The new face of US Warfare

The media in the United States, both electronic and print, is a business and like any other business, it needs to make money. The news shows on Fox or else, target an audience which shares a particular tangent of the contempoary political debate. People generally like, when their personal views are amplified and given the credence of mainstream opinion and its respectability.

Electronic media relies on ad sponsers to generate its revenues and news shows like O``Reilly, which tap into a political conscience that create ratings, which in turn determine the cost of a 30 second ad and that in turn pays salaries and puts food on many tables. The United States is a free market, where news is a commodity that can be packaged, marketed and sold and like free markets any where, the old Latin adage of caveat emptor, buyer beware, applies accordingly. Leaving arguments of First Amendment rights aside, the main justification is the pluarality of views and that pre-supposes a high level of intellectual maturity and intellectual tolerance. No one is forcing anyone to watch any news shows, but simply disagreeing with the message does not entitle a form of politically correct censorship to be mandated across the board.

I have watched many talk shows on many different networks and as Arjun_M said, when they agreed with my view points, I applauded them and when they did not, I chided them for their political leanings. Regardless of agreements and disagreements, what I valued was the choice given to me to listen and to choice my medium of information and not being forced to rely on a single source for my information.

The best advice I can give is listen to all and think and decide for yourself.

Ciao

here is an article - were it not for its genophobia and racist stuff it would have been hilarious. I guess you need to give these uneducated dunderheads a voice else they will form the vaguard for the latent facist tendencies in pakistan....anyway here is the article in question.....(i found it mildly distasteful but when I showed to it some of my colleagues they found it alarming, but at a more rational level I wish these guys had more between their ears).

But then this is the kind of stuff most are fed on back home....and then we comment on FOX News. Now that I find funny

http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/Oct-2003/31/EDITOR/op5.asp

the selection of quotes:

(a)He may well have tried but Bush’s America does not listen to any one the Indo-Zionists do not approve of.

(b)India wants unfettered democracy in Pakistan that permits it to engage openly in subversion thus paving the way for invasion.

(c)In the post 9/11 world defined by “if you are not with us, you are against us” every country is holding its breath in fear of strikes by American ‘precision’ bombs from ‘stealth’ bombers flying at ‘safe’ height if it is held by Indo-Zionists to be ‘not enough with America’.

(d)India has been infiltrating the body politic of Pakistan in support of ‘ethnic and secular chauvinists’. (I use the word secular chauvinists for persons who flout their faith openly and are proud of it - like Muslims who flaunt their drinking and womanising).

(e)The Indo-Zionist allies of the US government worry that despite being bombarded by intense propaganda, the American people may wake up to the fact that they suffer hate directly in consequence of and in proportion with the humiliation that its strategic partners - India and Israel - impose on the Muslims.

(f)It is certain that its policy of genocide of Muslims would have more meaning, purpose and focus in order to unite all non-Muslims under Brahmin tutelage. five percent Brahmins who rule India where 15 percent of the population is Muslim

(g)The nature of discipline of the armed forces is the hallmark of the nature of sovereignty a people enjoy. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a true republic.
The armed forces of Pakistan have never been held down.

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Urstruly:

``....7.2%...``

Either the truth will be known or the organization bringing the truth forward will be forced to disappear a la Indian Government versus Tehelka battle style.

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Zeynab Ali:

This is a good article. I have said many times on this website that in the USA, the Government, establishment and media work together to implement the strategy made by the foreign office.

The same thing seems to have happened in India. Under a huge media propaganda, the Indians have elected to power and are quite satisfied with the anti-Pakistani rhetorics of extremists like Advanis, Joshis, Modis, Sinhas, etc.

Surprisingly, this cannot be said to have happened in Israel. The media, politicians and even their military denounce the Government policies off and on.

Interesting case study would be Pakistan. Governmental foreign policy is never supported by the opposition. Yet, opposition will never give an alternate strategy. The media too never toes our Governmental policy. I see our media as quite responsible in that it never goes overboard and walks a fine line. You will find all sorts of opinions expressed through it. Therefore, its is common to see healthy debates in TV Talk shows where pro and anti-Government analysts battle out advantages and disadvantages of sending army troops to Iraq.

An even more interesting behavior is depicted by our media versus views of the people. Although a questionable survey has shown that a majority of Pakistanis have sympathies for OBL, only 11 % people have cast their votes in favor of parties (MMA) that are considered to be Talibani supporters. Our media takes a decidedly pro-Government stance on its anti-Taliban/OBL matter. Even the MMA takes an anti-Taliban/OBL stance when challenged. However, media also takes an anti-Government stance on our total dependency on USA.

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arjun and urstruly:

Btw, I will be delighted if the economy of the USA picks up and booms. This means more job opportunities for a person like me and more FCY earning opportunities for Pakistan.

:-)

ahmadzai

I wouldn`t mind if the economy stays lousy for almost one more year, otherwise there is greater chance that this anti-Muslim bigot and butcher will get elected for another term. Just imagine the extent of damage that he will do not only to Muslims but his own country.

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SR:

``Any society that gets pre-occupied with ideology, any ideology, and foresakes rationality, is ultimately doomed. ``

True. But America is not bound to any ideology, least of all Bush`s. I am a Republican, but I know that the Republican ideology has at best temporary favor in an uncertain time. In a few years, the pendulum will swing back, and swing back again. Tthe genius of the American system lies in its pursuit of happiness. If the path we have chosen at this point provides dimishing returns in the perspetion of the American people, they will change paths.

Arjun, SR, Temporal:

Read your posts subsequent to typing mine. I think we are all on the same page. McCarthy analogy is a good one. In fact, the war on Iraq has cooled passions on the Korean and Iranian front. The big issue is internal rather then external. You do have to keep the effect of Sept 11 in mind. No doubt many more have died elsewhere, but it is still the largest civil-terror attack on a country thereby opening a new paradigm in the reaction of the state.

UrsTruly:

I would not be surprised at 7.3% rate for the past qtr. Look at today`s edition of USA today. Tthere have been other instances of individual quarters having that kind of one time performance.

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arjunm #26

That`s where you are wrong. Any human being living far or near is my neighbor. We want Americans to see humans being in this light then there wont be any clash of civilizations; there will be only one civilization on this planet - the human civilization.

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