Laurels for Journalistic Courage

This blog, for some time now, has been strongly decrying the present day, overtly biased journalistic efforts as practiced by the mainstream media (MSM), in violation of any professional code that may stand in the way of the new calling!

At present limiting ourselves to an European example, journalism has allowed the E.U., and in turn national government spokespersons, to enact Orwell's 1984 new speak, guiding them on the use of terminology and idiom: which words are allowed and which are deemed politically incorrect, and thus blacklisted by the boys in Brussels.

Here's but the latest reporting: a post by Conservative Beach Girl on the role of the MSM in the Beslan matter. I predict it will shortly reach the point of active aiding and abetting! The BBC in Gaza has practically become a party.

Self-censorship and suppression of 'undesirable' news items is regretfully, today, normalcy in journalistic circles. The self-confessed bias of the erstwhile icon of independent quality journalism, the BBC, has reached such infamy that it may even pride itself on a number of dedicated blogs, exclusively following the beeb's sad track record.

Spin and manipulation of the public have become the merchandise of the mainstream media; political activism a second nature, not standing in the way of professional reporting.

It therefore stands out like a honest newspaper in Oceania when a bread-and-butter news site like the Irish Independent is publishing a reality-based report on the encroaching Islamization that is taking the West by stealth.

In the article, "Forget lily-livered liberalism, time to take stand and say we don't want Muslim immigrants", the Independent is indeed doing just that - Hat tip Foehammer's Anvil

Therefore belatedly (the article is dated 17th July) these pages are awarding the first "Lighthouse Laurels for Journalistic Courage" to the "Independent" of Ireland!

Lest we be accused of bias on the side of Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, jingoism, culturalism, or whatever other divisive term the neo totalitarians can think up in order to control the masses and public opinion to enforce soft submission, herewith again the usual caveats and disclaimers towards peaceful, freedom loving Muslims living in our midst, who also decry Al Qaeda c.s. for what they are.

Which reminds me to draw some attention to a recent post by Dr Sanity, analyzing the current predicament. I think the following describes beautifully and incisively the violence a defender's soul must endure in order to preserve freedom against a ruthless enemy ... "they have deliberately brought civilization to a "time beyond human wisdom."

"When we are finally cornered and must allow our own barbarism to surface to combat theirs head to head, then we must be prepared to live with the consequences, including the agonizing guilt that will ensue, or everything we hold dear, everything we aspire to become, will forever perish from this earth."

"We could have lived with them, did they not insist that we must become what they are or die. But it is they who have defined the ground rules (or the non-rules) of this conflict; and it is they who have set the playing ..."

Of Degeneracy, Megalomania and other Anomalies

Today's range of current affairs subjects may differ wildly, but they have one thing in common: Culture War.

After failed attempts to establish a political party for pederasts, and the marketing of sex toys for Mother's Day (what can possibly be wrong with that?!), the Dutch broadcasting society that successfully brought televised sex and drug use education to the nation, is now pushing through a reality game show in which first prize is ... a kidney transplant! Wow, how progressive and liberal can a country possibly get without going to the dogs entirely? Answer: not very.

Let's put it in another way: this country is beyond immoral; it has long passed amoral; it has in effect become a moral black hole! As a consequence, and to make my point, ninety percent will have no idea what I'm on about!

The latest exercise in indifference and contempt for human life has resulted in the headlines "Baby suffocated in car", in two separate incidents of 'forgetfulness' in the Netherlands and in Belgium. Good night!

The good news is, Labour, the party we have to thank for furthering so much of the above, is on the brink of collapse! I could have told them that their boy wonder, Wouter Bos comes across as the cold-hearted, vain, unprincipled, technocrat that he is: a second Ad Melkert. People can sense fake even through the screen of a television. That's why the former Maoist competitor, Jan Marijnissen of the Socialist Party may be a totally misguided idealist, I'd buy a second hand car from him any day, as opposed to Bos whom I wouldn't even trust with the collection of my garbage.
CNN is reporting: Guantanamo detainee 'kills self'. Can anyone explain the function of these inverted commas, suggesting ... what ... foul play?

On to some more serious stuff now, as Venezuela requires our attention. The compassionate Leftist strongman of the proletariat, voted into power for a second time with some sixty percent of the vote as validated beyond doubt by the worst president in United States history, after the best of Marxist traditions is well on his way to megalomaniac totalitarianism. The choice for learning things the hard way seems to be a common human trait. Read here how key institutions have now been brought under Chávista control: ten of the twelve TV stations, the judiciary, the military.

John Allen of The National Catholic Reporter is having some fun with Chávez' "Cubanization policies" that are reflecting the spirit of "the greatest Socialist in history", viz. our Lord Jesus Christ. Apparently Pope Benedict's finer philosophical and theological points on Liberation Theology are lost on the Chávez' household, as might be expected. Enter the Second World War, Adolf Hitler and the Anti Christ, which just goes to show that even the saintly men in Rome can be sorely tested.

Asked Tomas Sancio of Venezuelan Politics Blog what we can do to help the situation in his country: "Write, write and write, that's what we can do, hoping that search engines and public opinion can read our opinions. Providing explanations on why we think totalitarianism is happening now. Opinions and arguments do count. The Venezuelan government pays people to lobby on its behalf (I know the name of one French man that was hired to do that job). Foreign press has for years given Chávez the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, we can provide our grain of sand to overcome the propaganda."

Yes, the press from hell would be involved, wouldn't they? As they are in furthering the Marxist multicultural agenda as set out by the irrational, totalitarian Unholy Alliance of Islam and the Left in the boycott of Israel. After the 35,000 members of the British National Union of Journalists (NUJ) found it in themselves to declare a boycott against Israel, yesterday also Britain's largest professional body of lecturers (UCU) called upon its 120,000 members to join an international boycott of all Israeli academic institutions.

Israel is going the way of South Africa: singled out for boycott against Apartheid (the worst president in U.S. history has set the tone with a book title turned misnomer), while all measure of barbarism, suppression and crimes against humanity are apologized in the name of Marxist good intentions. Lately I'm having déjà vues from the 1970's.

Apart from the fact that we obviously have the Unholy Alliance here at work, I think we are getting beyond bias now, into the realms of open war fare on the part of Britain's multicultural bastions. Another way of seeing it, is an assault on an independent state by denying its right and first duty of protecting its citizens against terrorism. Put yet in another way: the 'right to commit insurgency' of a virulent minority outweighs the state's prime duty to protect the majority. How does this florid example fit into the transnational progressive agenda of undermining the legitimacy of the nation state?

Let's wrap this up with some good news, the U.N. Security Council has passed a resolution on the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. If the Syrians hoped pressure could be exerted by unleashing the international band of marauders of Fatah Islam on Lebanon, these hopes are now truly dashed.

Another Victory of Unreason over Reality

We live in blessed times. Man is making great strides forward. After we have done away with the shocking notion that one religion or culture might actually be superior to another if only because one stayed barren while another caused civilization as we know it; and even the regrettable scientific theory of the existence of objective truth has been discredited, thus enabling us to commit oppressive ideas as 'lies', 'wrong', 'mistake' and 'error' to eternity; today we can celebrate that neutrality as vital prerequisite for professional journalism has finally fallen in the name of victory of unreason over reality.

That the mainstream media (MSM) have become a by-word for political bias was an accusation which - till today - was always vehemently denied. Yet any owner of a bit of an open mind reading the papers, watching television or the Internet, could come to the conclusion that the dice are loaded on the left hand side.

As neutrality and emotional distance once were the trademarks of professional journalism, one would have thought that the allegation of bias is a serious one. Yet the BBC has gone within the course of one year, from the standard bearer of the trade to one of the worst offenders against it.

Since anti-Americanism re-took hold - as it usually does to some degree with a Republican President in the White House - even the pretence of impartial reporting got less and less with each passing year that George W. Bush has been in office.

As former neoconservative politicians turn into Gerbil Mix wherever the opportunity presents itself, U.S. ally Israel is at present singled out by Britain's 35,000 strong membership of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) as a particularly savage country, as it sits in an ocean of human and social injustice. But in this vast field of choice in the Middle East, the NUJ has declared a boycott against America's ally.

Just say No! to Israeli agricultural produce, they demand, echoing former U.S. President Carter's ludicrous accusation of "Apartheid!". Ludicrous, as the essence of Apartheid is discrimination on the basis of race: the author was the first to deny that this was the case, thereby declaring the title of his own book null and void.

The luminaries and intelligentsia that make up the Leftist elite, likely subscribers of the Euston Manifesto and other such offences against reason, en masse adhere to "multiculturalism, that university-nurtured version of cultural relativism that has now firmly ensconced itself wherever politically correct college-educated elites congregate, which is to say just about everywhere." Needless to say that the vast majority of the NUJ are likely self-proclaimed members of said elite.

Another trait of this côterie is the blood-chilling cynicism that is the result of the disappointment after communism failed to live up to its earlier promises to put an end, once and for all, to Western civilization. After a decade or as so of brooding over this unsatisfactory state of affairs, a particularly nasty piece of irrationality was dreamed up: relativism, accompanied by its ugly stepsister multiculturalism.

A lot has been said in these pages about these postmodern pseudo philosophies, but the fact of the matter is, at heart, these fallacies to a large extent cloak cowardice in a shroud of intellectualism. It sounds as an excuse, but Clifford Day in his article "Hacks or Flacks?" on the site of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies describes why the NUJ seems to be caving in to intimidation:

"Johnson’s kidnapping (by Palestinians), the abduction and forced conversions of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the video-taped decapitation of Daniel Pearl - these and other atrocities are intimidating a growing list of journalists."

He sarcastically concludes that "with this as backdrop, perhaps the NUJ boycott against Israel should be seen less as bias and more as a kind of tribute - a sacrifice of journalistic integrity in the hope it may appease the editors who matter most, those who cut not with red pens but with butcher knives, those who produce not packages for the evening news but snuff videos for the Internet."

I say, if you haven't got the spine to uphold your own standard of professionalism against your personal political activism, go find a job where your lack of character and spirit is less required. Go restock store shelves, or something!