Despite the myriad sources of information from which to draw in order to write a column that has a grain of truth to it, it would appear that the usual suspects from the usual media sources insist on getting it wrong. You can hardly blame them. Well, actually you can, but it will hardly help. At this point, people are merely going to believe what they want to believe, and truth be damned. When it comes to Afghanistan, has it ever been any different?
Thomas Walkom, in particular, seems to get it wrong the most frequently. This rather pathetic self-flagellation of Canadians throwing their hands up in the air and making excuses that nothing else could have been done, is as depressing as their inability to get basic facts correct. Journalists are treating this fluid battle with ever-changing dynamics as something static, as though everybody has morphed into Francis Fukuyama, mourning the end of history. Pakistan capturing half the Taliban leadership in the past month? Barely a whisper.
It’s certainly easier to report on a story if you have a prearranged view on what’s actually happening. The evolution of the detainee story is a prime example. What began as little more than hearsay from Amir Attaran in the CBC, became a report in the Canadian Press, which became a fact in the minds of the official opposition in the House of Commons, as Jack Layton and Ujjal Dosanjh asked ridiculous questions about secret spies, torture, and rendition. The latter word, as I mentioned before, being technically incorrect by definition alone.
The question is, what would make the critics of the treatment of captured detainees happy?
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Adrian has often appeared here as a blogger and I’m very pleased to see he has graduated to the National Post as a writer worthy of notice. This is not his first article for them but probably this is one of his best.
“Way to go” my friend.
Yeah, I read his Blog every day, usually as linked on the Blogging Tories, but I also go there directly. I don’t always agree with everything he has to say but it’s always ( or almost always ) based on facts and a clear logical argument rather than emotion.
Yes a very good article. Just a small quibble about “Francis Fukuyama, mourning the end of history”
I never thought he was mourning the end of history. My interpretation of that book was, just like me, he fell into the trap of the peace dividend meme after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We thought liberal, free-market, capitalism had won forever. That was one of the dumbest things I’ve naively fallen for over the years. Because it turns out utopians are everywhere and need to fought daily…right here!
But the overall gist of the article is very good, rather like Scott Brown saying something to the effect: Americans would like us to spend our money supplying our troops with the best possible equipment to win the War, not spend it on Mirandaizing terrorists.
Excellent article – thanks for posting it. I wonder what Adrian thinks of the Liberano leader’s cozy relationship with the ceebeeshe ‘reporter’ who started this issue?
“What began as little more than hearsay from Amir Attaran in the CBC, became a report in the Canadian Press, which became a fact in the minds of the official opposition in the House of Commons, as Jack Layton and Ujjal Dosanjh asked ridiculous questions about secret spies, torture, and rendition. The latter word, as I mentioned before, being technically incorrect by definition alone.’
Lots about this long standing relationship at sda – Iggy was trolling for a scandal and he did not mind smearing the soldiers, who are fighting for his sorry hide, to get his made up scandal. He truly is a stranger in a strange position in a foreign (to him) country. Most wanna be PM’s want the troops on their side….maybe MI is just ‘filling in’ for boob rhay and he is getting a sweet deal from unca mo when he (MI) agrees to go home.