Blurring Distinctions Between Killers and Victims
It is a journalistic atrocity to deliberately blur the line between murderers and their victims, but that’s what both The New York Times and Newsweek have done.
Recent lead stories in each publication featured side-by-side photos of two dead teenage girls, one Israeli, one Palestinian. The Times headline declared: “2 Girls, Divided by War, Joined in Carnage.” But the Israeli girl wasn't a warrior at all — she was just an innocent 17-year-old who went to the market with a shopping list from her mother. And the Palestinian 18-year-old wasn’t just a victim of bloodshed, she was its instigator — a deliberate killer making a choice to slaughter innocent bystanders by blowing herself up.
Imagine a photo of a youthful victim of the 9/11 attacks next to the face of terrorist mastermind Mohammad Atta, and a headline saying they were “joined in carnage.” Drawing a parallel between victim and killer is obscene — and adds insult to deadly injury.
Michael Medved hosts a nationally syndicated daily radio talk show on which these editorials were aired. You can visit his website at www.michaelmedved.com.
D.C. March for Reparations Insults America
A radical but ambitious organization called N’COBRA — which stands for “National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America” has announced plans for a massive march on Washington on August 17th. The title of this event is “Millions for Reparations,” referring to both the number of participants it hopes to attract and the number of dollars it wants to extort from the federal government.
What’s most shocking, though, is the call for support they are using. By soliciting “African communities in America” or “Africans living in America” — the invitation makes it clear that it considers black people Africans, not Americans — or even African-Americans. The proposed slogan for the big march is “You Owe Us” — a phrase that should offend all appropriately patriotic citizens of this country.
Whether your ancestry is from Europe, Asia or Africa, if you’re an American you should emphasize what you owe our country — not what the government owes you.
Secretary Powell speaks for a massive federal department with 23,000 employees, most of whom are State Department careerists. On questions of the Middle East, the State Department is traditionally more critical of Israel and their hard-headed reliance on military power for self-defense.
In every administration, the Secretary of State is more compromise-oriented than the secretary of defense. The Department of Defense is responsible for making bombers and tanks; the Department of State is responsible for making treaties and deals and splitting the difference.
This may not excuse Secretary Powell’s misguided, even silly past statements on issues like abortion or condoms, but it does explain his more dovish attitude toward foreign policy.
