"Christian" press: Hostile MEDIA to blame for bad military recruit figures

[Bluebear]

(AgapePress) - The mainstream media's negative reporting on the war on terror is being blamed for the recent inability of the U.S. military to meet some of its key recruiting goals....

"I point the finger -- not at the military, not at the administration -- but at the mainstream media, who continues to hound on and to berate Abu Ghraib and the false 'Koran-flushing' story and anything else they can get their hands on that denigrates the military," Patterson says. "I blame our large-scale media for the fact that we cannot now recruit our troops in significant strengths."

Gary Bauer of American Values agrees, saying the mainstream media "can barely hide their glee" that the U.S. military is having trouble filling its ranks. "If you are an 18-year-old American watching the news, you seldom, if ever, hear about a heroic U.S. soldier who rescues a wounded comrade, captures a terrorist thug or saves the lives of civilians -- even though those things are happening every day," Bauer observes. "On the other hand, every young American has seen countless hours of coverage of Abu Ghraib prison guards on their way to jail, and demonstrators calling U.S. soldiers war criminals," he says.

Bauer points out that U.S. armed forces have liberated the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq -- and that as a result, millions of people in those countries have had the first opportunity of their lives to vote for their own leaders. "But all we see on the news are stories highlighting the inevitable mistakes, blunders and setbacks of war," he laments, adding that the liberal media views the recruitment difficulties as just "one more piece of evidence" that the war in Iraq is "illegitimate and a failure." "The amazing thing isn't that there is a recruitment shortfall," Bauer concludes. "The amazing thing is that with such a hostile media culture and the universal disdain of our elites, the American military, as it always has, is getting the job done."

So how should the military address the recruiting problem? Some might suggest reinstatement of the draft -- but Patterson says that would not be a good option.....

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/142005f.asp

[ComerPerro]

1. I blame born-again Christians and College Republicans

who refuse to enlist and defend America.

[Bluebear]

2. ZING!

[ComerPerro]

6. I mean, seriously. If our very freedoms are being protected by the war

as the right wingers contend, then why are so few of them actually enlisting to defend our freedoms?

[patrice]

13. Hey! Dummy! The Nobility are our Leaders not workers!

You really should respect the role of such noble Nobility. Who will have vision for us, but for them? Who will tell us what our values are? Whom will there be to obey, without divine leaders like Bill Frist? Don't you just feel awe every time you hear or see him? Truly a brother to the President, whom time will show to be a martyr for Free Market Theology.

[ComerPerro]

14. Yeah, I didn't think of it that way

Sorta like "I support the war effort by speaking out agianst liberals here in the US"

[99Pancakes]

39. BINGO!

[Ganja Ninja]

45. Bullseye!

There are plenty of RW Christians and draft age people that love Bush and hate liberals. They were all for going after Saddam when this started. They still won't admit they were wrong about this war. They support the troops though. Just look at all those magnetic yellow ribbons we see every day on their cars. Maybe those yellow ribbons should say, "See Ya, Wouldn't Wanta B Ya!"

[LightningFlash]

3. Uh oh....Now they're eating their own!!!

This is hilarious, just sit back and watch the fireworks! :rofl:

The crazed fundamentalist right is eating the corporate media for breakfast, just because it dared tell the truth a few times!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :smoke:

[jimshoes]

4. Hoo boy

I blame the quagmire and death myself.

[patrice]

15. Cthullu!

Cthonic!

[jimshoes]

26. Hi Patrice

I'm unfamiliar with those references other than seeing them on these boards. Could you enlighten me? I don't mean to sound stupid but you've piqued my curiosity.

[patrice]

30. Please don't think you are stupid. There's so much to know!

No matter how much you know, there's more to know . . .

Besides, I spelled it wrong - It's Cthulhu, which is like a monster-god characterisation of Cthonic/Death-loving energy. Like what Christians refer to as Satan, but from a Primitive, non-Christian cultural perspective.

[jimshoes]

32. Thanks for the explanation Patrice

I actually googled Cthullu just to see what it was. I live to learn. :)

[patrice]

34. me too.

[NuttyFluffers]

33. Lovecraft Mythos. Cthulhu.

check out any of Lovecraft's works, any writers inspired by him, and the items from Chaosium and Green Ronin (particularly Delta Green).

cthonic is greek reference to 'of the earth.' cthonic deities refers to earth dieties many societies had before having astral deities. concepts like sphinx, titans, etc. previously dealing with death and rebirth, eternal cycle of life, undying, reincarnation -- later vilified by cults and religions by astral deities. these cthonic deities were then incorporated in the concept of demons, evil, hell, underworld, horrors as a counterpoint against the lofty greatness of cults' astral deities.

taking this well known concept (at the time) Lovecraft, during the Edwardian era, wrote horror stories about long dead, hidden, suppressed alien gods. and the greatest horror about them was the dispassionate antipathy of the human condition. the horror was that the universe was a cold, disordered, unfair, and often cruel place that had no special place for man -- we were playthings to greater powers and there's no one to save us, and all we work at is futile in the face of such an uncaring and omnipotent universe.

my History 101 notes, Miskatonic U. at Arkham. :P

[patrice]

35. e.g. Dagon?

[NuttyFluffers]

40. very good! not a deity exactly, though...

Dagon is a Greater Servitor of Cthulhu from the Lesser Servitor Race called Deep Ones.

Deep Ones are like "creature from the black lagoon" and Dagon would be a 20 ft. tall Deep One who leads the race in its profane worship of the Great Old One Cthulhu. The race resides in the bottom of the ocean, where the lost city of R'lyeh, holding the tomb of the immortal Cthulhu, also resides. But this starts to take us a bit deeper into Lovecraft Mythos than is necessary.

the Necronomicon comes from this fantasy horror tradition, as does names that you may also see around, such as Nyarlathotep, Azathoth (common handle on the net now), Hastur, Yog Sothoth, Shub Niggurath (i believe making a cameo as final boss in Guake 3), etc.

There are some great mysteries in this tradition too; especially interesting are true stories that predate Lovecraft and his fans. One of my favorites is the book The King in Yellow.

The King in Yellow, a play, was written anonymously in France around 1870's-ish (Le Roi en Jaune). it was written and made a huge splash in the country, it was heralded as of the highest order poetic and profane at the same time. many people went insane, often criminally so, after reading this book (this is a documented true story, keep this in mind). undoubtedly In the Mouth of Madness was inspired by this historical story. the french gov't was so horrified at what this anonymous book was doing that it banned the book and had the officials hunt down and burn as many copies they could get their hands on, and forbade into perpetuity to reprint this book. when the play was performed on stage horrible accidents usually followed. the incident spawned Robert Chambers (an otherwise pulp fiction writer afterwards) to write a collection of short stories early in his career about this book -- some of my favorite horror stories to date. strongly recommended.

well, recently in these modern times one man found a copy of Le Roi en Jaune in a jumble sale in france. cover ripped off, but otherwise intact. so he read it, didn't go crazy, translated it into english, and reprints have been available now, though kinda hard to find. it's a good story, rather haunting. he even performed the play in washington state area shortly thereafter. once again mysterious misfortunes followed the cast up to opening night. later the original print in french was consumed in an unusual fire accident. a loss for humanity i'm sure.

here's my favorite part that i found out on my own. you can find the horror collection of Chambers relatively easily. if you dig really hard, you can find where reprints of the King in Yellow are being sold. if you check the web in french, you can find the King in Yellow coll. of short stories by Chambers relatively easily. start googling/yahoo/ask jeeves/whatever for Le Roi en Jaune, not Chambers' coll., in french (as in yahoo portal: France)... very, very, very little shows up. we're talking under 10-20 hits at the time i checked. no one prints it, no one translates it back into french(unless from a fan, and never put up on the web), and no one sells it. it is literally verboten. a little unspoken secret from recent history. pleasant dreams!

[patrice]

48. There's a Sci-Fi movie "Dagon" - almost impossible to watch!

[NuttyFluffers]

50. heh, yeah, saw it. campy good fun!

very much in the line of david lynch. it's bad horror, for good reason i think, but yes, it is based on cthulhu mythos. most stories are nowhere near that campy -- actually they tend to be quite disorientingly scary. particular favorite is "The Colours Out of Space" by Lovecraft.

favorite Dagon movie quote:

"...she will get to mate with Dagon..."
"Dagon? Fuck Dagon!"
"YEEESSS!"

[dbeach]

5. What MM does that phony christain/chikenhawh watch..

last I seen was cnn nbc cbs and fox waving that bushevik nazi flag

HAPPY FLAG DAY

[sasquatch]

7. I think it's because of seeing they're friends come back in body bags or-

seeing them sans some limbs that they had before they entered the army.

[DIKB]

8. Let them know how you feel.

And that they should be informing their followers it's a "Sacred Christian Duty" to serve and enlist your children to serve in our military. Ask Mr Bauer himself why he hasn't enlisted. Let's have some FUN with this :headbang:

Contact them:

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

[Karenina]

41. Enlistment forms under the wipers

of every car in every "mega-church" parking lot EVERY SUNDAY!

[gratuitous]

9. I blame Gary Bauer

Notice how in his demented screed he never once tells his own readers to go out an enlist? Now, because Gary's a chickenhawk who feels that fighting in a war he heartily endorses is beneath his dignity, I don't understand why he doesn't call for his followers to make up the recruiting shortfall?

As powerful a leader as I'm sure he thinks he is, and with as many devoted followers as he claims, his clarion call would surely bring the military up to snuff, and make it battle ready for its crusade against the terrorists, right? So why doesn't he tell his followers to sign up?

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. That's easy, invite military recruiters to set up shop outside

fundamentalist churches on Sunday morning, and set up speaking engagements at youth ministry meetings too.

[gademocrat7]

16. great idea

[dave502d]

11. Hay Gary Bauer,send your kids if you think the war is so nice. n/t

[dogday]

12. Freepers-Your Country Needs Your Children-It's Time To Give

them to Bush.

[patrice]

37. Mammon/*CoMachineMonster: "Give us your flesh!"

as in Animatrix.

We are War Slaves.

[Obamarama]

17. Gary Bauer is a freakin' alien....I mean just LOOK at him....

He looks almost reptillian. Actually, I've seen cuter lizzards.

I know it's petty and shallow to call attention to his sad, ugly face, but damnit...I don't care. All's fair in love and war, even the culture wars.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

44. If you've ever seen The Natural

This freak IS the psychologist the team hires in the beginning of the movie.

"Losing is a disease..."

*shudder*

[patrice]

46. It's not petty; true Beauty is observable,

so is true Ugly.

[Old and In the Way]

18. "Agape" Press.........bwahahahaha

Is this a joke? The Peace Press argument for war? Stop...you're killing me!

[Bluebear]

42. Very rich, no? n/t

[patrice]

19. GB should take the KC Star.

There's a constant flow of emotional religio-patriotic human interest war stories.

Oh but God forbid a Humanist should get attention by saying the deaths are NOT NECESSARY!

[LightningFlash]

20. Follow your "Christ" Bush now Gary, and onward christian soldiers!!!

Into Iraq, go do thy bidding for the righteous god george bush!!! It's time to stop standing down from the call, god needs you!!
:wow:

[patrice]

23. I'd love to be able to laught at all of this, but these are the same

people who are seeking extension of our nuclear weapon strategies by building more "SMALL" tactical nukes, because they will be more USABLE!

There is as little we can do about this as there was that we could do to stop *Co's War. Congress and the Pentagon are Derelict in their responsibilities to protect this country from a man who, at minimum, is Criminally Incompetent when it comes to War.

[LightningFlash]

27. I'd rather see them all doing their constitutional duty....

And get rid of all the extremists, and others with one two-bit punch, than deal with their incessant hate speech while the great "leader" goes down in flames and polls.... :mad: :mad: :mad:

God help the ones who were innocently swept up into this madness....

[patrice]

31. Oh! The Hate Speech! The DAMAGE *Co. does to America by

DIVIDING us against Ourselves! Perpetuating Pain and Alienation as "Value-Based". Pathetic. Sick. Un-democratic!

[Cha]

21. That Ugly

MoFo gary bauer looks about 30 years older than the last time I saw him about 3 years ago. That faux religious thing must not be agreeing with him.

I refuse to call them Christians cause they ain't..they're freakin' fristians.


NOthin' wrong with truth.. mr stupid..the media isn't reporting nearly enough of it.

But you have to have something to blame for the youth not rushing to sign up for bush's war.

[blm]

22. Sign up all those College Republicans who admire Bush's leadership as

commander-in-chief and trust him with their lives.

[patrice]

24. I could at least consider honoring that.

It's impossible to honor Chicken-Hawks, especially those who assume that they are our leaders.

[Dr Fate]

25. But I thought Young Repubs watched FOX & listened to Rush.

Seems like there is a huge logical flaw in this accusastion.

[graywarrior]

28. Bauer. Enough to gag a maggot. Circus freak.

[rocktivity]

29. A coincidence, I'm sure

'Over There' is here as series for FX, Bochco

..."Over There" is an ensemble drama that will explore the lives of a select group of Army soldiers in combat as well as the families they left behind.

...FX president of entertainment John Landgraf...envisions "Over There" not being pro- or anti-war but admitted that the show won't please everyone. "There's likely to be some controversy because the war is such a partisan football from both sides," he said.

Here's the promo. Young male hottie thrust into role of great white father? Check. Bespectacled nerd boy? Check. Slangin' brother man? Check, yo. Lonely civilian desparate housewife? Check. Hispanic female single parent? Congrats, you've hit the trifecta. Subliminal recruitment tool intended to bypass the parents and target the Britney Spears generation? Of course.

Hill Street Blues meets Baywatch on the set of The Curse Of The Mummy...I've got battle fatigue already.

:headbang:
rocknation

[patrice]

36. Have they stopped once to think that maybe, just maybe, the Young

of this country, have a mind of their own, and that IS GOOD!

[lateo]

38. Wrong!

The slowdown in military recruting is because the chicken shit Republicans that aren't signing up to go and fight their glorious leader's war.

[cap]

43. why not a big ad campaign in Christian news media

encouraging recruitment. Let the RW send their own kids. Say Support the Troops, Send Your Own Kid. Support the Troops, Enlist.

[lectrobyte]

47. I thought churches were inviting recruiters in -- I know I've seen

an article about that recently. Also, they are sponsoring NASCAR etc., I don't think you can blame the media. After all, no pictures of returning coffins except on the internets.

[underpants]

49. ~"No good news"??? They have their own NETWORK for crying out loud

They have their own radio network (s) for crying out loud.

[dansolo]

51. Fine, cover the heroic soldiers

I don't have a problem if they cover the heroic soldiers--as long as they spend an equal amount of time covering the wounded soldiers who are trying to patch together their shattered lives and shattered bodies, and the families of soldiers who are in poverty because they never thought that joining the National Guard would have resulted in an ongoing deployment.

[Tsiyu]

52. kick n/t

[NMMNG]

53. I'm sure the fact that thousands dead soldiers has nothing to do with it

Soldiers that died in a war that people are increasingly realizing was unwarranted, and is unjust. Who would sign up for that?

[Warren DeMontague]

54. You know, Gary Bauer looks relatively fit, if a little old...

Come on, Shorty, put your money where your mouth is, and enlist.

Be All That You Can Be, You goddamn bug-eyed, Talibornigan, Peter Lorre Lookin' Fuck-Monkey.

[TWiley]

55. Who would Jesus Bomb?

According to Bauer, it might not be the Iraqi's

[ngGale]

56. That comment is really down in the dirt...

I'm so sick of this bunch blaming every issue on liberal media bias.
The sickest part is some people will actually believe this lie.