There is, as we pointed out yesterday, plenty of media coverage of the recent massacre of 16 Afghans–mostly children–as a PR problem. A related storyline is the discussion of the killings as presenting problems with the war strategy.
Two headlines at the NPR website, for example:
That piece advises that it “may be tough there for U.S. troops in the days and weeks ahead.” Of course, the assumption in the headline is that there is a “strategy” in the first place.
The other headline:
That piece included a photo caption that explained that the dead Afghan children “could make the U.S. mission even harder.”
No mention of two verified eyewitnesses who claim that there were multiple “laughing and drunk” soldiers involved in these killings. I guess the others didn’t have reliable traumatic brain injuries to fall back on. And children – indeed. 4 of the 9 children were under the age of six.
Isn’t it always about US?
Headlines coming soon to a newspaper near you:
Pentagon to investigate the loss of ammunition. Bullets allegedly wasted on non-combatant Afghans.
Or
Pentagon fears trial in “ammunition-wasting scandal” to be harmful to moral.
Yeah … you know, it’s a sad thing for those ragheads, but look, we got a goddamn pipeline to build, and just on general principle we can’t let the Chinks and Russkies muscle in on *our* action, can we?
Say “Sorry, shit happens”, toss ’em a few bucks, and let’s get on with the business at hand.
Jesus …
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I know no one with that view would be affected by this piece, but perhaps a few actual human beings might:
I Don’t Want To See Their Faces; I Don’t Want To Hear Them Scream
by Christopher Cooper
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/12-1
(My response to Cooper, for anyone interested, is at my blog, posted Monday)
Nothing ever changes. The reporting now is no worse than during the Vietnam invasion years, except we don’t have body count tallies on the TV screen every night during the “news”. It’s all propaganda and perception control. You learn nothing from it except how we’re supposed to view the world from the corporate perspective … and PBS/NPR are totally corporate, including Koch brothers funding for “science” programs. Turn the crap off. You’ll find yourself able to think for yourself again.
These corporate media reports are so cold and callous and unfeeling. As Americans we cannot let this insensitivity spread throughout our society. We must push the corporate media and government officials to adhere to moral and ethical standards, national and international laws, and the rights of humanity. The lesson from the Nuremberg Trials was the crucial necessity of placing supreme importance on: “Justice. Truth. Value of One Single Human Being.” If this critical lesson isn’t learned, then tragic atrocities like the massacre of Afghan civilians (“crimes against humanity”) will be repeated.
War Prevention and International Peace: The international leaders must find a way to replace weapons of war with meeting the basic needs of their people: food, shelter, employment, healthcare, education and the right to vote.
When Americans are killed in Afghanistan, it’s a major issue. When innocent Afghani children are killed, it’s a “PR Setback”.
I look at the American News Media these days, and it inspires nothing but nausea at how they’ve not only abandoned the principles of unbiased investigative reporting, but they’ve also embraced the example of PRAVDA in the Soviet Union, and exist only as a cheering section for the Corporate Establishment.
In fact, the only time you ever hear something bad about the government or corporations is when someone is stupid enough to get caught playing dirty, as opposed to successfully covering it up.
Can giving civilians, especially children, freedom from life be considered as giving “freedom?” Too many Americans apparently think so or they would convince our mis-leaders to end these wars/occupations NOW.
I think we need an in depth journalistic investigation into American culture to find out why possible disruption to a strategy causes more outrage than the deaths of 16 murdered civilians. Maybe we can ask the first bible-toting street-corner evangelist we meet…
I see things very differently than many here.I see this country(USA) acting on this matter in the correct way. Outrage. Saddness.A desire to bring this murderer to justice.A striving to understand how this could happen.And to further take precautions that it never happen again.There will be military and civilian oversight to investigate and understand this.Reparations paid to the families.And hopefully we will mourn with them in contemplation and prayer.We can not change what a sick member of our society did.But we can stand with the victims families in their time of sorrow.This is what I hoped for from Arab communities on 911.We can show by example that we do not condone murderers of innocent people.I have every faith Obama will move to do just that.
michael e – You are naive. The US has ALWAYS engaged in torture, unnecessary killings (collateral damage) and has until now been able to spin it, with the help of corporate media) with more mythology. We have NEVER EVER brought democracy to any country. Instead we have repeatedly unseated/killed democratically and popular foreign heads of state and installed our own dictator.
As a survivor of WW2 in Nazi occupied Holland, I recently learned just WHO funded Hitler’s war machine after WW1 and the Versaille Treaty left them so broke it required a wheel barow of Marks to buy a loaf of bread. Enter Corporate America!! That’s right. WE funded Hitler. and while we’re vilifying Hitler why don’t we address the issue of US camps on German soil holding millions of German soldiers who were denied food and water to die a slow death. Over 1.7 million Germans died in those US controlled camps. That was Eisenhower. German people who would share their meager rations and throw them over the fence into the camps were shot at by Americans. It was Gen. Patton who defied Eisenhower and opened the camps for the inmates to go home. Which should make us wonder that Gen. Patton died very shortly thereafter in a car accident. Was it related to having defied Eisenhower?
Heroes are the invention of those who seek perpetual war. So is the word “service”
No GI ever died in a foreign war for the freedom of this country. They died for the benefit of Corporate America. Intellectual lazyness is not an excuse for ignorance.
So, at this point I hold the U.S./Britain accountible for having created Hitler and contributing to WW2 that destroyed so much of my childhood. I was bombed 3 times by the allies with a faulty atlas. They thought they were in Germany but were in Holland. Nothing of the original narrative about WW2 is so. NOTHING!! Whatever you think you know is mere mythology.
Another script borrowed from our evil bastard child Isreal. Massacres, genocide, illegal wars, occupation is all a PR nightmare. Send out the troll brigades to fix it, change the public perception, spread propaganda and lies far and wide and voila! victory has been achieved. Or so they think.
@ Tishado: You’re a smart guy. Read your question again, then go back to the article titled “Death Versus Disruption in Gaza” and the answer is there. Same “logic,” same rationale, same exceptionalism/choosedness. The axis of evil, the US and Israel, remember? But you know that. I’m just sayin’…
Cheers!
i would like to point out that the united states, one of the most thoroughly racist countries on the planet, is incapable of doing anything positive in non european countries. just look at U.S. actions around the world just in recent times. vietnam,central america, iraq, afghanistan and i could go on. in spite of obama, the system is still one controlled by racism/white supremacy. once we see that, we can better understand how american soldiers,themselves the product of the culture, can do the things they do. what we progressives have to do is organize to stop U.S. imperialism by any means necessary. the iranian people are next on the U.S. hit list and we should be preparing now to resist hard.
The bulk of the CMSM is with the side that is pro US military whatever they do. They are given the huge benefit of the doubt in nearly ever case. Until we can break the grip of Corporate Conservative “neutrality” with the news an our gov’t actions we will have the majority of people who care about the news will only hear the corporate news version. Either the right questions aren’t asked or they are asked incorrectly to elicit the answers they an the Powers That Be want in the first place.
Doug Latimer – Can you post a link to your blog, I’d like to read your response. Thanks.
Bob, it’s at http://fromanunlikelysource.wordpress.com.
Clicking on my name above also takes you there.
Well Gerry1211 you view point of WW2 and our involvement in it is um….interesting.You really have dug about and found some disjointed facts,nonsense, and observations(some very personal)to come to a very um….unique historical perspective and conclusion.I have never heard it put so.Well Gerry this is a free country and as long as you mean no harm you are welcome to your beliefs.I will leave it at that.
MK that evil bastard Israel really does have a touch of grace.Interesting turn of phrase.Now Please take your meds.
Ajamu…Please explain what you mean by “by any means necessary”.Don’t like the sound of that
Night gaunt…..This whole corporate monster nonsense so beloved as the boogeyman of the left is really getting old.There is no secret skulI and bones meetings with corporate big wigs to control the world.All my friends in business have incorporated.They must have missed the memo of their evil organization between running the kids to soccer.But its not them right?Its always the other guy.Bill Gates…oh wait he is a good guy so they did not invite him to their annual take over the world beef and beer. I wish the right could get their own evil mascot just for fun.We will call him UNION Joe.The man out to destroy the world.He can be at all the ballgames on the field with the Philly fanatic.Oh wait I have to go….A corporation just broke my window.They are coming up the stairs.Help please help.Its the corporation that makes cookies for the girl scouts.Tell my mother I love her