really, what can one say about a paper whose Monday. A1 headline, is about a man reported to having been seen with gun in a residential area (featuring a photo of two police with rifles looking for him) - and Tuesday's big story on B3 is the same story with the same photo. Talk about saving money!
Back to Monday on A3 for a piece of propaganda disguised as news. "Metro Moncton boasts savvy entrepreneurs." In this case, the word "entrepreneur" like the word "terrorist" is a loaded one, except that that images for "entrepreneur" are warm and fuzzy. "Boasts" is another loaded word. And in any conversation I have heard in this city, I have never heard anyone boasting about our entrepreneurs - except for the Irving press and a few entrepreneurs.
And they're "savvy"? Another loaded word. And, since I know no test for entrepreneurial savviness, this can only be an opinion - not a fact for the news.
As well, I have never seen a story in this newspaper critical of "entrepreneurs". With such perfection, this must be the New Jerusalem. And this is no small point. It's one more sample of how this newspaper is deliberately used as propaganda.
On the editorial page, Alec Bruce and Norbert Cunningham both discuss the problems of the provincial economy without once mentioning the source of those problems. The only possible conclusion, then, is that our problems are caused by the sick, the poor and children.
On the good side, French-haters will enjoy a letter to the editor "We're empowered to pay but not save." It's about how those awful Acadians get jobs just because they're bilingual.I know just how the writer feels. I could have been a basketball star, and now be retired as a multi-millionaire. But they wouldn't let me because I was too short. It's not fair.
Similarly, the foreign news (anything more than a hundred metres from the newspaper office is foreign news), is full of loaded words and assumptions.
There are stories about 'terrorists' and 'extremists' and 'militants'. Well, we know who they are --wink, wink. And nobody on our side is like that. Then there's a big story on those awful ISIL people who behead hostages. And that's evil (another loaded word.) However. there is no mention of beheading as world leaders gather in sorrow over the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who beheaded people at the rate of 7.000 or so a year, plus cutting off the limbs of thousands more, and sentencing even more to long prison terms with thousands of floggings.
The US, meanwhile, continues its drone attacks all over the world. And the loaded word? It's militants - that's who they kill, militants. And militant is a bad word. (Well, yes, all soldiers are militants. But we call them militants only if they're on the other side.)
And how do we know the US kills militants? Because he US tells us. And what does militant mean in this loaded language? Well, if they're of the wrong colour or religious, it means anyone of military age. In this case, it was graciously admitted that one was a boy of 12). But this is the tip of the iceberg. Drones fly and kill every day. They hit wedding parties, mistaking them for 'terrorist'gatherings. They hit cars - which might contain terrorists, or might as easily contain a family going for a drive.
Only occasionally are such hits announced by the US government - and that is usually the only news source we have for such attacks. Why?
There are people in Yemen and Pakistan, in countries we have never heard of , who see the attacks, who know how many were killed, and who know who they were. Why don't our news media question them?
Oh. I know. It's because they're, you know, different from us. Indeed, they're often evil (another loaded word) and you can't trust them. I mean, if you want the truth, you have to go to the CIA. They're the good guys.
B5 has the story of anti-government riots that left 15 dead in Egypt. Read it. Tell me where it says that Egypt once had an elected government that was overthrown by the army (with US help and approval.). What took its place was, essentially, a military dictatorship. (Well, the US didn't approve of the elected government. So that's okay.)
Monday's B3 has a bizarre story on the negotiations to normalize relations with Cuba. And there's a gem in there. It seems that Cuba is on the US "terrorist" list. Let's see, now. Cuba has never attacked the US. It has been friendly, it's true, to Latin American countries that would love to get away from US dictatorship. But I have never heard of Cuba launching terrorist attacks on anybody. The US backed an invasion of Cuba, tried many times to poison or by other means kill Castro, has impoverished Cuba with illegal sanctions, set bombs in Cuba resorts, and blown up a Cuban airliner, killing all aboard.
And Cuba is on the terrorist list?
Oh, and the US insists that Cuba has to change its government system to allow more freedom. That's rich, coming from a country whose democracy collapsed so long ago and so obviously that the majority of Americans won't even vote. And the US demands more freedom? - the US that submits its people to more government spying than any nation in history? And, of course, changing the system means dumping medicare so elderly Cubans will have the same chance to go bankrupt as elderly Americans. (Medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy for elderly Americans.)
In brief, Obama's terms for a relationship with Cuba is that the US has to be given complete control of Cuban affairs. What would Stephen Harper say if Obama set the same terms for Canada?
(Well,, we know. Harper would say, "Where do I sign?" And the Irving press would applaud. In fact, it's already happening. In the old days, Canada was at war when Britain was at war. Now, Canada is at war when the US is at war. And, like the US, we don't bother to declare war any more.)
_____________________________________________________________________________
Then there are little items the Irving press missed.
1. The warming of oceans, a warming that threatens all forms of life in them, is now developing so quickly, that scientists are falling behind in measuring it. But don't worry. I'm sure the oil industry will fix it.
2. In Poland the foreign minister has thanked Ukraine for liberating the notorious death camp at Auschwitz late in World War Two. There are just a few little problems with that -
a) Auschwitz was liberated by troops of the Soviet Union
b)Poland was a world leader in persecuting Jews. Many poles happily cooperated with the SS in rounding them up.
c) Ukrainians, far from liberating Jews, were leaders in rounding them up and killing them for Hitler. There is still a Nazi party in the Kyiv government.
In connection with Auschwitz, a story worth reading in the Monday Times and Transcript, perhaps the only one worth reading, is on B6 "Holocaust survivor returning to Auschwitz." This is a powerful story, well told, with a heart-breaking photo of children standing behind the barbed wire.
The story is about Miriam Friedman Zeigler who appears, in the photo, as a little girl behind the wire. She came to Canada several years later. Why was it several years later? Because Canadians didn't want Jews to come here.
3. In the good news, princess Hilary Clinton, probable candidate for US president, had a break in the midst of bad news. The bad news is that hubby Bill Clinton is accused of sexual adventure again, this time with a 14 year old girl. The good news is that she has found a prince, indeed, a king. King Abdullah, world champion beheader, dictator, and denier of all rights for women, left her a gift in his will. It's a half-million dollars worth of jewelry.
God bless America
______________________________________________________________________
The Irving press is so intellectually flabby and dishonest that it's not enough to point out its faults. We also need to take a good look at how we got into this mess. There are precious few good guys; and lots and lots of bad, even evil, people on both sides. That's because people on both sides are human. And we're all constructed partly good and partly bad.
We are also humans who, like all humans, easily fall into fear and hatred. Indeed, the fear and hatred are usually each caused by the other. And many, many news media and leaders around the world use that fear and hatred to do the terrible things we are all doing now, and each side blaming the other side for doing it.
Back to Monday on A3 for a piece of propaganda disguised as news. "Metro Moncton boasts savvy entrepreneurs." In this case, the word "entrepreneur" like the word "terrorist" is a loaded one, except that that images for "entrepreneur" are warm and fuzzy. "Boasts" is another loaded word. And in any conversation I have heard in this city, I have never heard anyone boasting about our entrepreneurs - except for the Irving press and a few entrepreneurs.
And they're "savvy"? Another loaded word. And, since I know no test for entrepreneurial savviness, this can only be an opinion - not a fact for the news.
As well, I have never seen a story in this newspaper critical of "entrepreneurs". With such perfection, this must be the New Jerusalem. And this is no small point. It's one more sample of how this newspaper is deliberately used as propaganda.
On the editorial page, Alec Bruce and Norbert Cunningham both discuss the problems of the provincial economy without once mentioning the source of those problems. The only possible conclusion, then, is that our problems are caused by the sick, the poor and children.
On the good side, French-haters will enjoy a letter to the editor "We're empowered to pay but not save." It's about how those awful Acadians get jobs just because they're bilingual.I know just how the writer feels. I could have been a basketball star, and now be retired as a multi-millionaire. But they wouldn't let me because I was too short. It's not fair.
Similarly, the foreign news (anything more than a hundred metres from the newspaper office is foreign news), is full of loaded words and assumptions.
There are stories about 'terrorists' and 'extremists' and 'militants'. Well, we know who they are --wink, wink. And nobody on our side is like that. Then there's a big story on those awful ISIL people who behead hostages. And that's evil (another loaded word.) However. there is no mention of beheading as world leaders gather in sorrow over the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who beheaded people at the rate of 7.000 or so a year, plus cutting off the limbs of thousands more, and sentencing even more to long prison terms with thousands of floggings.
The US, meanwhile, continues its drone attacks all over the world. And the loaded word? It's militants - that's who they kill, militants. And militant is a bad word. (Well, yes, all soldiers are militants. But we call them militants only if they're on the other side.)
And how do we know the US kills militants? Because he US tells us. And what does militant mean in this loaded language? Well, if they're of the wrong colour or religious, it means anyone of military age. In this case, it was graciously admitted that one was a boy of 12). But this is the tip of the iceberg. Drones fly and kill every day. They hit wedding parties, mistaking them for 'terrorist'gatherings. They hit cars - which might contain terrorists, or might as easily contain a family going for a drive.
Only occasionally are such hits announced by the US government - and that is usually the only news source we have for such attacks. Why?
There are people in Yemen and Pakistan, in countries we have never heard of , who see the attacks, who know how many were killed, and who know who they were. Why don't our news media question them?
Oh. I know. It's because they're, you know, different from us. Indeed, they're often evil (another loaded word) and you can't trust them. I mean, if you want the truth, you have to go to the CIA. They're the good guys.
B5 has the story of anti-government riots that left 15 dead in Egypt. Read it. Tell me where it says that Egypt once had an elected government that was overthrown by the army (with US help and approval.). What took its place was, essentially, a military dictatorship. (Well, the US didn't approve of the elected government. So that's okay.)
Monday's B3 has a bizarre story on the negotiations to normalize relations with Cuba. And there's a gem in there. It seems that Cuba is on the US "terrorist" list. Let's see, now. Cuba has never attacked the US. It has been friendly, it's true, to Latin American countries that would love to get away from US dictatorship. But I have never heard of Cuba launching terrorist attacks on anybody. The US backed an invasion of Cuba, tried many times to poison or by other means kill Castro, has impoverished Cuba with illegal sanctions, set bombs in Cuba resorts, and blown up a Cuban airliner, killing all aboard.
And Cuba is on the terrorist list?
Oh, and the US insists that Cuba has to change its government system to allow more freedom. That's rich, coming from a country whose democracy collapsed so long ago and so obviously that the majority of Americans won't even vote. And the US demands more freedom? - the US that submits its people to more government spying than any nation in history? And, of course, changing the system means dumping medicare so elderly Cubans will have the same chance to go bankrupt as elderly Americans. (Medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy for elderly Americans.)
In brief, Obama's terms for a relationship with Cuba is that the US has to be given complete control of Cuban affairs. What would Stephen Harper say if Obama set the same terms for Canada?
(Well,, we know. Harper would say, "Where do I sign?" And the Irving press would applaud. In fact, it's already happening. In the old days, Canada was at war when Britain was at war. Now, Canada is at war when the US is at war. And, like the US, we don't bother to declare war any more.)
_____________________________________________________________________________
Then there are little items the Irving press missed.
1. The warming of oceans, a warming that threatens all forms of life in them, is now developing so quickly, that scientists are falling behind in measuring it. But don't worry. I'm sure the oil industry will fix it.
2. In Poland the foreign minister has thanked Ukraine for liberating the notorious death camp at Auschwitz late in World War Two. There are just a few little problems with that -
a) Auschwitz was liberated by troops of the Soviet Union
b)Poland was a world leader in persecuting Jews. Many poles happily cooperated with the SS in rounding them up.
c) Ukrainians, far from liberating Jews, were leaders in rounding them up and killing them for Hitler. There is still a Nazi party in the Kyiv government.
In connection with Auschwitz, a story worth reading in the Monday Times and Transcript, perhaps the only one worth reading, is on B6 "Holocaust survivor returning to Auschwitz." This is a powerful story, well told, with a heart-breaking photo of children standing behind the barbed wire.
The story is about Miriam Friedman Zeigler who appears, in the photo, as a little girl behind the wire. She came to Canada several years later. Why was it several years later? Because Canadians didn't want Jews to come here.
3. In the good news, princess Hilary Clinton, probable candidate for US president, had a break in the midst of bad news. The bad news is that hubby Bill Clinton is accused of sexual adventure again, this time with a 14 year old girl. The good news is that she has found a prince, indeed, a king. King Abdullah, world champion beheader, dictator, and denier of all rights for women, left her a gift in his will. It's a half-million dollars worth of jewelry.
God bless America
______________________________________________________________________
The Irving press is so intellectually flabby and dishonest that it's not enough to point out its faults. We also need to take a good look at how we got into this mess. There are precious few good guys; and lots and lots of bad, even evil, people on both sides. That's because people on both sides are human. And we're all constructed partly good and partly bad.
We are also humans who, like all humans, easily fall into fear and hatred. Indeed, the fear and hatred are usually each caused by the other. And many, many news media and leaders around the world use that fear and hatred to do the terrible things we are all doing now, and each side blaming the other side for doing it.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment