Posted on 04/17/2007 8:09:49 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost
Brothers and Sisters of Free Republic,
As you may or may not know, recently, the Boston Globe published a page one, above-the-fold, feature news story claiming that declining retention rates for West Point graduates are due to "repeated tours of duty in Iraq." While Bryan Bender, the author of the piece, went to great lengths to show that retention rates---at the end of the service requirement---are indeed lower than typical for classes graduating six to seven years ago, his "proof" that this was related to the War in Iraq was tangential, and, at best, anecdotal.
I'm a freelance journalist, and I'd like to write a piece disputing Bender's claim. If you're a West Point graduate currently serving or expecting to leave the service soon, or if you know someone who fits the bill, I'd like to correspond with you. Drop me a line at spiritofseventyfive at gmail.com.
Fair winds and following seas . . .
Liberals don't need no stinkin proof. Just look at Global Warming, it is anecdotal evidence, but yet the group-think is telling us the science is settled based on evidence that does not pass scientific mustard.
My sentiments exactly, and the piece I'm talking about was a classic example of advocacy journalism. If I can help it, though, I don't want to let it stand, that's why I want to write this piece. Especially because it rips on West Point grads.
bttt
again
Environmental controls are merely ploys to control America’s use of her own resources and put the control into the hands of the world community.
Which proves that the liberal agenda is socialistic and working toward one world government.
How do other nations gain control of America and her resources and wealth for their own use? How do other nations prevent America remaining a superpower?
Look at the democrat agenda in the schools, in environmentalist controls, in the handling of America’s superpower military. Democrats need ignorant people uneducated in American ideals to believe that the media propaganda is the truth.
Such a scary thing to look into the true goals of the democrat party.
You might break it down into male vs female, white vs minority , and major vs Army job.............It’ll probably boil down to money in the long run.........
And look at a Rosie O’Donnell - the perfect example of a robotic ignorant believer.
Her role on TV is no accident - look at the agenda behind what she touts.
If the declining rate claim is true, to whom do we owe this change?? I submit, the sniveling liberals feeding/controlling the old media and liberal anti-American politicians are mostly responsible for undermining the war effort. How do we expect our warriors to react to such treatment by their own countrymen?
That's what I'd suspect as well---some people just aren't lifers, and they're getting out just because they want to get out. It may or may not be related to Iraq, but this story would have you believe West Pointers are resigning their commissions so they don't have to go back to Iraq.
Ping ~
Exactly! One one hand, the Globe bemoans this "loss" of the elite officer corps, and on the other, it tells them that their sacrifices are being wasted. What do they expect to happen?
Thanks for forwarding this thread.
A buddy of mine once pointed out that everyone says this without realizing that following seas suck. Ever try to steer a boat or a ship in following seas? You slide all over the place.
Since Korea, the American Military's prime adversary has not been enemy combatants. Rather, the primary adversary has been a crumbling American society encouraged, nurtured and brainwashed by the mainstream American media managed by the radical extremists of the 1960's cultural revolution. The radical extremists managed to get most college newspapers "thrown" off campus, where they flourished with spurious funding funneled from America's enemies. As they graduated and moved into the mainstream, they grew like a cancer until they firmly controlled the mainstream media, which they transformed into a radical propaganda ministry. From this unofficial perch as the information overlords for American society, they filtered information and bombarded the masses with radical propaganda transforming masses of Americans into programmed zombies who react to comfort stimuli like man made "droids" with no soul. At some point soldiers may decide put their families ahead of the soulless zombies lead by more soulless politicians. I believe many soldiers are making a tactical retreat protecting their families and letting the front lines approach and consume the soulless zombies. Eventually, when the zombies are slaughtered and their consumption patterns get interrupted in enough calamitous events, the zombies may awaken. Hopefully, it will be in time to make a "last stand" before our destruction.
I might not go this far, but I do think the sentiment you express is largely correct, and it goes towards a point I made above: Perhaps many are questioning their dedication and sacrifice in relation to what they're hearing from those loud voices advocating a certain position in the media, or from what they're seeing in the upper echelons of command, both civilian and military. West Pointers are not stupid people (Army/Navy rivalries aside) . . . they, moreso than others, perhaps, can see the writing on the wall. Maybe they're asking themselves if they should put their lives on the line---for this?
Is the MSM savable?
By being honest, I mean build that wall back up between editorial and news. And don't pretend to be objective---in journalism, there's no such thing as objectivity. Every piece has an angle, or a slant, so it can't, by nature, be objective. As long as the news consumer knows the paper has a particular slant, there's nothing wrong with non-objectivity. The paper should be upfront about it---too many people accept what they read in the paper to be unquestionable fact.
My background is journalims too, which is why I raised the question. I’m not sure that it is salvageable.
I agree with your prescriptions, but the modern j-school journalists don’t really want to follow them.
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