Green Helmet Guy
The Green Helmet Guy is following the war in the media: lies, fake photography, staged photographs, etc. A typical story: Here is a stunning article on the betrayal of the Western media. The conclusions drawn from the ongoing media lies are shocking in their threat to the world as we know it! This article will soon have a permanent link at the top of the page because of it’s incredible insights into the media’s betrayal. Wake up now or buy a burqa!
He has lots more.
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Melanie Phillips
August 30, 2006
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The media war against Israel
Early in the recent Lebanon war, the blogosphere revealed the fabrication of images by Reuters, whose reputation is now in shreds among those dwindling numbers in the western mainstream media who still acknowledge there is such a thing as the truth. Since then, the nature and scale of the various frauds perpetrated by the media during that war put those doctored Reuters pictures into the shade. The western media are no longer merely producing questionable professional practices in reporting a war. They are now active participants in it — and on the wrong side of history.
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To date, as far as I can determine, not one mainstream editor or proprietor has acknowledged this corruption of the western media. The scale of this corruption now threatens to have a lethal impact on the course of human history. Hatred now drives not just the jihadists but their western dupes, too. Truth and freedom are indivisible. The deconstruction of the former inevitably presages the destruction of the latter. This is the way a civilisation dies.
Citizens seem to be taking the war into their own hands in more and more cases.
See also: The Vigilantes Arrive
and
A Return to Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear....
Posts
12 comments:
Chas,
nothing new about lying during war. everybody does it. that's not the point. Of course Arab countries have provided more than their share of hilarity on this front.
Interesting that you've gone out of your way to refute some the allegations of lying, but that's also besides the point.
What is the point?
> I guess my point is that, yes there were
> definetly fakes, staged incidents etc, but
> did they significantly effect the
> perception of the war?
Checking sources is pretty difficult for most people. Challenging news organizations to be on top of their game, because really they're the ones who are supposed to be checking sources, is a good civic minded sort of thing to do.
Not good when news gathering organizations become complacent. Very good when bloggers put their feet the flames. That makes bloggers a highly constructive addition to the democratic landscape.
Frankly I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that you would appose increased citizen activism in the interest of getting better and more truthful news.
> Fakes are fakes. They do not really
> merit discussion, and once exposed
> as such should play no further part in
> the debate.
They merit wide discussion and outrage.
Look I understand the harm this does to your position. It's very difficult to promote peace at any cost when people start to figure out the extent to which their goodwill has been manipulated, and then begin to learn what that cost actually is.
You have an unenviable task.
> Some wars [have] to be fought ..
.. and some don't. That's right.
Responsible nations fight the ones in the first category and figure out how to avoid the ones in the second category.
So, your assumption about Israel continues to be unyieldingly negative. I agree that does limit the usefulness of further conversation.
But let me make a last attempt. Let's assume I'm Israel, and you're trying to sell me peace as apposed to war in Lebanon. What's the price? How much do you want?
But don't try to hoodwink me. I want to know operating costs, and the cost of insurance on this peace deal. Plus I want to know the return policy.
> I hope you take as much time reading
> and thinking about this as I did writing it!
I promise.
Actually, before I comment let me give you a chance to revise your proposal to reflect the assumption that there has not yet been a war. The point,I thought, was to prevent one.
So it's the morning of July 12. Two Israeli solders have been taken captive and 8 have been killed. Rockets have been fired at Israeli cities. You (your avatar?) have the post of UN Peace Maker.
I'm Olmert. My defense minister is hiding under his desk, my army chief is selling his stock portfolio, and my president is putting away his toys away after a morning romp with his secretary. I feel defeated already. Talk me out of this war, please!
Mr. Olmert (aka Shahar)--it's the morning of July 12-- waiting for call from Mr. Chas, UN Peacekeeper:
Relax. Have a cookie. Have a second cookie. You deserve it.
Things up north are in good hands. Chas is on the phone with NY, Paris, Geneva, Beirut, and networking his UNIFIL outposts. Lots of committee meetings are contemplated, but coordinating everyone's schedule at the last moment is a bitch.
Schedule a press conference. Send an assistant to roust your President and Defense Minister, and tell one to change his pants, and the other to zip his, before they get back to work. Call Halutz and apologize for interrupting his transactions, but suggest an alert, just to have something to say at the presser.
Have another cookie. Tune into CNN for more ideas to outline at the press conference. Call Caroline Glick for suggestions.
Well lt, the current despair definately creates a window of opportunity for Mr. Chas and I hope he can take it before events overtake his efforts. we're all praying for him.
Unfortunately we were forced to arrest his driver this morning.
> Besides it really would not matter
> if I came up with a totally foolproof
> way that peace could have been obtained
> on the 13th of July, now would it?
well, for the sake of the thought experiment, yes it would have.
I was having a little fun while sincerely waiting for your update.
and please stop crying. you're worse than siniora. the REAL parties have already signed a REAL deal at the REAL UN that is rapidly bringing about new and vastly better conditions on the ground in Lebanon. You didn't really think I was asking you to replace that deal did you?
ha! they're on the verge of being rid of that damned albatros around their collective democratic necks for the first time in decades and all you can see is that, since it took a war to achieve it, it must therefore be bad.
but ok. your crying got to me. I'll take your proposal as it stands and respond to it. But instead of just giving you what you want I'll take each point one at a time and tell you what I really think of it.
1) An acknowledgement, without qualification, that the suffering inflicted on Lebanon was disproportionate. Cost=0
hogwash. Proportional to what? Compared to the threat that Hizbollah posed to Israel, both strategically and in raw terms of its capability to cause mass death, this war was lenient. And by that I mean, first, that the numbers you're getting regarding civilian casualties are certainly bogus, and second, even if they're not Israels success in delivering a killing blow to an organization like Hizbollah with as few civilian casualties as were caused is unprecedented.
If you want real proportionality I'll make you the following deal. Lebanon should disarm Hizbollah. Until they do, for every Hizbollahi on the ground in Lebanon, I'll arm and train an English football hooligan, you know the kind who like to kill muslims for sport, and place them on the northern boder. They'll be an exact mirror image of Hizbollah and present the exact same threat to the Lebanese that Hizbollah present to Israelis. So there's your proportionality. Let them disarm their racist murderers and we'll disarm ours.
[the fact that israel would NEVER actually do such a thing is instructive, don't ya think?]
2) An offer (which would have to be thru a third party and not public) to pay some portion of the costs of de-mining in S.Leb. Cost=A lot! depending what portion
ok
3) Release without preconditions of any remaining Lebanese detainees from the first occupation and last war. Cost = 0
some of these "detainees" are murderers, hense prisoners, hense no. we can maybe talk about individuals on a case by case basis.
4) An offer, again thru a third party, to pay some or all of the cost of oil slick clean up. cost = significant.
ok
5) An indication, without preconditions, of a willingness to negotiate on disputed border areas
there are no disputed border areas. the UN signed off on that already.
On the "from lebanon" side, your 1) and 2) need to be merged into a single act: disarm Hizbollah. I'm not interested in words acknowledging the risk, or a redoubling of efforts, etc etc. Just get it done.
3) ...
Lebanon has no Israeli hostages, nor does lebanon have any influence with Hizbollah in that regard.
etc. on to the adendum
- border affairs committee
things like this only work when there's already peace. They're not able to create it.
- regional affairs committee
ditto
- an environmental committee
this was done between israel and the palestinians during OSLO. the problem was that there are so few environmentalists on their side that they just laughed at what Israel proposed. ("you want to do what? For the sake of rabbits?") Remember these are the people who strapped a bomb to a donkey (which btw was the only time PETA ever condemned terrorism). maybe with lebanon it would be different. so yes.
I understand that you don't think committees have to be able to acheive much to be worth doing, but you're wrong. If they can't acheive anything, they become a fig leaf and in that role end up doing harm.
- cultural ties.
Lebanese woman are HOT. who could say no to cultural ties.
overall, Chas, it looks to me like you never learned the lessons of OSLO. And the main lesson I'm talking about is that "process" in and of itself does not bring intent with it later on. You just can't "fake it till you make it" in the peace game. Tried it. Didn't work.
Actually Chas I'm more than a little dissapointed. Based on everything you've said up until now, I would have thought that the chance to step in a moment before the war begins, not a day later or two or five days later but before it begins, and present a viable alternative would be a chance you couldn't pass up.
I don't think I set you up at all. I thought I was giving you the platform of your dreams.
You passed it up.
Chas wants more negotiations, concessions, admissions, kumbayah, yada, yada, bringing to mind some lines by my favorite Dane:
To make a name for learning,
When other roads are barred,
Take something very easy,
And make it very hard.
Piet Hein
From my world view, following actions needed by respective players:
CAUTION: Suggestions are simplistic, lack nuance, and could be thought of by sophisticated pundits as emminations from a crude fundamentalist perspective made by someone who knows he's right and therefore refuses to sympathize with the others' plight and issues.
1. Lebanon disarms Hezbollah. Israel is grateful. Sends gift packages of symbolic peace cookies. Shaped like doves.
2. Territorial disputes between Israel and Lebanon are laid to rest, since they're engendered by Hez as an agitating 3rd party, and as Shahar has noted, have already been resolved once. Besides, Hez is a non-player. See 1. above. Israel develops a dynamite dairy industry centered on the Shebaa Farms; offers discounted butter and cheese to Lebanon as a good will gesture. An International Peace Park is developed next to the dairy farms, with petting zoo and amusement park rides fashioned out of surplus decommissioned Hezbollah missiles.
3. Palis acknowledge Israel's existence, once and for all time, and quit with the bull shit.
4. Palis grow up as a community, a wannabe nation-state that can't do better than elect a terrorist organization as their government. Along with this maturing process, Palis do all the other sensible things Chas has nicely summarized. Many details of course. Y'all know what I'm talkin' about. Bottom line is that it is, and has always been, a chore that Israel cannot do for them.
5. Re items 3. and 4. above, Israel's role and sole responsibility is to make very public statements that they know the Palis can do it because that's what any intelligent, resourceful, decent folks would do who want to get along in the neighborhood. Israel might offer a carrot at the same time in the sense that as peaceful coexistence became reality, a sharing of the economic benefits between free and democratic neighbors could be contemplated. Period. If the neighbors can't rise to the occasion, let them wallow in their own squalor until the cows come home.
6. Israel's other responsibilities during implementation of 3., 4., and 5. above are to take care of her own people, including foremost assuring security from terrorist intrusions. Bigger, higher fences; mine fields with geophones installed to detect tunneling activities, improved and cleared fields of fire for welcoming bipedal nighttime intruders, counter-battery fire-controlled defensive field artillery to deliver timely and accurate response to incoming mortars and rockets targeted anywhere within Israel, improved and remodeled bomb shelters with air conditioning, the list goes on. A paramount tenet of this policy is the education of all concerned that a price must be paid for continuing terrorism. Consider it a learning experience. [Afterthought here, some suggested defensive activities may be adverse to the wildlife habitat. Tough. The rabbits will come back, I assure you, just as the forests in the north will return with time and some soothing rains. Better some rabbits and sand fleas be inconvenienced than some innocent children die on their playground.]
Shahar has responded well in the point-counterpoint tit-for-tat. I'll defer to his wisdom on those points of contention.
As a parting shot, Chas' following comment struck a chord with me, because I was thinking almost the same thing as an offering to him:
"Jump thru just one hoop for me.
Pretend that you give a damn .. pretend that you have family who live in the region, children that you care about,a lot of them, cousins, nephews, nieces, whatever. They live all over the region, not in any one country. You care about them all, none more than others. They have all refused to leave the region or their homes. They are not political.
Now, give them hope. Tell them how there can be peace, because they are frightened, they need to hear a reassuring voice.
Are you up for that challenge?"
I'd have to paraphrase just a few items: replacing "the region" with "Israel," and deleting "...not in any one country" should do it.
Chas, provide one example in the last 60 years of where a conciliatory approach by Israel to its Arab neighbors has resulted in any positive measure of security and peace for Israel that wasn't negated, resulting in ongoing terror and murder by the others, notwithstanding the Sadat-Begin accords (of which the merits are currently arguable).
I'm venturing a guess, at the risk of being accused of an ad hominum attack, that Chas is single, no children, under thirty-five, college educated, with an office job and sufficient perks to enable sufficient spare time to ponder the great challenges of our day from the safety of his keyboard. Chas is a warm and friendly and caring individual who loves dogs and other people's children. He bruises easily. I'm guessing he has never served in the armed forces. I don't think he's ever built anything with his own sweat and blisters. Nor do I think he's ever changed diapers or worried through the night with a sick infant. I'm reminded of Winston Churchill's observation that "...anyone under twenty-one who is not a liberal has no heart, and anyone over thirty who is not a conservative has no brain." I would like to respect Chas for his positive traits, but must strenuously disagree with his overweaning bleating about Israel's shortcomings in the present discussion. If I'm wrong on any of the above guesses, I'd be happy to reconsider.
LT
on acknowledgements, the question is highlighted in the current lead post on this blog, Israel Rejects Arab Initiative.
I do like rabbits, and donkeys. Here's a .
> There is no credit for Israel in any
> developments current or future in
> Lebanon as a result of the war
uhuh. except that siniorita was nasrallah's bitch before the war and now he's being called the lebanese shogun. I don't discount his political skills at all, but it seems to me the war made quite a difference.
> just not the right people?
yeah well. I'm sure you won't take this the wrong way. The palestinians have done such a bang up job of creating multiple generations of cannon fodder that it may be that they can no longer escape that as their destiny. Probably won't even be Israel that does them in.
LT:
I've always believed that what's missing is some real imagination on the Israeli side. Israel needs a PM who will talk directly to the Palestinian people, telling them the simple truths. "the arab countries don't care about you. They use you as pawns. Your future, if you have one, is with us, in peace. If you choose war with us you will only be crushed between us and our enemies." get on pal tv and tell them again and again and again, fireside chat style. Sadly Israel is pathetic in the PR dept. Then I think your 3 and 4 could happen.
Shahar,
Thank you for the nice donkey link. Cookies for Lucy!
I too like rabbits. They taste like chicken.
LT
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