Media's False picture

Discussion in 'Politics' started by orestes, Apr 24, 2004.

  1. orestes Strategos Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    143
    The media, like countless times before, is painting a somewhat false picture of the Iraq situation. Sure, people have died; hey, it's war. But the media potrays every single death of an American soldier as being one more step closer to disaster and chaos over there. I'd just like to share an e-mail sent from SFC Ray Reynolds, a medic serving in Iraq.

    I've seen a sh*t load of U.S. bashing around here. Listen folks, yes there have been civilain casualties in Iraq, but you can't deny what the U.S. is doing now to help rebuild this country.

    Enjoy



    Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 1:26 PM


    >
    >
    > This is a letter from Ray Reynolds, a medic in the Iowa Army National
    > Guard, serving in Iraq:
    >
    > As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in
    > Iraq, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the
    > media. They have done a very poor job of covering everything that has
    > happened. I am sorry that I have not been able to visit all of you
    > during my two week leave back home. And just so you can rest at night
    > knowing something is happening in Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I
    > would pass this on to you. This is the list of things that has happened
    > in Iraq recently: (Please share it with your friends and compare it to
    > the version that your paper is producing.)
    >
    > * Over 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
    > * School attendance is up 80% from levels before the war.
    > * Over 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons stored
    > there so education can occur.
    > * The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from
    > ships faster.
    > * The country had its first 2 billion barrel export of oil in August.
    > * Over 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the first time
    > ever in Iraq.
    > * The country now receives 2 times the electrical power it did before
    > the war.
    > * 100% of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared to 35%
    > before the war.
    > * Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils are
    > in place.
    > * Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
    > * Over 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
    > * Over 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the country.
    > * Over 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by side
    > with US soldiers.
    > * Over 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever.
    > * Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to
    > prevent the spread of germs.
    > * An interim constitution has been signed.
    > * Girls are allowed to attend school.
    > * Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the first
    > time in 30 years.
    >
    > Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us
    > there. I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in
    > a bad way. They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about but
    > they hope their children will. We are doing a good job in Iraq and I
    > challenge anyone, anywhere to dispute me on these facts. So If you
    > happen to run into John Kerry, be sure to give him my email address and
    > send him to Denison, Iowa. This soldier will set him straight. If you
    > are like me and very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has
    > been portrayed, email this to a friend and let them know there are good
    > things happening.
    >
    > Ray Reynolds, SFC
    > Iowa Army National Guard
    > 234th Signal Battalion
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2004
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  3. otheadp Banned Banned

    Messages:
    5,853
    "News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising." (--Lord Northcliffe)

    bad news, like sex, sells

    and fat hypocrites make mad cash bashing the country that feeds them. what do they care about self-sacrificing soldiers when they have coco puffs and a nice warm couch?

    perceptions are built by the information that's being dissiminated by information sources. so when you've got al-Jazeera and CNN competing for "who's got the most fucked up headlines", Saddam and the Minute Men can't lose

    you think Joe Potatocouch wants to hear about schools being built and people drinking clean water? right...

    but don't worry. when Iraq is a stable democracy, these morons will collectively be chewing on their foot. but then they'll move to another "rhiteous purpose" to protest about.
     
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  5. fireguy_31 mors ante servitium Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    667
    I've always thought, and I could be wrong here, the media is supposed to provide us with an un-biased non-partisan picture of what's happening no matter what the situation/issue/matter. I'm a little reluctant to buy into this non-partisan reporting when the report is coming from an imbedded reporter. I mean, isn't that type of reporting a little one sided?

    EDIT: I may be off topic here.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2004
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  7. orestes Strategos Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    143
    I absolutly agree otheadp, these media bastards are getting out of control. And the scary thing is that people seem to believe them on everything. It's wrong, and they gotta be stopped.
     
  8. otheadp Banned Banned

    Messages:
    5,853
    out of control
    ...
    they gotta be stopped


    in a democracy, the media is not under anyone's control, and nobody has a right or power to stop it

    these are the conditions the army and government have to work under. the best thing they can do is provide their own info, competing with all the rest of them, and hope for the best
     
  9. Johnny Bravo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    272
    What about Fox News? They still pro war(?)..I tuned them out about a year ago and havent watched since.
    Everyone knows they are a tool for Bush..ofcourse they like blood and guts too.
     
  10. otheadp Banned Banned

    Messages:
    5,853
    Fox News are right-wing oriented. so what?
    they're Bush's tool as much as CNN and BBC are Saddam's and bin-Laden's tool
    nobody's anybody's tool. they report whatever they want.

    i don't understand what this bashing of Fox-news is about.

    it's like it's uncool to be patriotic nowadays.
    what is this teenage tendency?
    it's like it's ok to love your mother and father, but public show of affection to them is embarassing and should be avoided at all times

    *gag*
     
  11. Johnny Bravo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    272
    "uncool to be patriotic nowadays"-
    Don't confuse "patriotic" with blind trust in the goverment leaders.

    "What is this teenage tendency"-
    Pulling the covers over your head and praying for the best is infantile.

    "ok to love your mother and father, but bla bla"
    mmm..Go hug your parents and thank God there is no daft (yet).
     
  12. orestes Strategos Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    143
    Yes, you're right. They can say whatever they want. I guess all people can do is ignore them.

    The letter I posted above goes along with what many other military personel that I know have said. But it all comes down to "bad news sells", which is a shame.
     
  13. otheadp Banned Banned

    Messages:
    5,853
    a few months ago i attended a lecture on campus by a former FBI counter-terrorism assistant director

    he said something very interesting

    we may stop 99 terror attacks but one will succeed
    but we get measured not by the 99 we stopped, but by the 1 that we couldn't
    this is the institutional reality we operate under

    unfair? yes.
    reality? also yes.
    but these are the conditions in a liberal democracy and there's nothing anyone can do about it
     
  14. Yazan the truth is always hidden. Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    91
    Hello every body

    I really wonder about so many people in this world
    Because it seems that they never bother themselves to look out for the truth
    they just wait for the truth to come to them
    and this is absolutely can’t happen these days
    Your most big problem is that even when you talk about the media you mostly mean the American media, all what you know about the government’s actions is supplied to you by the untreatable American media
    I would like to say something, but I swear I don’t mean to be impolite or to disrespect any one
    But do you know that it’s quite well known about most of the Americans that their knowledge does not exceeds what’s in America.
    Honestly, do you read political articles written by un-Americans?
    I can read in English, Arabic, Persian, Swahili and French?
    And of course I read as well some translated articles written initially in Spanish, Italian and Chinese.
    In some way some of you are saying that the media is misleading, so I wonder since it is like that how can you trust what’s your government is saying about what’s going on in Iraq
    I mean since your witness “the media” is not saying the truth!!!!!!!
    About that letter you attached, orestes
    I would like to say something
    I chat from time to time with Iraqis living in Baghdad, Basra and Karbala’a. I watch the Arabian media, the Turkish and some European’s
    I know and I see what you can’t be aware of by relying on the American media.
    And I a sure you 100% that what’s written in that letter is rubbish.
    An advice from a friend
    Never wait for the truth to come to you
    Because it is stupid to ask the thief “ have you stole that?”
    Do you expect from that guy to say my American collages are killing civilians?
    “in case they are doing so”
    Don’t trust a media that supports its country
    Search for a neutral source.

    Yazan
     
  15. orestes Strategos Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    143
    Yazan,

    Let me first say that I always search for unbiased information when looking for the truth. Also, I'm a huge history buff and know a great deal about the past and present world.

    I find it hard to believe that United States soldiers are killing civilians on purpose. What would be the point?

    The soldier the wrote the letter attatched is no theif. He is good man, and like many others that I know that went to Iraq, would have no reason to make up all those statistics. Many that I have talked to are frustrated with how the media portrays their work over there.
     
  16. Don Hakman Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    619
    Its uncool to be ignorant.
     
  17. travis Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    160
    Both "left" and "right" wing "mainstrean" US media did everything in it's power (which is considerable) to forment and promote this war, now they are playing the partisan game and the side that pretends to be left wing acts like it's opposed to the war. It's all a disinformation game.
     
  18. Johnny Bravo Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    272
    Tom Daschel and others on the Left were called "un American" and so on when they suggested that the war in Iraq was being waged for dubious reasons, bad timing and a resource drain on the real "war against terror".

    They fuckin TOLD everyone but the bullish media, and right wing chickenhawks shouted them down. And the moderate Dems..God, those sheep didnt have the balls to take a firm stand.

    One thing is for sure- there is no turning back.
    Fuck Bush/ Support the Troops.
     
  19. otheadp Banned Banned

    Messages:
    5,853
    Fuck Bush / Support the Troops.
    hehe that sounds funny

    how can you do that?
    reminds me of a satire blogger's entry

    "patriotic leftists wave, then burn the flag"
     
  20. Whirlwind Banned Banned

    Messages:
    242
    Let's get down to BRASS TACKS, OK?

    800 US soldiers dead in Iraq and Afghanistan and their bodies being hidden by BRINGING THEM "UNDER THE RADAR" on order's from our Whitehouse "terrorist," lest the American people bolt from his "BLOOD FOR OIL WAR"

    Over 3,500 wounded, maimed and otherwised injured soldiers spread from Bagdad to Germany and on to the Ft. Bragg's hospital.

    The president continues to lie to the American people about "EVERYTHING BEING UNDER CONTROL."

    Falluja looms ahead with 3,000 US soldiers getting ready to fight an alleged al Sadar guerrilla fighter force approaching 10,000 armed and an unknown number of fadayeen fighters.

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    Nope, there will be no glory in this morass.

    Meanwhile, the irrepressible CHICKEN HAWKS who started all of this mess with their LIES, HALF TRUTHS, MISREPRESENTATIONS and TWISTED INTELLIGENCE are at home WATCHING THE ACTION ON FOX NEWS NETWORK.

    BRING 'EM ON," huh?

    Whirlwind....
     
  21. Whirlwind Banned Banned

    Messages:
    242
    Two realities regarding Iraq and Bush....

    Make Iraq a democracy!

    Hell, they can't create a democracy in Haiti right off our coastline.

    Make George Bush into a STATESMAN?

    Like trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear!

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    Whirlwind....
     
  22. Whirlwind Banned Banned

    Messages:
    242

    US media reporting....

    They thrive on feeding the big ego's of the EMPIRE bunch what they want to hear: YEAH MAN, WE ARE THE TOUGHEST, GREATEST, MEANEST & BESTEST SOB'S IN THE WHOLE WORLD!.

    Why do they do it?

    Like giving a drunk sailor another beer which is to obviously receive HIGH RATINGS from the Bush administration. (Watch the presidents favorite channel: FOX NEWS NETWORK).

    Whirlwind....
     
  23. Yazan the truth is always hidden. Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    91
    Dear Orestes
    Sorry if I seemed to be impolite or what ever
    But for sure I did not mean you by saying “”their knowledge does not exceeds what’s in America.””
    I just said what I heard from people with various nationalities when I met them in one of the conferences.
    Any way sorry again
    But I would like to say something
    I have an American friend called Isa, he is very smart and well educated guy
    He has a PHD in English literature, he kept teaching in the US for 10 years before he moved to Turkey then Oman
    He told me that the idea he used to have about what is going on in the middle east is completely different then what’s really is going on!!!!!!!
    Another thing I would like to say
    I didn’t enter to that soldier’s heart so I would know for sure that he is a liar or not
    But all what I say that what’s written over their in his letter is completely wrong
    In case he is really a good man, I would say that Iraq is not a park or a museum where a soldier can move freely and dig out for the truth and make such a nice statistic about the difference between the present and the past

    Who told him they were not before?
    Is America in Iraq to help children?
    I’ll tell you something
    When asked on "60 Minutes" about the death of half a million children in Iraq - more children than died in Hiroshima, Madeline Albright responded "we think the price is worth it."
    http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/april99/042299l.htm

    with the biggest joke which made me laugh and laugh and laugh
    Do you know that people in Iraq (males, females and even old ones) used to be forced to go to school by low? Iraq used to have some of the best schools in the Middle East and Asia. It has the heist percentage of educated people among Arab countries.
    Do you know that there was a big reward for any one who translates any book of any language to Arabic?

    This is the same joke I always here
    Westerns think that Arab live in deserts where no clean water and no available electrical power. Make me a favor and visit the Middle East one day.

    Hospitals were fine before the American embargo. If they are not that fine before the war, who made them so? The Iraqis????????
    And by the way they were much better before the war

    Are you kidding me?
    The American government employed (only for decoration) people those who would never say no for its policy. Which were out of Iraq and never fought against Sadam. Which are refused by 99% of the Iraqis.
    Do you call this election?????

    Sorry I can’t go forward with this funny letter?
    It’s a big big big joke
     

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