Monday, May 05, 2014

Political correctness running amok at CNN

I am outraged at this morning coverage made by CNN about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria. I do not know what can be done in that particular situation but starting by reporting all the facts is definitely preferable at promoting wishful thinking hash-tags. Compare with the coverage of ABC in Spain where they report on organized rapes of these girls, forced conversions, forced spousals.  Then go back to the CNN page and search for, say, the word "rape". That is right, the kidnapping is a clean one, just your normal ransom search, let's not tag Islam or anything that could offend religious sensibilities.  CNN just sticks to the threats of slavery from Boko Haram for these girls, as I suppose slavery is more despicable than forced rape, conversion and what not.

And then you want me to trust CNN coverage of, say, Venezuela?  Where a benign dictator in favor of the poor is annoyed by a few rich kids that do not want to share? OK, I am exaggerating some but you get my point, I hope. Sometimes things should be denounced as they are and if the government of Nigeria is offended, then so be it. After all, like many Muslim majority countries, the moderate Muslims, the civilized ones, the ones heir of the intellectual tradition of Cordoba, are simply too afraid, or worse unwilling, to take a stand against their extremes as in the US CNN does against KKK and what not.

Sorry for that rant but double standards sometimes get me raw. The thing is that I am reaching a point that I wonder if there is any, ANY media worth watching. So far the Spaniards are the best, from their public TV to El Pais or ABC. No matter where they stand on the political spectrum they seem to at least agree on some standards applicable to all and everyone. Something that US media seem to have given up on with some honorable exceptions like the WaPo. But US TV, from all sides, simply suck.

24 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:13 PM

    Yes Spaniards good on TV but terrible at running countries lol.

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  2. Boludo Tenjano6:53 PM

    I am outraged at this morning coverage made by CNN about the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria. ....And then you want me to trust CNN coverage of, say, Venezuela?

    Golly gee whiz, Daniel, you're starting to sound like a wingnut! :)

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    Replies
    1. Maybe I should not write anything until my breakfast is over and I am fully awake...

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    2. Boludo,
      Cutii cutiwas cutithin cutiking cutithe cutisa cutime!

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    3. Boludo Tejano4:20 PM

      Whaat? Cutii= Romanian for "Boxes"..... Latin for "skin".. Then conjugating it? Such a comment is beyond my pay grade, i.e. beyond my competence.

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    4. hahaha!I am another language genius BT

      obi wobas thobinkobing thobe sobame - "papiamento"

      firepigette

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    5. Boludo,
      Sorry, I thought you knew the very traditional (child) game in Venezuela: to "prevent" others around from understanding, people would simply add "cuti-" before every syllable. Of course, in Spanish it works better because of the pronunciation regularity.
      I'll write it in the Spanish cuti-version:
      Cutiyo cutipen cutisa cutiba cutilo cutimis cutimo.
      I meant the message was for you and not to Daniel (but as a joke as Daniel, obviously, would know how to decode the very trivial cuti-encoding)

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    6. Boludo Tejano4:18 PM

      Kepler, thanks for the explanation.

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  3. Not to put to fine a point on, it the girls have been enslaved. Islam has a long uninterrupted history of chattel slavery.

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  4. Carlos Alberto2:42 AM

    The problem Daniel is that they don't want to cover what is going on the United States. All the incredible abuses the "leader of free world" is inflicting on the US Constitution (like not enforcing the law). they don't want to cover the abuses and corruption of the bureaucracy (IRS targeting of political opponents). If you look closely and objectively Daniel the way the Democrats behave in Congress and the way the President behaves is not much different than the early Chavez years. The media, that media that you love like The New York Times and The Washington Post are in tank for Obama. The brother of the President's National Security Adviser is the Head of CBS NEWS! Guess what CBS has not covered a minute of all the scandals. There is only one outlet left that covers what is really going on and that outlet is ridiculed and shunned .... hmmm I wonder what other country does that reminds you of?

    Oh I forgot .... but the Democrats are for gay marriage and Obama has "evolved" and now is for gay marriage. So nothing to see here ... move on. I am a bigot and a racist! I must atone.

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    1. No, you are a mere idiot.

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    2. Carlos you make perfect sense and the host calls you names?? Hmmmm...

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    3. Oh! Look! there is an echo!

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    4. I went to wiki to see what was it that you called Carlos, and here is what it says "An idiot, dolt, or dullard is an intellectually disabled person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way"
      Now I think, with all your intellectual prowess you refuse to admit what is going on in the US based on ONE particular issue, we all know what that is, isn't that a sign of a handicapped intellect?? we also know that the disaster of Vzla is the natural result of applying socialism to it...one would think that somebody who experienced it first hand would be the a greatest advocate against socialism (sort of what Yoani does) if not, wouldn't that be sort of self-defeating and counterproductive.

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    5. What the hell does the United States have to do with this? I'm a certified knuckle dragger (I voted for Ford!) and don't get your angle. Let it go. Wrong blog. Go see my friends at Rantburg.

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    6. Half...here is what it has to do. Socialism, comunisn and all the other "ism" when applied to a country it will destroy it. We all have witnessed it in Vzla, but iit is happening in other places, FPV in Argentina, Nueva Mayoria en Chle, MAS in several other places, and the democrats in the US...at different speeds. While this blog is about Vzla has always been more than that, and condemming socialism/communisn/"other ism" from the left is one of those things. If it was bad in Vzla is bad everwhere, including the US.

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  5. Venezuela is in your onw backyard soon you will have Russian military bases with weapons pointing to US soil, poor people in Venezuela is even more affected since we are living in hell ans sitting on a time bomb that soon will explode then noone would say they could not see it in advance when the blood bath starts and organizations such UN and OEA would spend time to even take a look on what was really happening CNN send their people and they were also surprised how bad situation is, thanks God some media is not scare to show the reality, thanks CNN and NTN24

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  6. http://kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/what-is-wrong-with-multiculturalism-part-2/
    is somebody I respect. An cultural Muslim, he writes about the problems of multiculturalism for freedom of expression and for the equality before the law. Basically he says multiculturalism is soft fascist racism. Censorship and double standards are the result of putting every minority into it's own well defined imposed compartment, with a well defined imposed homogeneous membership. In such a multicultural framework, a liberal Islamic cleric is an outcast, for example, because well defined compartments require that only orthodox Islamic clerics count as representatives. Groups that run across compartments, like "working class," become disenfranchised. Assimilation to the host culture is not only discouraged, it is actually forbidden since the state must guarantee the preservation of the member cultures, forever, as a sign of respect. Equality before the law is replaced by different privileges for different cultures, within a hierarchy where ironically the ones at the top are sectarian men that threaten violence and the ones at the bottom are the traditional blue collar white trash and non-white women. This is the future of Western societies unless the new fascist political movements take over in Europe, with equally horrible results.

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  7. It is true that the U.S. press has gone downhill in terms of impartiality. The fact is is that the majority of the press in the U.S. has liberal/leftist agenda. This then left a void on the right, which was filled by FOX. The situation has degenerated to the point where unbiased simple factual reporting of the news has been crowded out by the competing opinion makers. I wish I knew what the solution is. "Just the facts, Mam." doesn't sell airtime in the U.S. But, you are right to be angered at CNN's soft coverage of a moral outrage.

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  8. I agree with Roy.

    The same ole political correctness that is ruining everything here, despite the fact that it is estimated that only 74 % of Americans agree with it....still it is dominating the media.Theses crazies are infiltrating academia as well, turning knowledge into mush.

    The intolerance of the hypocritically intolerant is worse than any ordinary intolerance.Most people are not so proud of their intolerance.The falsely tolerant are.

    " I have no tolerance for your intolerance"LOL. Only an idiot cannot see the craziness of that.It's akin to the crazy New Agers who look at you when you complain about someone and they scream at you " Don't Judge !! "

    Everyday I fight against this in my environment.The funny thing is that it's mostly a "Liberal" thing.

    Such Liberal tolerance!

    What is scary and we have seen this all over the world indifferent ways is the Human ability to become completely and totally unconscious.Even highly educated people.This utter stupidity absolutely nothing to do with educational levels.

    firepigette




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    Replies
    1. Sorry meant to say that 74 percent of Americans DISAGREE with political correctness

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  9. Anonymous6:58 PM

    Daniel, everything is business, the press says or publishes anything that will sale. CNN still thinks that Evo Morales is a true "indigenous"leader! WTF! probably that is what they feel about Chavez too

    I have the same opinion for the UN, HRW, or any other international organization where employees make hundreds if not millions of dollars as part of their compensation.

    Sight!

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  10. and yet:

    "Nigeria accepted U.S. assistance Tuesday to help find and rescue the girls. The U.S. State Department says it is sending a team of experts to Abuja that includes U.S. military personnel and law enforcement officials trained in investigations and hostage negotiations.

    This is the not the first time the U.S. has offered to help Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram militants who claimed responsibility for the kidnapping - but analysts say the Nigerian government may be becoming more open to outside help. "

    firepigette

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  11. Anonymous1:23 AM

    The coverage of CNN in Spanish is much different than the domestic CNN or CNN International.

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