THE DAILY BLADE: Look Who Has The Audacity To Lecture The USA On “Collective Conscience”


The Washington Post published an op-ed piece today by Abdullah Gul, foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Turkey, that was stunningly ironic given Turkey’s 90-year history of genocide denial:

The grave tragedy that has been unfolding before our eyes in Lebanon, and the inability of the international community to bring it to an end after three weeks of suffering, unfortunately raise questions about the United States and its proud legacy of leadership for freedom and justice. …


millions around the world watch in complete horror as events unfold in Lebanon. …


Today live images of the carnage and destruction are broadcast directly into our households. …


Substitute “Turkey” for “Israel” and “Armenians” for “Lebanese,” and the bold-faced phrases would be a dead-on description of the 1915 massacres of more than 1.5 million men, women and children – a methodical extermination of nearly half of all the Armenians in the entire world at the time. The word “genocide” was, in fact, coined in the aftermath of the Armenian massacres to describe the near-annihilation of an entire race.


The only difference is that, in 1915 people only had written accounts of the rapes and murders – cables from US diplomats, letters from missionaries, articles and photographs by journalists on the scene – and not real-time video. Still, the horror was conveyed with enough vividness that even today, people around the world remember the Armenian massacres and resist Turkey’s ongoing attempts to whitewash this particularly bloody chapter of its history.


Which made The Stiletto choke on Gul’s gall when he appealed to “[retain] the higher moral ground” and called “for all of us to act upon … our collective conscience.”


Why doesn’t Turkey show the same leadership Gul is calling on America to demonstrate by acting on its collective conscience finally to admit the crime against humanity perpetrated by the Ottomans?


Instead, Turkey prosecutes its own citizens (video) who dare question the government’s official position of genocide denial. In a May 16 editorial, “Turkey, Armenia and Denial” (now archived), The New York Times notes that genocide denial has become a “self destructive obsession,” given Turkey’s ardent desire to join the European Union:

Turkey's self-destructive obsession with denying the Armenian genocide seems to have no limits. The Turks pulled out of a NATO exercise this week because the Canadian prime minister used the term "genocide" in reference to the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I. Before that, the Turkish ambassador to France was temporarily recalled to protest a French bill that would make it illegal to deny that the Armenian genocide occurred. …

 

Each time the Turks lash out, new questions arise about Turkey's claim to a place in the European Union, and the Armenian diaspora becomes even more adamant in demanding a public reckoning over what happened. …

 

But the Turkish government considers even discussion of the issue to be a grave national insult, and reacts to it with hysteria.  …

 

The preponderance of serious scholarship outside Turkey accepts that more than a million Armenians perished between 1914 and 1923 in a regime-sponsored campaign.

 

Perhaps it’s asking too much of Turkey – which is becoming more Islamist and less secular by the day – to show leadership on this issue. But what about plain human decency? Until Turkey abandons its untenable position on the Armenian genocide, it lacks the moral standing to lecture the USA on its foreign policy and on its global role as a superpower.

 


Mediaweek Article, Air America Press Statement Separated At Birth?


Instead of doing its own reporting, trade magazine Mediaweek seems to have mistakenly rewritten this press release by liberal talk radio network Air America announcing its switch from WLIB-AM to WWRL-AM in New York City.

 

Headlined “Air America Gets New NYC Flagship,” the lede of the Mediaweek “article” made it appear as though the station switch was Air America’s idea:

“Air America has lined up a new New York flagship radio station for its politically liberal talk radio network.”

 

Here’s how the press release put it:

“WWRL will become the flagship station for the Air America Radio network.”

 

The Mediaweek “article” included this upbeat quote from a top-ranking network executive:

“We are excited about our new affiliation and the platform this move will establish for Air America in the years ahead,” said Jim Wiggett, acting CEO of Air America.    

 

The press release included this upbeat quote from Wiggett:

“We are excited about our new affiliation and the platform this move will establish for Air America in the years ahead.”

 

Now here’s what really happened, according to the New York Post:

Al Franken and his lefty colleagues are leaving WLIB (1190 AM) apparently because they couldn't come up with enough cash for the owners, former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton and his son, Pierre.

 

Starting Sept. 1, Air America will be on WWRL, at the top of the dial where AM signals are weakest - especially at night, when greater FCC restrictions apply. …

 

Relations between the Suttons and the network's execs were rocky from the start and only got worse after the network's shaky finances became known and a scandal broke out involving loans to Air America from a Bronx charity.

 

The story has a somewhat different flavor when the Post tells it, doesn’t it? The Stiletto can only guess that they round filed the press release when it came in and wrote, um, an original story.

 

 

How To Tell Whether Your Senator Has Been In Washington Too Long


It seems that some senators are hot and bothered over visitors to the Capitol (otherwise known as “constituents” and “voters”) using “their” elevator.


Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) complains that, “Sometimes you have to shove your way through, push people,” according to The New York Times. “At times,” the paper reports, “senators even find themselves on public elevators, an ordeal fraught with the possibility of having to push their own buttons.”  The senators-only elevators, which are supposed to enable rapid access to the Senate floor for votes, usually have attendants to do the button pushing.


It’s not the unwashed masses that bother Rick Santorum (R-PA) as much as the (probably also unwashed) reporters cramming themselves onto the senators only conveyances. When Hillary Clinton (D-NY) boarded an elevator with 10 reporters in tow, Santorum groused: “some of the rest of us need to get on board, too.” The Times reports that, “he eventually squeezed in.”

 


Update:

 

The Associated Press corrected its July 26 article on heterosexuals complaining of “straight bashing” in the quaint gay resort village of Provincetown, RI:

The Associated Press erroneously reported the number of Massachusetts residents listed by knowthyneighbor.org as having signed a petition in support of a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The Web site published more than 148,000 names and addresses of those who signed, not 5,000.  

 

See, this just goes to the point The Stiletto made yesterday in The Daily Blade post (third item), “Why Is This An Either Or Proposition?,” about journalists not being good with numbers.

 

By the way, The Stiletto’s July 21 comment on this tactic, “Gays Use Same Playbook As Eco-Terrorists,” was based on a Reuters report that did not mention the number of people whose names were publicized on the Web site.

Posted by The Stiletto at August 3, 2006
Categories: The Daily Blade
 

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