Glenn Greenwald: The Pastor & Cheap, Selective Concern For "Blood-Spilling"

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/10/blood

FRIDAY, SEP 10, 2010 10:11 ET
The pastor and cheap, selective concern for "blood-spilling"
BY GLENN GREENWALD

After WikiLeaks published the Afghanistan war logs, political and media figures fell all over themselves to publicly condemn the group for having "blood on its hands," despite the fact that (1) there is, as Wired noted just yesterday, "no evidence to date . . . that anyone has suffered actual harm due to the documents" and (2) many of the people most vocally condemning WikiLeaks have enormous amounts of blood on their own hands from the endless wars, bombing campaigns, occupations, and detention regime they supported and still support. But condemning WikiLeaks offers an opportunity for cheap, self-glorifying moralizing; the group has very little power or prestige in Washington and is thus an easy target for royal court journalists. Media figures who treat actual blood-spillers with great reverence thus suddenly found within themselves oh-so-profound concern over "blood-spilling." Along those lines, contrast the well-deserved contempt Tony Blair is facing as he tries to peddle his self-justifying book with the media red carpet rolled out for every pro-war Washington official and the treatment George Bush -- who spilled gigantic amounts of blood in Iraq and other places in the Muslim world -- will receive from the U.S. media when he releases his book.

The media circus surrounding the Koran-burning pastor illustrates this cowardly dynamic even more extremely. Media figures who would never dream of treating with hostility Respected Political Officials who start wars of aggression are competing with one another over who can most flamboyantly express contempt for this inconsequential, powerless joke of a figure on the ground that he risks "spilling blood." Just watch this 4-minute segment from Morning Joe this morning, one of the most cringe-inducing displays of cheap, cost-free self-righteousness you'll ever see, as a panel that includes Jon Meacham, Mika Brzezinski, and Dan Senor parade the Pastor in front of everyone -- without letting him speak -- so they can voice their profound contempt for him, while Meacham urges him, in the name of Jesus, to refrain from burning the Korans so as to avoid spilling blood:

VIDEO AT LINK

Do you think that the establishment-serving, power-worshipping Jon Meacham would ever in a million years use language like that to condemn American officials who have actually spilled enormous amounts of blood? An extensive search this morning revealed no instance where Meacham ever condemned or publicly appealed in the name of Jesus to the architects of the attack on Iraq, which resulted in the blood-spilling of hundreds of thousands of human beings.

- snip -

Note, too, as part of that Morning Joe discussion, the ironic demand that the Muslim world recognize that the Koran-burners are only a tiny part of the American population and not representative of the country generally. On Twitter yesterday, Marc Ambinder raised the same point, noting the inability of Americans to make clear to the Muslim world that the Pastor is not representative of Americans generally. That inability is hardly surprising, given that (1) Muslims have encountered the same difficulty with getting Americans to see that Al Qaeda is not representative of Muslims generally (hence the polls showing high levels of anti-Muslim bigotry in the population and the widespread appeal of the anti-mosque movement), and (2) the countless American policies over the last decade that are perceived as a War on Muslims and thus a close cousin of the Koran burning.

- snip -

He then went on to praise Dick Cheney's argument as "very effective" that Democrats -- unlike the GOP -- would be unable to confront "state sponsors of terrorism." Noticeably absent was any condemnation from Meacham of Bush and Cheney for spilling huge amounts of innocent blood in violation of the mandates from Jesus. Like most establishment journalists, his moral outrage is reserved exclusively for those who have no power in the royal court he serves. Blood-spilling by American officials is always legitimate and reasonable, by definition.

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[sabrina 1]

1. Excellent points.

They hypocrisy of the U.S. is simply jaw-dropping. Good for him for pointing it out.

Media figures who treat actual blood-spillers with great reverence thus suddenly found within themselves oh-so-profound concern over "blood-spilling."

No words of condemnation for Cheney and Bush. As Greenwald says, Bush will be treated with great respect when he does his book tour, unlike Blair who at least found out that even if the government doesn't hold him accountable, citizens of the world will every time he tries to peddle his revisionist history.

This country has lost its mind ....

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Greenwald is a dangerous man because he tells the truth

Bravo to Glenn!

America has indeed lost its mind.

[Solly Mack]

3. k/r