Have the Mainstream Media Ignored Our Heroes?

BTW - from the LA Times

But why believe the military when you print stories about atrocities or Korans being flushed down the toilet.

 

Real-Clear Politics

Maybe you can explain how you get "ill-informed quasi-literate crackpot fascists" out of that? Do you know either John McIntyre or Tom Bevan?

 

Mr. Merloni,

Yes, and Ivory Soap is 99 and 44/100% pure. A sales pitch isn't the truth, it's a sales pitch.

Still, I stand corrected. The site does, in fact, offer a very wide and liberal range of reading material gathered from other excellent and reputable sources. Perhaps what I should have said then was, "With all those terrific articles posted at RCP, maybe you should try reading some of the ones that weren't co-written by ill-informed quasi-literate crackpot fascists - like Reagan's senile former secretary of defense, the now-dead Casper Weinberger."

As a card-carrying member of the elite media, I believe they, like you, should top questioning the patriotism of everyone with whom they disagree.

 

So now we are back to calling Weinberger a ill-informed quasi-literate crackpot fascist.

I have no idea how I could have misunderstood a person like you who expresses themselves so clearly in the first place.

 

Clark Kent ... the dude can write. Hell, he paints pictures with words. The dude's a fuckin' stud, which is why the Daily Planet hired him straight out of college.

For all I know he can leap tall buildings in a single bound, too.

 

Atrocities! Atrocities! Got yer atrocities right here!

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14855658.htm

 

Damn you! You shouldn't talk about the bad things. Talk about the heroes, Stupid. Then we can pretend there aren't any bad things.

 

I remember one story of his that I read. His writing is powerful. More powerful than a locomotive, really. And he's great on deadline, I hear. Can get a story sent in faster than a speeding bullet.

 

Jeeeeeesus, are you still drinking the "fraternity pranks" Kool-Aid.

People died at Abu Ghraib.

Others were maimed there.

I'm just at a freaking loss for words that someone STILL minimizes this as "misdemeanors."

 

No, BTE! Liberal media! Don't show bad things! They don't happen. Everything our soldiers do is heroic! Don't you all get it!

 

Lou isn't saying you should ignore the bad. That needs to be pointed out.

But if you don't point out any of the good, then the general public is left to believe there is only bad, and nothing else.

If soldiers are supposed to be "heroic" as a matter of course, why the hell do they award Purple Hearts and Medals of Valor?

People like JRoyal apparently don't want to believe there are any good things going on over there.

And again ... *sigh* NOBODY IS QUESTIONING ANYBODY'S PATRIOTISM. Just their judgment. Get that through your thick skulls, for once and for all.

 

Lyman, I know there are good things going on. I have family over there. Well, had family in Afgahnistan and will have in Iraq in a few months. My son's best friend's dad is currently in Iraq for the second time. I know a lot more soldiers that have been or are going, having grown up and started my career in a military town. I've heard a fair share of stories from the people who have been there, probably more than you. I've heard them talk about being embraced by some and rejected by others. I've heard of them training security forces, playing with children, and I've heard them tell of suspicious, hate-filled looks and going on patrols where they just hope they don't find a bomb or fall under fire. So if you want to paint me with a broad stroke, fine. You'd just be wrong, and you'd just prove you're an idiot.

Thing is, I've also read good stories. Maybe there aren't as many, but that's the nature of news in everything. We report more about criminals than we do about the police officers that catch them. We report more about the damage done by a fire than we do about what firefighters managed to save. Heck, even in sports we seem to write more about the guys who get in trouble or break the law then we do about the positive work that athletes do. It's not just war reporting.

Guys like Lou, though, would probably prefer you ignore the bad, and they do attack your patriotism. Any time a negative story is reported, they say it shouldn't be out there because it's aiding and abetting the enemy. How is saying that telling the truth, reporting the stories that don't make us seem like heroes, is aiding the enemy not attacking someone's patriotism?

And before you say it, no, that hasn't been said on this thread, but if you say you haven't heard that kind of stuff from those who say the media portrays the war in a negative light and ignore the good, than I'd have to say you're either lying or you don't read much.