In Which I Trash Wignuttery in All Its Guises
Well, I’m sure you’ve read all about Newsweek’s screw-up in reporting the alleged desecration of the Qur’an by U.S. military interrogators.
There’s so much stupidity going around about this story, I don’t even know where to begin.
OK, let’s start with Newsweek. Obviously, they broke the first rule of journalism- don’t ever print an inflammatory allegation without having AT LEAST two sources verify it (and even then, you shouldn’t print it until you’re absolutely positive you’ve nailed it). This was bad reporting, and Isikoff and Barry should be held accountable for it.
Now, onto to the wingnuttery- I fail to understand how Newsweek is responsible for the actions of violent Islamic extremists. Yes, their story was picked up by al-Jazeera (a.k.a., the Islamic World’s FOX News) and used by radical clerics as anti-American propaganda. But Christ, the Islamic World is flooded with paranoid rumors of “American-Jewish plots” all the time, but this was the first one that caused massive riots in multiple countries.
Besides, if we’re talking about “handing propaganda to our enemies,” I think our government has done a bang-up job of that on its own. You know, stuff like this:
It amazes me that images like this didn’t inspire Islamists to riot, but the alleged desecration of a freakin’ book did. But since we’re talking about people who adhere to a fundamentalist doctrine that endorses honor killings, I guess it’s not surprising. It just goes to show that I’ll never understand the fundamentalist mindset, no matter what the denomination.
The Editors have a useful entry about the shrieking nincompoopery in the blogosphere accusing the media of being “America’s enemy” and “on the other side.” I’m not gonna recap the whole thing, but I’d like to point out this quote from our good friend Hinderocket:
I really think that calling Newsweek’s blunder “the press’s Abu Ghraib” is unfair to the low-lifes who carried out the Abu Ghraib abuses. After all, they didn’t even hurt anyone, let alone kill them.
Sounds like Buttrocket has forgotten the meaning of “Sadly, No!” Let’s give him a quick refresher:
OK, I’m done with my pissy tantrum. Let’s hear from some sane conservatives (you know, the ones who are pro-free market, pro-small government, and anti-gun control, but who don’t feel the need to yell “TREASON!!” at everyone they disagree with).
First, let’s go to John Cole:
This was a mistake. Probably might be time to change the standards for using anonymous sources. But I don’t want to draw any larger conclusions than just that.
BTW- I find it difficult to believe that even the bizarre Arab culture would be moved to riot over the Koran in a toilet and not, say, the numerous abuses at Abu Ghraib. That is just a tough sell for me, and I would recommend some people look up post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Can I get one “heh” and one “indeed,” por favor? Also, see Andrew Sullivan:
It is not being “basically, on the side of the enemy,” as Glenn Reynolds calls it, to resist the notion of government-sanctioned torture and to report on it. It is patriotism and serving the cause that this war is about: religious pluralism and tolerance. The media’s Abu Ghraib?? When Mike Isikoff is found guilty of committing murder, give me a call. Austin Bay still insists that Abu Ghraib did not constitute “deadly torture.” The corpses found there (photographed by grinning U.S. soldiers) would probably disagree. (Will Bay correct?) Three factors interacted here: media error/bias, Islamist paranoia, and a past and possibly current policy of religiously-intolerant torture. No one comes out looking good. But it seems to me unquestionable that the documented abuse of religion in interrogation practices is by far the biggest scandal. Too bad the blogosphere is too media-obsessed and self-congratulatory to notice.
I’d like to add something to this.
What if, at some point in the future, more allegations of Qu’ran desecration came to light. And let’s say they were verified. Would the horde of blogosphere Fruit Loops then blame the American government instead of Islamic extremists for the ensuing riots?
I remember the old days, when conservatives used to preach about “personal responsibility.” I miss those days.
Go girl!
Go girl!
Does “Brad R.” sound like a girl’s name to you? š
I desecrated a copy of that book earlier this year . I was at a party and I spilled beer on it. The owner was nice about it and said it was probably God’s will anyway. I asked if he would mind if I flushed some of it down the toilet and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He said,”are you crazy? I have a left wing wacko toilet! I can’t even flush a salad turd.”
I desecrated a copy of that book earlier this year . I was at a party and I spilled beer on it. The owner was nice about it and said it was probably God’s will anyway. I asked if he would mind if I flushed some of it down the toilet and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He said,”are you crazy? I have a left wing wacko toilet! I can’t even flush a salad turd.”
Does anyone else understand this joke?
Sadly, no.
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
i get it.
i get it.
Explain?
Looks like he was at his friends house and spilled his beer. His friend didn’t care about the beer or the book but didn’t wat his toilet stopped up.
OK, but why, “I have a left wing wacko toilet! I can’t even flush a salad turd?”
Me no get. It’s not particularly well-articulated.
Just curious — who is that bitch in the pictures? Has she ever been prosecuted?
Just curious — who is that bitch in the pictures? Has she ever been prosecuted?
That’s Lyndie England, no?
I think she meant to say “salad squirt”.
Thats not England. That girl is a “hottie”.
No, she’s Sabrina somebody. Ms. English was the chick with the prisoner on the lease, posing for the Tobacco Road version of a Vogue shoot.
“Left-wing wacko toilet” refers to low-flow toilets that use less water. Because they use less water, they have less force and are more sensitive to…um…”intractable solids.”
In places like Arizona and Nevada, these toilets were mandated by law to protect the groundwater supply.
Of course, the left wing wackos got the last laugh when low groundwater ruined the foundations of expensive homes, caused sinkholes in suburban streets, etc.
The Dark Avenger is right. Somehow you don’t hear that much about Sabrina Harmon (Lynndie England is much more (in)famous), but she gets around. She’s giving the thumbs-up sign by the dead guy; she’s charged with putting the wires on the guy who was dressed in a black hood, put on a box, wired up with electrodes, and told he’d be electrocuted if he fell off the box; and she married Charles Graner (another Abu Ghraib torturer, and the father of Lynndie’s baby).http://tinyurl.com/cnmtz
I’m wrong. Graner married Megan Ambuhl, another Abu Ghraib defendant, not Harmon. btw, Brad probably got confused into thinking Lynndie England gave the thumbs-up to the dead guy in ice because Lynndie gave the thumbs-up to the pyramid of naked guys.http://tinyurl.com/asjsj
That was “Gulf ice “. You can read it on most of the bags. I would rather see it icing dwn. some beer but my friend sure did make a killing on that contract.
In places like Arizona and Nevada, these toilets were mandated by law to protect the groundwater supply.
Man, that makes me glad too live in the Northeast š
Great to know that America has more than one grinning female torturer.
The term “wignuttery” is offensive to all those of us who have to use wigs to conceal our shining nuts.
Unless it is some kind of reference to male public hair.
In any case, I blame the media. And I’m going to murder a few people in my anti-SadlyNo/Newsweek riot.
A bald man’s gotta do what a bald man’s gotta do.
Newsweek reported the truth. This has been reported many times before by other news sources and former Guantanamo inmates.
Newsweek reported the truth. This has been reported many times before by other news sources and former Guantanamo inmates.
No, Newsweek screwed up. Their report was unconfirmed and they should have been more careful.
My issue is with the idea that their screw-up was a “malicious slander on the troops” and that “they’re on the other side.”
Raw Story has some documentation on Koran desecration:
Newsweek report on Quran matches many earlier accounts
The term “wignuttery” is offensive to all those of us who have to use wigs to conceal our shining nuts.
Unless it is some kind of reference to male public hair.
Male public hair? Is that the opposite of male private hair?
Sabrina Harmon (smiling thumbs up girl) was just convicted of 5 counts of whatever the hell they charged her with and will be sentenced (maybe has already been sentenced) – am i the only one who listens to NPR around here?
I don’t listen to NPR, but heard about Sabrina on a local rock station this morning. The deejay also spoke, as though it were an established fact, about the riots in Afghanistan caused by that one sentence in the Newsweek article. (Everyone knows that (1) Afghans are huge Newsweek readers; (2) the United States has never ever done anything that would piss off Afghans and/or Muslims; and (3) the offending sentence in the Newsweek story is completely unlike all other media coverage, which uniformly shows that the U.S. has at all times treated Muslims and the Koran with the utmost respect.)
The refs are pretty widespread in the media now. Newsweek had nothing to do with the riots, and the neo-con lying scumbag shitheads…sorry, got carried away for a moment, anyway, those people knew it, because that assessment came from Eichenberry, US commander in Afghanistan.
So tired of the lying shitheads. Can we give swirlies to the neo-cons now?
Oh, and the reports of abuse of Korans have been coming out for a couple of years now.
My father’s line when a hair is found in your foood: “Well, at least it’s a public hair.”
Newsweek claimed their source was a high-level insider. They asked another high-level insider for an opinion of the piece before going to print, and he expressed no objections. How many sources would you like them to get, especially as this was not new news (as others have noted)?
The Abu Ghraib situation hasn’t cause riots per se, but it certainly added fuel to the fire of the Iraqi resistance.
And I have trouble comprehending how anyone could call Arab culture “bizarre”. Much of American culture is bizarre to me, but I haven’t seen anything from the middle-east that doesn’t make perfect sense.
Off topic: has anyone seen George Galloway’s testimony at that “bizarre” oil-for-food inquiry? Here’s a link to a link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info (sorry, I don’t remember how to include a proper html link). The full audio is about 45minutes long, but it’s worth hearing if you have a bit of time.