If his refelction showed in a mirror, he might have to judge himself....
In an answer at the Gordon Brown press conference today,
Watch this bit of exceptionalism uttered by a president in a war of choice pass right through the media process without even a single notice of its irony.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Look, people who kill innocent men, women and children to achieve political objectives are evil, that's what I think. I don't think there's any need to negotiate with them. I don't think there's any need to hope that they'll change. They are cold-blooded killers, and we better be clear-eyed when we're dealing with them.
Watch this bit of exceptionalism uttered by a president in a war of choice pass right through the media process without even a single notice of its irony.
posted by mikevotes at
1:57 PM
4 Comments:
"Watch this bit of exceptionalism uttered by a president in a war of choice pass right through the media process without even a single notice of its irony."
That, my friend, is the death-knell of democracy as our founders envisioned. There is hope, though, that the new media of the internet will inform the people.... and that people will actually care.
The biting, ironic hypocrisy of these words should be like ice water of the face of a dozing nation.
By
-epm, at 3:03 PM
Actually, I don't think it's just the media, although they would be the primary vehicle to break such thinking. There's a broader American exceptionalism that resides deeply in our culture.
For instance, the argument around being the "policeman of the world" whether pro or con automatically assumes that we're on the side of right.
By
mikevotes, at 4:07 PM
First, I think without a free, diverse and truthful media there is little hope of having the informed citizenry the founders were banking on for a functioning democracy. It seems to me today's media are interested in market share and ad revenue and have little or no interest in civics or even getting the facts right. Insofar as the visual media are concerned, there is no such thing as a news division. While hard news journalists may still exist in broadcast news networks, the network itself doesn't support real journalism. It supports ratings.
But also, Americans don't seem terribly interested in being informed citizens. They want their bread and circuses and to believe in jingoistic fairy tales of American greatness. There seems to be little stomach for hard news.
That said, Bush was talking about individual actors, not nations, per se. And while Americans, like small children, cannot see their nation as having failed, they certainly don't have a problem vilifying an individual. So the comment Bush made, if turned around, isn't referring to America, but to his own personal actions and leadership.
(sorry for rambling.)
By
-epm, at 5:30 PM
I would broaden your media is about ratings point. Very true, but don't leave out alot of the "journalists" motivate for prestige, celebrity, and power.
To your second point, America is definitely not a nation that wants to be informed. Through a number of processes, politicians and parties have become more about how we feel about oursselves and our image than what actually takes place. (You can't develop a giant wealth gap without it.)
Third point, we definitely like to knock someone down and pin them with blame, but so far, the blame for Iraq hasn't just stuck on Bush. Yes, he's the leader that took us there, but we have such a convolution of individual and state....
How many times have I talked about what "we" are doing in Iraq?
That's way afield from your point citing Bush in specific reference to this quote, but the "we" identification has always bothered me. I have been against this war since Colin Powell was contradicted by El Baradei at the UN, but I still feel some responsibility.
By
mikevotes, at 9:00 PM
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