Let me say at the top I found protests over the Beijing Olympic torch in San Francisco to be silly.
The United States has no credibility in accusing anyone else of human rights abuses, or of ignoring democracy. After the last 8 years of suppression and war, our ability to tell the world what to do about itself is exhausted. It’s a sick joke. And it will remain that way long after we change our ways — assuming we ever do.
I had just finished work yesterday and was flipping around the TV when the protests arrived in Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room.
It was a disgusting display. Not the protests. Not the reaction by authorities. Not the irony of China glorying in an event first staged by Nazis. Not even the Chinese goons who have been part of the parade of continents.
All that was to be expected.
What was unexpected was Blitzer’s narration, which was so over-the-top in attacking the protesters and worrying about the feelings of the poor Chinese government that I was, once more, ashamed to be an American.
Ted Turner would be rolling in his grave, if he were dead.
Turner’s whole concept was to bring the world’s views into American households, where they were not getting a hearing. That’s why he went on-and-on about using the word "international" instead of "foreign." There is no foreign, objectively. Foreign is a subjective word. To people in other countries, we’re foreign.
Instead, under Time-Warner, CNN has become nothing but a cheerleader for American government spin. It is not better than the networks it chose to replace — it’s worse.
And worst of all is Wolf Blitzer. He’s the Chris Matthews of CNN — a smug, self-righteous, fascistic jerk with an agenda. What he’s doing on the air is beyond me. He’s not practicing journalism. He’s a propagandist.
Why is it we can pretend to hold an Administration responsible for its failures but never hold it against its cheerleaders?
