Update 8PM: After simply choosing a new username (kent brockman) and email, I was able to create a new account, then post for the rest of the day. My main point in all of this was to perhaps warn Mr. Sanchez of the fact that the GOP has already tossed him aside, and to be careful about going into this new phase with high expectations of what will come of it. His celebrity status is enough for Right Wing News to work hard at making him feel like a big shot, because…let’s face it, they haven’t got much else going on over there from the looks of it. In fact, if you scroll down the front page a little ways, you’ll come across a post that contains 4-5 links, which they urge you to click on. Cyber-panhandling…if that phrase hasn’t been made famous yet, then this is a perfect opportunity to introduce it into our language.
Oh – so after a number of hours, one of the storm troopers is still thinking that kent brockman is Hal Kimball, and I’ve already said my piece, so I help the poor guy out and explain the obvious, that deadissue and kent are the same person and have been all along. My IP address has now been blocked. Heh – not bad. ~~
Matt Sanchez is a blogger in Iraq, and he’s posted a rant about how the mainstream media is too chicken-shit to leave the Green Zone (he apparently is notified of the activities of the entire media apparatus in the country on a regular basis)…stop me if you’ve heard this one before from a right-winger…and so he is debunking news articles, one in particular about a suicide bombing that was reported by the Wall Street Journal, without facts or a follow-up to the news division or even a single word from the article itself. You’re just supposed to take his word for it, and that is precisely what 99/100 readers of Right Wing News are prepared to do. Here’s a link to the Sanchez post, ‘Embed Matt Sanchez Reports From Fallujah‘.
I was able to post comments up until I submitted this (went into moderation and so I posted a comment that showed up on the site – meaning that, I wasn’t banned until they read the following):
Right Wing News – Fair enough, I’ll disregard the particulars regarding such and such, and simply debate Mr. Sanchez on the points he makes. If “street cred” is necessary for everyone here to take what I have to say seriously, then let me say up front that I’m an Army veteran, currently doing all I can to assist fellow veterans and soldiers who are still in the system. This consists of letter writing on their behalf, advice on how to address grievances within the system (trying to prevent people who need help into just going AWOL, as unfortunately a number of soldiers end up doing before they reach me or one of my colleagues).
I LOVE these people! The individual stories are horrendous, and for the most part transcend politics entirely. I could go on, but to blog-whore this one time and point you to ‘deadissueMilitary‘, you’ll find many actual accounts from soldiers and marines who are there today, as well as others who aren’t. Up front let me say that on a philosophical level, I believe the side-plot of media-mania in politics is detrimental in a situation like we have in Iraq. To flatly accuse reporters from the WSJournal of not getting a story right is something that should be confirmed with a request to their news division. A few months back there was an AP story about worshipers being doused with kerosene and set on fire outside of a mosque, to which a blogger decided it was fake, and that post was copied throughout the blogsphere.
It had to do with a source that the blogger felt did not exist, but after AP confirmed that he certainly did exist, as was proven (to the detriment of that source btw, as policy in Iraq for the police is to not provide information to the press, and so, this man could be dead by now over this)…what then? Perhaps in the instance Matt is pointing out here, there was more than one suicide bomber attack, and he is confusing that one with the one he describes here. How can we know if that is the case? Sadly, we have to dig up those stories ourselves, as Mr. Sanchez hasn’t bothered to compare the WSJournal article with his own recollections…nor has he leveraged his fan base here to track down an authority in the WSJ newsroom that can provide more details on the article and how it originated.
My main point here being…that Mr. Sanchez expects us to take his reporting at face value, yet besides a “trust me because I’m in Iraq”…bottom line, disregard MSM reporting because it is false and biased, but don’t apply that skepticism to what I write.
Matt: The reporting is, indeed, atrocious. The Washington Post report about the Green Zone running out of food, or members of the military not being able to blog were flat out lies.
The item regarding soldiers not being able to blog was based on an Army policy, of which, a copy was disseminated to the public through the media. It pertained to all electronic communication (including email), with each having to be approved by the command prior to it being sent, or else it is considered “unauthorized”. This isn’t about a “liberal media bias”, it’s the policy. Here is that document – Army Regulation 530-1.
Matt:I’m currently one of FIVE embeds in all of the Al Anbar Province. A province roughly the size of South Carolina.
And what about regional media? Iraqi media? You point out the fact right here that you are but one individual in a land that is vast in size, yet in your piece, the way you take a large brush to the media’s role in Iraq makes it seem like a small place. If one person (you) can single-handedly prove that a news organization like the WSJournal is making up their stories, then Iraq must be a small place after all.
Matt:I’m surprised that the people who are most opposed to Iraq are the people who want to know the least about Iraq, and just don’t have the guts to come out here.
I take this with a grain of salt. There hasn’t been a day gone by where the right-wing passed up an opportunity to pretend that only their side was invested in Iraq and/or had the “guts” to even be there, and I honestly attribute this posturing to a Napoleon complex. With the amount of journalists killed in this war already, it is insulting to read, in 2007, that they are all cowards, fabricators, etc.
Hence the reason why this piece by Mr. Sanchez is propaganda, and should not be taken seriously by anyone. If this one man is more capable than entire media outlets operating within Iraq…well, how likely is that? Let’s be real. We can admire someone for their bravery, but if they have to gain their relevance by assaulting the bravery of others – ironically (or not) the people he is competing against – it presents ethical questions that cannot be overcome by simply saying “trust me, I’m in Iraq and you’re not”.
DEADISSUE READERS - you know the drill. Whoever can get this comment on the thread over there, I’d appreciate it. I don’t think they were counting on the likes of me today. Easier to burn the books than read ‘em!
Posted by Al Swearengen in Al Swearengen, Military, politics