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The Mea Culpas Didn't Come
At best the mainstream media got the Wright story wrong, at best it was a mistake.
But if it were a mistake, there would have been some mea culpas today, after seeing the Wright interview, someone would have said they got it wrong, maybe even apologized for contributing to the vilification of Rev. Wright.
But the mea culpas didn't come. They rationalize it, generally, by saying it wasn't a real interview. At least they didn't completely ignore it, but they came close.
I was reminded of the aftermath of the Karla Faye Tucker execution in Texas. Because she was a woman, and religious, repentant and reformed, she didn't seem to be a threat to society. She went on Larry King to plead for her life. Tucker made the perfect spokesmodel for advocates of the death penalty. She admitted to a horrible murder, but she was such an attractive murderer. It was a way to show support for the cause even when the subject was a compelling person, someone you might like to know. There was a huge national debate about it.
On February 3, 1998, she was executed. I wondered why it was so quiet. Why weren't the advocates of the death penalty who said they needed her death to feel closure weren't saying "See I told you so, I feel closure now, don't you?"
They didn't say that because they didn't feel it. Murder isn't an equation that can be balanced. You can't balance the taking of a life by taking a life. It doesn't work that way.
I'll never understand why we enjoy a circus like the shaming of Rev. Wright, a man who should be proud of his life, not ashamed. I feel empathy for the person in the middle of a threatening circle, don't you? I feel empathy for a murderer being put to death. I feel rage for the innocent people who are put to death by the state, in my name, in the name of justice.
I think there was silence about the death of Karla Faye because there was so much shame about it. The justice system needed her to shut up. Maybe that's the same reason the press has nothing to say now that Wright has spoken and shows they got the story horribly wrong. Maybe, to preserve their sense of integrity, they need him to shut up. And he's talking. That's a problem for them.
Since the press isn't going to cover this, it's up to the people to cover the press. Obama won't talk about it either (makes me wonder about Obama). I think the problem is bigger than getting Obama elected, we need to reform how ideas and information flows in our country.
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Mr. Winer, You are a bit confused on "closure".
CLOSURE and EXECUTION
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below
The concept of "closure" via execution is , primarily, a fantasy made up by those in the anti death penalty movement, just so they can denounce it, as in: "Those supporting capital punishment claim that closure is a major reason to support the death penalty - but there is no closure."
I consider this one of the many obvious deceptions of the anti death penalty movement.
Closure to what?
I know of no victim survivor who believes that the execution of the guilty murderer(s) brings closure to the emotional and/or psychological suffering of that victim survivor(s) for the loss of their innocent, murdered loved one(s).
How could it?
I have never encountered such a person, in the many years I have been involved with murder victim survivors. Has anyone?
There are many victims survivors who claim they did find closure with the execution, although without important clarification.
Further inquiry would reveal the obvious: it is closure the the legal process, whereby execution is the most just sanction available for the crime and they are relieved that the murderer is dead and can no longer harm another innocent - a very big deal.
Those are the real meanings of any closure expression.
American crimes ought to be prosecuted not less then the crimes of Nazi Germany. Crimes have no relevance to skin colour
Thanks, Dave Winer, for the Moyer's link to Rev. Wright. I found it most compelling. As a seventy plus woman, who's been politically active for 55 years, I ask readers to invite the media to dinner with their family and allow them to tape the conversations. In my home you'd hear us cursing our government and the state of the nation! Hey, it's America, remember! We get to dis our government when we're unhappy! The polls show most of us are furious; we use crude language. Swear words I can handle. I am much more worried about the the language of Hillary Clinton who says she would "obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel. (Obliterate: To do away with completely so as to leave no trace. In other words, nuclear bombing all Iranian men, women & children.) I too have never been so disappointed in the media as I am today. Are the "star-studded" panels given nightly orders from ratings czars? I feel perpetually manipulated, in particular by the Clinton campaign who have mastered playing the media for fools. I think Obama has made progress in reforming how ideas and information flows in our country. When I read your last statement, wondering about Obama, my heart sank, for I feared the negativity in the air had taken it's toll upon you as well as the nation as a whole (I include myself.) You've done a real service in raising this issue. Please resist the manipulation. Thanks!
Not only does the media have to apologize to Rev. Wright and Obama, but they also need to tell the truth that Rev Wright was only quoting verbatim what Ambassador Edward Peck ACTUALLY said in an interview with FOX NEWS, just days after 9/11.
IT WAS AMBASSADOR EDWARD PECK, WHO AMONG OTHER THINGS, SAID "THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST"
REV. WRIGHT QUOTED AN EXTENDED CLIP OF EXACTLY WHAT PECK SAID IN THE FOX INTERVIEW, AND THEN HE WENT ON TO TELL HIS CHURCH THAT "REVENGE IS NOT THE WAY TO GO".
The ACTUAL interview with Ambassador Peck CAN DEFINATELY BE FOUND IN THE FOX NEWS' ARCHIVES, so there should have been no distortion of the facts on their part.
The rest of the MSM MUST HAVE SEEN THE ENTIRE SERMON, so they too should NOT have "over dosed" on the 30 second clip to portray Rev Wright and Obama (by association) ad nauseum in a negative light over the past few weeks.
AN PUBLIC APOLOGY IS IN ORDER FOR REV. WRIGHT AND OBAMA FROM ALL OF THE MSM, AS WELL AS THE CLINTON AND McCAIN CAMPAIGNS.
Is there a link to this? I've heard about it, but can't find it.
"Tucker made the perfect spokesmodel for advocates of the death penalty. She admitted to a horrible murder, but she was such an attractive murderer."
Huh?
Rev. Jeremiah Wright's address to the Detroit NAACP was aired in its entirety on CNN this evening.
It seems that anchor Rick Sanchez is more sympathetic to Rev. Wright than Wolfe "I love me" Blitzer and Lou "independent populist" Dobbs. Also on the program were Soledad O'Brien and Roland Martin.
As for the mainstream media, a mea culpa, even a grudging one, will be unlikely. Besmirching Rev. Wright is just "collateral damage" to them, regardless of his six years of service to his country in the Marines/Navy and 36 years service to his South Chicago community served by Trinity United Church of Christ.
I am reminded of Joseph Welch, the Army's counsel in 1954, who admonished Sen. Joseph McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir...? " That applies in spades to the so-called journalists, male and female, of the mainstream media. Instead, it's all about ratings (TV) or circulation (print media) for them (or capital gains taxes in the case of ABC's Charlie Gibson).
I think of the FOX News agenda when it comes to ginning up a fire storm about Reverend Wright's bellicose "God damn America" rhetoric. Then compare the Bill Moyer's interview with Reverend Wright's intelligent reasoning and civil reponses to the attacks he was subjected to and put through.
Anything taken out of context is slanderous propaganda when aired publicly.
Once the missile of SPIN is shot the damage is done. Not even a maxima mea culpa can stave the perverse damage to a person's character.
Free Press? Or just a Free Pass to maim someone without consequences.
You write: "Obama won't talk about it either (makes me wonder about Obama)."
After the way Obama was treated at the last debate, I don't blame him for not wanting to talk about Rev. Wright anymore. He stood by Rev. Wright after all of this so I think you should cut him a little slack.
You wrote, regarding the aftermath of the execution of Karla Faye Tucker
"I wondered why it was so quiet."
___________________________________
Well, maybe it was quiet where you and I were, but I'm certain that Governor George W. Bush and his cohorts were whooping it up with another one of his priceless performances-- or should I say "renditions"?-- mimicking Ms. Tucker pleading for her life.
As he actually did during an interview with the odious Tucker Carlson, IIRC. Classy guy!
The corporate media is the Power that serves the Principalities. It is in the interests of the Powers & Principalities to demonize Reverend Wright.
Amerika's proud tradition of anti-intellectualism reduced our educational system to an institution for socializing citizens to become productive workers, and the Dumbing of America is no myth.
This comments thread amply reveals the lack of ordinary adult perception, observation, and comprehension in favor of the new kind of pseudo-thinking: processing sound bites and video clips with a lizard-brain simplicity, strained through a template of conventional wisdom, and spun by demagogues who are uncritically accepted as authoritative.
This phenomenon also explains why, say, Harry Shearer can publish a hundred painstaking posts about the Army Corps of Engineers' responsibility for the flooding of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and some yahoo will immediately respond to the 101st by writing, "... what yer fergittin' is that there were all them SCHOOL BUSES that Nagin dint even USE..."
The dumbed-down, bite-size version of Renegade Reverend Wright works fine as a pie to be heaved at Obama throughout the campaign season. The corporate media and its captive audience could care less whether this caricature is fair or accurate. Besides, if everyone took the time to watch the Moyers interview and reflect on the contrast between the actual Reverend and the virtual one planted in their heads, the media would just have to gin up another controversy to keep the horse race exciting.
The mea culpas will not come but the crazed 30 seconds of Rev. Wright will continue to be aired by MSM.
The MSM will also not treat McCain's supporter Rev. Hagee the way they treated Rev. Wright.
MSM you all should be ashamed – your misinformation and sucking up to the Bush/Cheney administration on Iraq got us into this morass of a war.
MSM for shame on you all for perpetuating lies that enabled the war to be sold to thousands of mothers and fathers whose son’s and daughters have died in Iraq.
MSM you are now helping the Clintons destroy Obama so that your horrible, little weasel friend John McCain can become president; how reprehensible.
Mr. Winer no one in the MSM wants to see their friend McCain, a former prisoner of war, loose to a black freshman senator. The MSM will never acknowledge that they were wrong about Rev. Wright.
He defiled the country he served with his rants. Maybe the rants were only a minor part of his ministry.
But that doesn't excuse him reaping what he has sown.
The likes of Bush and Cheney defiled the country. Reverand Wright was only pointing that fact out. And you, sir, do your own defiling by villifying a preacher who served his country in war. In defending the United States he has more right to his criticisms than those who never served their country.
Did you? Or are you just another of those "chickenhawks'?.
Any open minded person, and reasonable person who sees the Moyer's interview, the Detroit NAACP speech, and his entire sermons would rush to his praise and damn the media for their character assassination. He does not rant; he prophesies.
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