Here is a little news, but my post is really about commentary.
France's leader Sarkozy has said that he has not ruled out the option of boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. (I had blogged briefly about this symbolic type of boycott, not a full, actual, and useless boycott, before.)
Sarko cites the situation in Tibet as his reason. He has also called on China to talk with the Dalai Lama.
Now observe more carefully the words in the BBC headline: "Sarkozy threat to Olympic opening."
Hmmmm. SARKO is the threat? Apparently the democratically elected leader of a free European nation is the "threat" when he wants to voice his opinion about a situation that has attracted the condemnation of numerous world leaders. Oh, the threat can't possibly be an autocratic dictatorship using bloody force in a location it has seized and deliberately subjected to cultural mutilation.
Look, I know that media standards these days are deplorable, but this sort of moral inversion is simply offensive and stupid. Of course, this is the BBC news service we're talking about. You'll remember that on my old blog I once ranted about how BBC described Taiwan as a "threat" to China.
2 comments:
Sarko is the threat? Yes. The BBC is a forward-looking, long-sighted organisation and it recognises that regrettable as it may be, their current #1 threat is about to retire at the end of this year. Also their #2, surely a great disaster!
Therefore it behooves them to groom more than one possible successor for the roles of #1 and #2 fascist scumbag(s) after Bush and Cheney retire after the November election.
McCain is an excellent prospect of course despite some obvious drawbacks which may well delay his demonisation (like canonisation, only secular). Hillary also may have talent in this direction, as she is capalble of looking quite demented upon occasion. Obama? Somewhat less potential. He's prime victim-group material, so it may take years for the Beeb to fashion him into Hitler, Jr. A long-term project at best.
Prospects for a European successor are less clear-cut. Really only Sarko qualifies at all among current leaders although the return of Berlusconi is devoutely to be hoped for. Berlusconi really cannot be relied upon to fill the leading role in the nightly drama - comic relief is more his speed. Gordon Brown is at best a 4th rate villian - much too pedestrian and grey.
My dear Don, I think you do have a point! ;-)
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