MSM Cartoon Offense
I would be among the first to get annoyed if someone were to lampoon something that I hold sacred – and, apparently, there are Muslims who don’t take kindly to newspapers in the West portraying in any way caricatures of Mohammed. For several days riots have ensued; embassies have been burned; western-based businesses have been looted and ransacked, people have been killed. This, the reaction of the Muslim people to the Danish offense of publishing a few cartoons.
However, the story here isn’t about the Muslim reaction (which most everyone in the West will agree has been excessive and tellingly violent). The story is the reaction by the MSM (Main Stream Media for those of you lacking familiarity with the blogosphere). The story is in their newfound sensitivity and desire “not to offend.”
It is important to point out that several purveyors of news, especially across Europe, have shown solidarity with the Danish media and have published the offensive cartoons (see Michelle Malkin’s commentary here). But most in the U.S. MSM have been deferential to the Muslim sensitivity and kept their silence in this matter – when they have shown absolutely no regard for graver offense to Christiandom. What’s with the double standard?
Andrew Sullivan suggests that the U.S. MSM is giving “Islamo-bullies” a free ride in their new-found reluctance to offend. Why would they do this?
My theory for why this double standard is evident by the U.S. media outlets is a bit different from that espoused by Sullivan (and by others writing on this subject). They suggest that the MSM has caved in to fear – that because of the threat of violence toward them – they refuse to print the cartoons.
Well, by this time, there are many, many news outlets around the world who have published these offensive cartoons (most are part of the new, electronic media). Standing up as another potential target when so many have already taken the most vicious of the Muslim attacks would not seem to be such a great risk. So, I suggest that it is not really because of the fear of violence. Instead, I suggest that the U.S. MSM is unwilling to offend Muslims for the same reasons that it is unwilling to offend Democrats. They are allied with them in their fight against western civilization (hence this entry's title says "offense" not "offence").
No, I am not suggesting that the MSM has literally forged an alliance with Islamic forces – but I do propose that the MSM shares a common foe with the Islamo-fascists. Their common enemy is “the establishment” – or the forces that control western civilization. The current Bush-led government is certainly both “the establishment” and the source of agitation to the left-leaning MSM. So, out of convenience, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” – at least for the time being.
To many who remember the Vietnam era, the enemy of those days was also “the establishment.” The Charles Reich and the Tom Hayden revolutionaries were always railing on “the establishment” as the source of problems. This was caught up by the progressives of the day and became a rallying cry of the Aquarius generation.
The enemy found in “the establishment” has its roots in Marxism. Marx taught that revolution and the overthrow of the governing bourgeois system (including capitalism) was essential. Trotsky called it the Permanent Revolution and it was absolutely imperative that continuous revolution result in “complete liquidation” of existing power structures.
Just as then (in the Vietnam era), when the progressives saw revolution as the route to the destruction of “the establishment” – progressives now see the onslaught of Islamo-fascism as a route to the same end. This MSM sympathy for the sensitivities of Muslims is nothing more than support for the same old anti-establishment forces of the 60’s.
Yes, the Democrats and the MSM are trying to re-create the 60’s. These were their glory years – when real progress was made toward the destruction of “establishment” forces. No wonder they return to the same memes, this is the same war for Marxism.
However, the story here isn’t about the Muslim reaction (which most everyone in the West will agree has been excessive and tellingly violent). The story is the reaction by the MSM (Main Stream Media for those of you lacking familiarity with the blogosphere). The story is in their newfound sensitivity and desire “not to offend.”
It is important to point out that several purveyors of news, especially across Europe, have shown solidarity with the Danish media and have published the offensive cartoons (see Michelle Malkin’s commentary here). But most in the U.S. MSM have been deferential to the Muslim sensitivity and kept their silence in this matter – when they have shown absolutely no regard for graver offense to Christiandom. What’s with the double standard?
Andrew Sullivan suggests that the U.S. MSM is giving “Islamo-bullies” a free ride in their new-found reluctance to offend. Why would they do this?
My theory for why this double standard is evident by the U.S. media outlets is a bit different from that espoused by Sullivan (and by others writing on this subject). They suggest that the MSM has caved in to fear – that because of the threat of violence toward them – they refuse to print the cartoons.
Well, by this time, there are many, many news outlets around the world who have published these offensive cartoons (most are part of the new, electronic media). Standing up as another potential target when so many have already taken the most vicious of the Muslim attacks would not seem to be such a great risk. So, I suggest that it is not really because of the fear of violence. Instead, I suggest that the U.S. MSM is unwilling to offend Muslims for the same reasons that it is unwilling to offend Democrats. They are allied with them in their fight against western civilization (hence this entry's title says "offense" not "offence").
No, I am not suggesting that the MSM has literally forged an alliance with Islamic forces – but I do propose that the MSM shares a common foe with the Islamo-fascists. Their common enemy is “the establishment” – or the forces that control western civilization. The current Bush-led government is certainly both “the establishment” and the source of agitation to the left-leaning MSM. So, out of convenience, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” – at least for the time being.
To many who remember the Vietnam era, the enemy of those days was also “the establishment.” The Charles Reich and the Tom Hayden revolutionaries were always railing on “the establishment” as the source of problems. This was caught up by the progressives of the day and became a rallying cry of the Aquarius generation.
The enemy found in “the establishment” has its roots in Marxism. Marx taught that revolution and the overthrow of the governing bourgeois system (including capitalism) was essential. Trotsky called it the Permanent Revolution and it was absolutely imperative that continuous revolution result in “complete liquidation” of existing power structures.
Just as then (in the Vietnam era), when the progressives saw revolution as the route to the destruction of “the establishment” – progressives now see the onslaught of Islamo-fascism as a route to the same end. This MSM sympathy for the sensitivities of Muslims is nothing more than support for the same old anti-establishment forces of the 60’s.
Yes, the Democrats and the MSM are trying to re-create the 60’s. These were their glory years – when real progress was made toward the destruction of “establishment” forces. No wonder they return to the same memes, this is the same war for Marxism.
posted by NorthShoreHI at 10:54 PM
0 comments
