Standing Up to a Bully

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arjun_m # 1

I am glad to see Pakistan abandon support of Taleban and Pakistanis getting fingerprinted and registered by the INS. It is time someone knocked senses into our neighbor next door.

The sorry state of the american media needs much more exposure and these kind of articles are just what we need..Unofrtunately most Americans remain ignorant because they dont know better than to trust their own newspapers...but can we blame them? Living in Canada, we luckily have more options as far as newspapers and channels are concerned, and its amazing how waspish, rightwing and biased some of these are.
It`s great to see people like Noam Chomsky, Robert Frisk, Peter Jennings of the ABC network and their likes, that try to undo the harm their counterparts have caused and voice a view very different to that of their fellow journalists. From Iraq and North Korea to Israel and Afghanistan, the US foreign policy is extremely partial and prejudiced.Amazingly even after 9/11 , antiAmericanism is on the rise and thus issues like their biased media have caught attention.
And how did this become a pakistani-indian debate??

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Omar, a well-written article. I was in the US after Sept 11 for almost an entire year, and I would definitely agree with you about the US media. I was a student of journalism so I got to read/watch/observe a lot of the crap that was dished out post Sep 11. The worst part is, as you pointed out, that people genuinely believe that whatever their media reports is 100% factual. Even papers like the NY Times are very pro-government and unquestioning of the US foreign policy, but are held in very high regard by the general public.

bat:
EVERY issue becomes an India-Pakistan debate. I wrote an article on frikkin SHOES on chowk and THAT became an India-Pak debate. Give it up. No point in getting embroiled in it.

Qureshi: Just the fact that a ``Gora``, or Gore Vidal in this case, says something against US policies does not mean that what he says is right. However, you present Vidal`s interview as if his views of themselves are sufficient to back your view that the US is wrong in going after Saddam Hussein.
As for your admiration of Saddam Hussein (which is obvious from the title of your article), I beg to differ: I think any man who litters his country with huge pictures of himself dressed up in all types of fancy clothes (as Saddam Hussein has done in Iraq) is a narcissitic little sob. Any man who claims who ``runs for elections`` without any opposition, without any open debate on his track record, as Saddam has done indicates the contempt in which he holds his own people. Any man who claims to have won elections with 99 percent of the people voting for him, as Saddam has done, is a damned liar. I wont get into the way in which he has murdered his own sons-in-law, or the thousands of lives that have been lost due to his invasion of Kuwait and of his earlier 10 year ``war of the incompetents`` with Iran.
I think you need to find some different heroes to worship than Saddam Hussein. Personally, I think he should be brought to justice like any common criminal.

hi sobia, good to hear from you, i hear your back now -- arjun man frankly speaking your talking BS -- i dont think anyone is being hypocritical because we would take the same stand if this kind of stuff happened to indians or pakistanis or whoever -- thanks for telling me about the nation, mother jones and working for change and all, i know and read them all the time but in case you forgot to notice, the article deals with MAINSTREAM US MEDIA (DUH!) and in fact it mentions the websites that you mentioned in your post -- clearly u read probably the first paragraph and then wrote your rant -- the rest of your drivel i rather choose to not waste my time responding to -- and to the editors of chowk -- no offence but i really see no point in carrying an article that was submitted such a long time ago and which I later asked that it be withdrawn -- i mean this was written like six weeks ago --

bat # 3

If you like the regimes of Taleban, Iraq and North Korea feel free to live there. Or we can write letters to our local newspapers advocating all the illegal Pakistani immigrants be deported there.

I think Pakistanis care about Iraq, North Korea to the extent it gives them another state to trade nuclear technolgy with.

sobia # 5, bat # 3

Whether you like it or not Musharaff agreed to US demands because he is scared to death of what USA might do to Pakistani strategic assets in tandem with Indian government.

I have no problem with the NY Times. Definitely they are pro-establishment, pro-Israel. They do report what goes on in kashmir, Palestine, Chechenya etc. There are plenty of columns opposing attack on Iraq, questioning the link between Al Qaida and Iraq etc. I could not say that for the Pakistani newspapers on the web. They also report on the Taleban, Pakistan`s Islamic parties, Pakistan`s nuclear exports to the North Koreans, Saudi financing for Wahabis. I am sure some of that has driven Pakistanis nuts.

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The ambiguosly gay duo of arjun_m and Jay need serious therapy. Here is the body-shop proprietor smugly informing us that village voice and the others are *irrelevant*. I dare him to inform us who actually owns the Village voice. If by some odd chance he does, I`ll be more than happy to help him shove his unattended foot where the sun never shines.

later
-sac

it is simplistic to blame uncle sam for every evil found in the muslim world. in many respects, uncle sam is similar to homer simpson. like homer, sam is well meaning (i.e. not evil) but dumb. like the travails of homer, sam`s well intentioned actions mostly produce disastrous results (ex. cuba, phillipines, vietnam, support for shah, mujahedin, zia, saddam, house of saud, india, likud etc, etc). homer has an insatiable appetite for donuts and he likes to stuff himself without realizing the consequences. similarly uncle sam has a huge love for oil (arising out of a love of money) and does all he can to insure a steady supply. this is not necessarily bad because it keeps the world economy lubricated. unlike the simpsons, sam controls the world like mr. burns controls springfield. therefore sam’s actions do 10 times the damage in comparison to the damage done by homer. on occasions however, homer does some real damage like when he floods springfield in the name of art.

in the simpsons world, muslims would be bart because bart does not play by the rules and cause grief to homer. tony blair would be abe ‘grand pa” simpson, a once proud veteran who is now reduced to muttering inanities. hindus would be smithers because smithers like banias tries to get a piece of the action by being swarmy and by sticking close to seth burns. u.n would be chief wiggam because of its ineffectiveness in resolving dispute of any consequence. what is missing from the current picture is the presence of marge because it is only she who can restore a bit of sanity to the current mess.

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re slave driver #14:

``popularity determine relevance``

I see. Here`s another exercise for your towering intellect. What percentage of American public watches Fox or NBC or any other media outlet with any degree of regularity? What is the most popularly watched news program on any TV/cable channel? What does it mean in absolute numbers?

later
-sac

P.S: The answer is not in CIO, your favourite magazine that already has severe doubts about your English skills.

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