Michael Moore's quote about Brian Williams -- profanity sanitized a bit for good form -- I post in italics below. My thoughts are below that.
My thoughts:
News is entertainment and that is why Williams ratcheted up the news to make it and him more entertaining, fun and oh yes macho. The news is a show, like the Grammys, Dancing with the Stars or the Kardashians. Its only goal is NOT the content of the news but the ratings it gets showing how entertaining the news can be.
Like everything else -- foreign policy and eternal war, we get the nation we elect and deserve. Brian Williams is a reflection of the country we are. An administration takes us to a two trillion buck Iraq war because we believe their WMD lies and then off we go to children's hockey game or go shopping as our then not-too-bright commander in chief tells us we should; a nation elects "W" not once but twice because well he looks so manly in his genitally outlined flight suit.
"Shock and awe" was so July 4thish awesome fun doncha think as long as we are not at the other end of a nation's bombs? Glad we did not have to watch the limbs and brains being crushed or our soldiers brought home in those unpleasant body bags with the stars and stripes.
Again the fault dear Brutus is not in Brian Williams, Iraq, or even in Bush's brain or lack of one, the fault is in us and the jerks we elect.
Let's see... So George W. Bush is now an artist and a painter &
roots for dear brother "Jeb in 2016;" Dick Cheney now appears on many
networks as a grumpy old man pundit;
Condi Rice gets to be on the board that picks college football's Final
4... but it's Brian Williams who's to be punished for Iraq? Are u kidding me?
I mean, an entire country was demolished, trillions were wasted, thousands of our troops were killed & wounded, tens/hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed, and now, FINALLY, someone is paying for Iraq war lies... and it's Brian Williams?
Yes, there is much that can be said about all the network reporters in 2003 who were embedded (i.e., Pentagon-approved) with the troops and getting to "play war" instead of asking the Bush administration the hard questions THAT DID NOT GET ASKED, and yes there is much to say about how all the networks have dumbed down the nightly news and made it unwatchable... BUT - to let the real liars who were responsible for the Iraq War roam free while instead going after Brian Williams for committing the crime of Faux Macho due to his claim of being on the wrong chopper, well, this just begs to be ridiculed and stopped. Sinners (that means you, too, Paper of Record of Judith Miller), put down your stones. Social media mob, put down your noose. Have the guts to go after the big cheese.
Let Brian Williams get back to telling us about the next big storm that's going to drop 3" of snow on New York City and the exclusive report on the lost dog who made it home to help its handicap master. (Note: I don't know Brian Williams personally, but I'll say this about him: in the post-9/11 years, he did the nightly news hour on MSNBC/CNBC, and he was one of the few people in TV news who would allow an opposition voice such as mine on the air. I remember thinking this is a man with integrity.)
I mean, an entire country was demolished, trillions were wasted, thousands of our troops were killed & wounded, tens/hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed, and now, FINALLY, someone is paying for Iraq war lies... and it's Brian Williams?
Yes, there is much that can be said about all the network reporters in 2003 who were embedded (i.e., Pentagon-approved) with the troops and getting to "play war" instead of asking the Bush administration the hard questions THAT DID NOT GET ASKED, and yes there is much to say about how all the networks have dumbed down the nightly news and made it unwatchable... BUT - to let the real liars who were responsible for the Iraq War roam free while instead going after Brian Williams for committing the crime of Faux Macho due to his claim of being on the wrong chopper, well, this just begs to be ridiculed and stopped. Sinners (that means you, too, Paper of Record of Judith Miller), put down your stones. Social media mob, put down your noose. Have the guts to go after the big cheese.
Let Brian Williams get back to telling us about the next big storm that's going to drop 3" of snow on New York City and the exclusive report on the lost dog who made it home to help its handicap master. (Note: I don't know Brian Williams personally, but I'll say this about him: in the post-9/11 years, he did the nightly news hour on MSNBC/CNBC, and he was one of the few people in TV news who would allow an opposition voice such as mine on the air. I remember thinking this is a man with integrity.)
My thoughts:
News is entertainment and that is why Williams ratcheted up the news to make it and him more entertaining, fun and oh yes macho. The news is a show, like the Grammys, Dancing with the Stars or the Kardashians. Its only goal is NOT the content of the news but the ratings it gets showing how entertaining the news can be.
Like everything else -- foreign policy and eternal war, we get the nation we elect and deserve. Brian Williams is a reflection of the country we are. An administration takes us to a two trillion buck Iraq war because we believe their WMD lies and then off we go to children's hockey game or go shopping as our then not-too-bright commander in chief tells us we should; a nation elects "W" not once but twice because well he looks so manly in his genitally outlined flight suit.
"Shock and awe" was so July 4thish awesome fun doncha think as long as we are not at the other end of a nation's bombs? Glad we did not have to watch the limbs and brains being crushed or our soldiers brought home in those unpleasant body bags with the stars and stripes.
Again the fault dear Brutus is not in Brian Williams, Iraq, or even in Bush's brain or lack of one, the fault is in us and the jerks we elect.
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