strikeout mania!

Who's to blame? Definitely those committing the violence. But also definitely the "geniuses" at Newsweek who cleared and ran the story. Ever since Rushdie's Satanic Verses, the world has known that a significant number in the Islamic community will kill over the slightest perceived insult.

So, who's really more responsible, the gun or the person who pulls the trigger?

It's kind of like hiring a hit-man to kill your wife: the other guy may have pulled the trigger, but the crime was still your fault and you should be punished accordingly.

Of course, the riots over Newsweek's "report" pale in comparison to the Catholic-led riots, murders, and mass pillaging in response to the crucifix in urine.

Even if one argues Newsweek is not morally responsible (I personally think they are), journalistically, they suck and still should be held responsbile. After this bullshit that there was no lapse in journalistic standards and trying to blame the Pentagon, not only do I want their heads, I want them posted on sticks. It'll be a good lesson for the rest of them.

There is a difference between announcing a story is wrong and retracting the story. There was no retraction. And now they are back pedaling by saying there was no lapse in journalistic standards. Asshats.

There's another story here that I'm curious about.

How many of the Afghanis rioting have subscriptions to Newsweek? (Rhetorical question.) But seriously, these riots didn't just happen. Even if say, Al-Jazeera picked up on that one paragraph in a larger story, and made it the centerpiece of an entire report, that report was picked up and amplified by somebody - there must have been a pretty well co-ordinated decision to make it the subject of last Friday's sermons, and that those sermons should contain calls to "action". And why that "action" turned violent.

Okay, so I've pretty much got the story, but is anyone following this thread? Someone was looking for an excuse for anti-America and Karzai riots, and they found it.

And don't dare even think of MENTIONING that little misunderstanding when a group of Palestinian freedom fighters occupied the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, holding priests and nuns hostage, stealing artifiacts, and generally trashing the placed.

After all, that doesn't count as desecration.......

Yeah, but if you so much as looked crosseyed at a Mosque, OOOOO! You evil western oppressor.

You know it seems that the media only "respects" religions that beheads members of the media. Because lets be honest, the mysoginy of Islam makes the Church look like a NOW hootenanny.

I really wish these guys would face real consequences, not just these slap on the wrist firings/instant hirings at the local liberal university dijour.

Church of the Nativity? The LAT treated us to page after page of giant color photos of the freedom fighters looking angelic in the light streaming in from the windows. They were pissing and shitting all over the place inside the church. Where are the photos of that? What's more offensive? Panties on head? Or, someone taking a crap in a church. Flushing a koran down the toilet = crapping in a church. No crapping in a church is worse. Did we riot?

Come on. Afghanistan went beserk. How is that Newsweek's fault?

1) If the story was documented, would Newsweek still be responsible for the deaths?

2) If Newsweek is only responsible for the deaths in the event that the story is untrue, what happens if three weeks from now the story is proven true? Are they suddenly exonerated after the fact?

At worst, they didn't double check a source. So what? If the story's not true, they made a minor error. If it is true, they made a minor error. In neither case are they in any way responsible for the fact that Afghanis appear to be psychotic.

Most of the people castigating Newsweek would instantly switch to defending the Pentagon if the story turned out to be true, and they certainly would be unsympathetic to the rioters. But given a chance to slap at the MSM and all sense leaves the building.

An Uncivilized Response

Of course, the riots over Newsweek's "report" pale in comparison to the Catholic-led riots, murders, and mass pillaging in response to the crucifix in urine.

'Nuff said.

Cal, don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of treating the Koran like TP. Heck if urine is good enough for the cross, its damn good enough for the Koran. I'd be a little pissed if we weren't messing with these guys. And I really don't care if these guys are killing themselves. That's less of them to come after us.

The problem is that this hurts our war effort. It gives our enemies ammo against us in the battle for "hearts and minds". If Muslims are driven to a fever pitch to hate us, it become real hard for us to reason with them and try to persudae them to our point of view.

On top of that the story was a lie. So these poor slobs got killed for nothing. Our war effort was hurt for nothing. And we'll be lucky if anyone (killer or reporter) is held to account.

I would hope that after this Newsfreak becomes totally PNG with the US govt and military - no embeds, no pools and no questions answere at a news conference. Don't even talk to other reporters who hang out with Newsweek reporters. Make them into lepers with the ebola virus.

Sure the US govt has to talk to the press - but it doesn't have to talk to a particular member of the press.

As to Judith Miller, I think the NY Times should change her name to "Token" like on South Park - they just keep her around to deflect accusations of liberal bias.

Judith Miller only reported the conclusion shared by every intelligence service in the known world. France, Russia, the UK, and several Middle Eastern countries all were convinced that Hussein had WMD. That's a far cry from what Newsweak just did.

Ace,

Newsweek didn't run the picture of Andre Serrano's, Piss Christ. They used one of his other (non offensive) pictures to accompany a story a few years later.

The point I was trying to make is that it is either wrong or it isn't to desecrate religious symbols. If it is wrong, then Newsweek shouldn't pay artists who commit this offense. If it isn't, then why are they attempting to blow the whistle on the U.S. military for engaging in something that the government actually funds "artists" to engage in?

1) If the story was documented, would Newsweek still be responsible for the deaths?

Yes.

2) If Newsweek is only responsible for the deaths in the event that the story is untrue, what happens if three weeks from now the story is proven true? Are they suddenly exonerated after the fact?

No.

HTH

P.S. Cal, you have a singular knack for missing the big picture.

Cal,

If I yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater and 16 people are trampled to death in the ensuing melee, am I at fault? I certainly am if there was no fire.

Isn't it strange that we get the same excuse from the media that we got during the Rathergate story:

"Obviously we all feel horrible about what flowed from this, but it's important to remember there was absolutely no lapse in journalistic standards here," he said. "We relied on sources we had every reason to trust and gave the Pentagon ample opportunity to comment. . . .(WaPost via Roger Simon)

That is exactly the same story we heard from the media and the left about the Rathergate story and their unimpeachable source:

Half an hour later, Roberts called "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes with word that Bartlett was not challenging the authenticity of the documents. (HT:Wizbang)

This is just LAME!

Can you imagine if the administration had commented? The story would have gone like this, "Bush Administration Tries To Kill Memo/Koran Story."
DKK

Hey guys, try flushing a book down your toilet. You can even flush a small one. Let us know what the plumber says.

I killed a hobo. Not necessarily because of your loose sh*t but still I think that moves your death count to one.

OBVIOUS DISCLAIMER: I didn't really.

There have been stories from former detainees about lack of respect for Islam on the part of guards, and even from a former translator at Guantanamo, Eric Saar, about the sexual humiliation of detainees by female American guards and interrogators. So when Newsweek reported that a U.S. military investigation had found that interrogators had flushed a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, down the toilet, for a lot of people it fit a pattern

Dumb supported by dumber.....from ABC's site, excerpts from a letter by the Nightline staff trying to whitewash the Newsweek fiasco.

I like that 'Al-Newsweek' nom de guerre ...

More importantly, Malkin likes it.

I wish I still had a subscription to Newsweek so I could cancel it.

"Correction! Quick as Lightning! The Warden writes me to let me know that Newsweek featured a photo by Serrano, not the infamous "Piss-Christ" itself.

Bodycount for my error: Thus far, zero."

I have just killed my neighber out of a belated sense of anger. Please update your total to one.

I find it interesting how people get all worked up over government sponsored destruction of the Koran and yet they will sponsor hatred toward Jesus. Click below to read my short blog called

“Piss Christ” & “Crap Koran”: Art or Offense?

http://www.emerginglife.org/chat/weblog_entry.php?e=43

It has a great little graphic to help illustrate the point.