down the Newsweek article.

So Newsweek shouldn't have reported the Koran flushing?

Symbolman and Stranger should have their thread shut down because you think what they may have said or did was not to your liking?

Or let's take a page from the Republican playbook: criticize and castigate the person you don't agree with: "Can't he take a hint?", "Childish!"

Our Constitution is going away bit by bit because of attitudes like this. Shut up. Don't speak. Don't say anything to rock the boat. Don't offend. Be politically correct.

This is how you've been trained over the last twenty years by an increasingly Corporate media that serves its own needs. Don't question anything. Instead, be a rebel by buying our shoes and clothes.

Don't make statements about George Bush. Else you can't play your song on MTV.

It just goes on and on and on... and that's the big trouble with fighting it. We're so brainwashed, I honestly don't know what it would take to get folks to step outside their Corporate existence and make their own decisions for once.

Maybe Symbolman and Stranger should retract their radio show? If they do, then we know it really IS over.