Telling it like it isn't

[Matt25]

palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/articles/features/telling_it.htm

Robert Fisk

I FIRST REALIZED the enormous pressures on American journalists in the Middle East when I went some years ago to say goodbye to a colleague from the Boston Globe. I expressed my sorrow that he was leaving a region where he had obviously enjoyed reporting. I could save my sorrows for someone else, he said. One of the joys of leaving was that he would no longer have to alter the truth to suit his paper’s more vociferous readers. "I used to call the Israeli Likud Party ‘right wing,’ " he said. “But recently, my editors have been telling me not to use the phrase. A lot of our readers objected.” And so now, I asked? “We just don’t call it ‘right wing’ anymore.”…
This is only the tip of the semantic iceberg that has crashed into American journalism in the Middle East. Illegal Jewish settlements for Jews and Jews only on Arab land are clearly "colonies," and we used to call them that. I cannot trace the moment when we started using the word "settlements." But I can remember the moment around two years ago when the word "settlements" was replaced by "Jewish neighborhoods" — or even, in some cases, "outposts." Similarly, "occupied" Palestinian land was softened in many American media reports into "disputed" Palestinian land — just after then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in 2001, instructed U.S. embassies in the Middle East to refer to the West Bank as "disputed" rather than "occupied" territory.

 

[gilliam]

For those who forget, Fisk was the original “Baghdad Bob” but lost the nickname to the famous Iraqi Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi Minister of Disinformation. He was also the source of the verb “to Fisk” – meaning to alter a story so as to reflect one’s agenda. As in “giving the story a good Fisking”.

 

[Matt25]

gilliam:

For those who forget, Fisk was the original “Baghdad Bob” but lost the nickname to the famous Iraqi Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi Minister of Disinformation. He was also the source of the verb “to Fisk” – meaning to alter a story so as to reflect one’s agenda. As in “giving the story a good Fisking”.

So is what he say’s in this article demonstrably false?

 

[gilliam]

Matt25:

So is what he say’s in this article demonstrably false?

What? That he has a PC editor? No, that is probably not false. His problem. Maybe he should find another paper to write for, or start a blog?

 

[Matt25]

gilliam:

What? That he has a PC editor? No, that is probably not false. His problem. Maybe he should find another paper to write for, or start a blog?

Truth or its opposite is conveyed by language. If language is modified peoples understanding of truth is altered, Remember the Holy Father’s message for the World Day of Peace 2006 is very much about truth and lies. tcrnews2.com/BenedictPeace06.html

1. Who and what, then, can prevent the coming of peace? Sacred Scripture, in its very first book, Genesis, points to the lie told at the very beginning of history by the animal with a forked tongue, whom the evangelist John calls “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Lying is also one of the sins spoken of in the final chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, which bars liars from the heavenly Jerusalem: “Outside are all who love falsehood” (22:15). Lying is linked to the tragedy of sin and its perverse consequences, which have had, and continue to have, devastating effects on the lives of individuals and nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideological and political systems willfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation and murder of an appalling number of men and women, wiping out entire families and communities. After experiences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world. Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of every man and woman; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet.

 

[gilliam]

I still say, if he doesn’t like his editor, he needs to find another or start his own blog. Writing columns about it, is probably not going to win friends and influence people (e.g. his editor).

 

[Matt25]

gilliam:

I still say, if he doesn’t like his editor, he needs to find another or start his own blog. Writing columns about it, is probably not going to win friends and influence people (e.g. his editor).

You have not read the article then. He is not talking about his own editor.

 

[gilliam]

Matt25:

You have not read the article then. He is not talking about his own editor.

“But recently, my editors have been telling me not to use the phrase. A lot of our readers objected.” And so now, I asked? “We just don’t call it ‘right wing’ anymore.”…

I think Fisk is wondering just how to ‘fisk’ his pieces in the future… or how others can ‘fisk’ theirs. Maybe he should just report straight news and not call people and places by prejudiced names or try to spin the news? Maybe? Just maybe? Naw… not his style.

 

[gnjsdad]

Matt25:

Truth or its opposite is conveyed by language. If language is modified peoples understanding of truth is altered, Remember the Holy Father’s message for the World Day of Peace 2006 is very much about truth and lies. tcrnews2.com/BenedictPeace06.html

1. Who and what, then, can prevent the coming of peace? Sacred Scripture, in its very first book, Genesis, points to the lie told at the very beginning of history by the animal with a forked tongue, whom the evangelist John calls “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Lying is also one of the sins spoken of in the final chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, which bars liars from the heavenly Jerusalem: “Outside are all who love falsehood” (22:15). Lying is linked to the tragedy of sin and its perverse consequences, which have had, and continue to have, devastating effects on the lives of individuals and nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideological and political systems willfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation and murder of an appalling number of men and women, wiping out entire families and communities. After experiences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world. Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of every man and woman; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet.

An extremely important citation, Matt. Everyone here should ponder the implications.

I don’t remember the chapter and verse, but I think it’s from the Sermon On The Mount. Our Lord says Say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. Anything else is from the evil one.

We must all work to subordinate our ideological preferences to the truth. When “truth” becomes an instrument of our ideology, we wind up shaping our own world to conform to our desires, rather than having our desires conform to the truth.

 

[Matt25]

gnjsdad:

I don’t remember the chapter and verse, but I think it’s from the Sermon On The Mount. Our Lord says Say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. Anything else is from the evil one.

.

That would be Matt5-

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ ***
34*** But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ***
35*** or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ***
36*** And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ***
37*** Let your word be "Yes, Yes’ or "No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

 

[rlg94086]

I expect only posts of “yes” or “no” from both you and gnjsdad in the future

Matt25:

That would be Matt5-

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ ******
34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ******
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ******
36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ******
37 Let your word be "Yes, Yes’ or "No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

 

[Jay74]

gnjsdad:

AOur Lord says Say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. Anything else is from the evil one.

I agree, and I have one “yes” or 'no" question. Regardless of your position on the war in Iraq–and there are good people on both sides of that issue-- Do you believe we are fighting evil people in Iraq?

My “yes” means “yes.”

 

[Robert_Bay]

WARNING

Stay on the topic of the Original Post (don’t extrapolate the meaning of the title of the thread so you can talk about a different topic)