CNN and Moral Authority

I am attending the Israel Venture Association annual conference in Tel Aviv and was introduced to Andrea Koppel from CNN as we were waiting for Prime Minister Sharon and Secretary of State Powell to finish their discussion Sunday evening at our hotel.

While we were chatting, an American-born Israeli joined us to tellAndrea about his perception of media distortion in that the pressthat stresses moral equivalence between Israeli civilian deaths caused byPalestinian terror and Palestinian civilian deaths caused byIsraeli miIlitary actions. He argued that Israel has tried to engage in a peace process since Camp David and has been double-crossed over and over by the Palestinian Authority. Further, he argued the civilian deaths caused by Palestinians are intentional, whereas the deaths caused by Israel aremostly the tragic, unintentional results caused by Israel trying to defend itself.

Andrea replied, "So when Israeli soldiers slaughter civiliansin Jenin, that is not equivalent?"

Israeli: "What are your sources? Were you in Jenin? How exactly do you know there was a slaughter?"

Andrea: "I just spoke with my colleagues who were there, and they told me of the slaughter."

Israeli: "And you believe them without evidence. Could theypossibly be lying and distorting facts."

The Israeli became emotional in describing that his children are afraid, his friends have been murdered, and if this goes on, "We could lose our lives or we could lose our country."

At this point, I interrupted the two of them and asked Andrea Koppel, "Did I just hear you correctly-- that you believe the current crisis will lead to the destruction of the State of Israel?"

Needless to say, I was stunned to hear a senior CNN correspondent express this extreme "world-view". It was very disturbingfor obvious reasons, and I was particularly upset by her extraordinarygeo-political conclusion that the State of Israel is bound for destruction.I asked her how she came to this conclusion-- what was her background scholarship in Middle East history or military geo-strategy?

Andrea: "Well, you know, I took a course on the Middle Eastwhen I was at Middlebury College, and our professor assigned us five books on the history of the conflict. So I first read a book written by an Israeli, and I thought all the land belongs to the Israelis. Then I readanother book by a Palestinian and thought all the land belongs to the Palestinians.There are many points of view, and it is just so complex!"

Her background scholarship and intellectual depth on the subject duly noted, I turned to consider what to do next.

1) Complain to CNN management? 2) Expose this to other press (say Fox or 60 Minutes, letters to the editor?) 3) Try to educate her towards a more realistic understanding of Israel's geo-political position? 4) Tell the Israeli Foreign Ministry and let them deal with it? 5) Do nothing? (I hope not)

I don't know what do to about this, but I thought you may have the right suggestion. Feel free to forward this to your family and friends.

Needless to say, I was stunned to hear a senior CNN correspondent express this extreme "world-view". It was very disturbingfor obvious reasons, and I was particularly upset by her extraordinary geo-political conclusion that the State of Israel is bound for destruction. I asked her how she came to this conclusion-- what was her background scholarship in Middle East history or military geo-strategy?

Andrea: "Well, you know, I took a course on the Middle East when I was at Middlebury College, and our professor assigned us five books on the history of the conflict. So I first read a book written by an Israeli, and I thought all the land belongs to the Israelis. Then I readanother book by a Palestinian and thought all the land belongs to the Palestinians.There are many points of view, and it is just so complex!"

To answer this question by essentially saying that she is unable to determine which side is correct about who owns the land not only displays a remarkably limited ability to think or apply a knowledge of history and some kind of morality to decide which side is correct, but it demonstrates that she can't even begin to give a straight answer. I don't know why she's a reporter, she seems to be a great candidate for some leadership position in the Democratic Party.

She showed herself to be a complete dunce, especially with the "it is just so complex" statement - it reminds me of Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back Kotter" saying "I'm so confused!" Perchance, is she blond? [Note to blond Freepers - no offense intended to you gals, just stupid Valley girl types like this waste of protoplasm].

I suppose that it would be a bit much to expect that Mr. Blumberg would've had any luck in finding out from Ms. Breeze-Through-The-Head what her thoughts were regarding the logical consequences of the "end" of Israel (like, for instance, the deaths of 200 million+ Arabs, the destruction of Arab civilization, the irradiation of the entire Mideast including the oil fields, the massive plumes of radioactive fallout blowing all over the world, the poisoning of the Mediterranean after the Aswan Dam goes up in a mushroom cloud, thereby releasing a large lake of radioactive water - you know, little things like that).

Things like this constantly reinforce my years-old decision never to watch CNN again.

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