It is time for everyone– especially the media–to cease with the violent language.
During the past few days, there’s been a disturbing trend to celebrate the death of every terrorist nobody, to indiscriminately use language of violence and destruction, and to speak of the war in Afghanistan as if we will “Win” the war on terror in the next 10 days.
We could use a disgusting and inappropriate sexual metaphor to describe how the media looks when they speak about executions carried out by the Northern Alliance, the death of terrorist leaders from using cellular service and the idea that this “War on terror” will expand into Iraq but instead, we will just say that they look very happy.
War is a serious business with serious consequences that deserve respect. This is not a new concept. The Geneva Convention prohibits murder and allows only the targeting of military materiel. At first glance, such a concept seems ridiculous since soldiers die during war. However, the wars of the previous century and a seemingly unstoppable global disease of ethnic cleansing give credibility to the goal of outlawing murder even during times of war.
The common trait among journalists that have abandon objectivity for the glory that comes from speaking with a bloody tongue is that they are all pansies.
Not just any kind of pansy but the distinctly American kind– fat, stupid and arrogant.
It is hard to believe that anyone who speaks with the bloody tongue could actually back up their language. Except of course, George Bush. He, however, is an entirely different aspect on the use of violent language.
The Bush administration has done a remarkable job at keeping a tight lid on activities in Afghanistan and all of the half a dozen hot spots where U.S. troops are secretly deployed. For lack of a more apt description, nobody knows jack about what the U.S. military is doing, particularly the media.
This is why the media is stupid and Bush is fearsome. Without having anything to report, the media is left to expose their profound ignorance with “Tough talk” and completely asinine comments about being a journalist and a patriot simultaneously. As if their credibility wasn’t already damaged, they wallow in their own pollution. Without a doubt, the press believes its own press and they all think that they’re pretty clever by tossing objectivity out the window with their unsolicited commentaries.
Media outlets have been badly damaged in the realm of public opinion for a long time now. The only thing that keep people coming back is that people want to believe that journalists are trying to be objective, that they’re trying to simply report the news. Long before this war on terror is over, the media will be thoroughly discredited to the entire world.
The discredit will have nothing to do with an individual’s perception of the war. It will have everything to do with an individual’s perception of a journalist.
