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| Down Under |
| Aussie Broadcaster Can’t Call Hamas or Hizballah ’Terrorist Groups’ |
| 2004-02-14 |
| Australia’s national broadcaster has instructed its staff not to identify Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizballah as terrorist organizations, because they have not been designated as such by the United Nations. The instruction comes despite the fact the Australian government has listed Hizballah as a terrorist group, and is likely to add Hamas and Islamic Jihad to the list soon. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s head of international operations, John Tulloh, confirmed the policy Friday, in response to emailed queries. An internal memo to ABC staff reportedly reads: "Please be careful with Middle Eastern references. Several recent slip-ups have attracted justified complaints. The ABC follows U.N. guidelines on proscribed groups: Hamas, Hizballah, and Islamic Jihad are not included in the U.N.’s list of terrorist organizations and therefore must not be described as such." Tulloh declined to elaborate on the "justified complaints," saying that correspondence from ABC listeners and viewers was private. Hmm, I wonder who it could be that complained. What a mystery. |
| Posted by:TS |
| #10 .com just saw your post. Thanks! I'm flattered. Wasn't sure anyone would read such a long rant. Use away!! |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-15 7:34:54 AM |
| #9 The Feb 13 issue of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Diane Ravitch titled "You Can't Say That," about silly prohibitions against using sensible words in education. For example, the following words have been forbidden from use in textbooks: landlord, cowboy, brotherhood, yacht, cult, and primitive. New Jersey rejected a short short by Langston Hughes because he used the words "Negro" and "colored person." Anyway, to get to my point, the words banned in Michigan's educational materials include the word "terrorism." I presume that the use of this word is deemed to be offensive to Michigan's Moslems (to whom else?). |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-2-14 10:07:02 PM |
| #8 Lol... You did see Witness, right? Heh, NMM needs more than a therapist - methinks you're outgunned by about the same margin as the Iraqi cops. G'luck - and I will see you in the Keys... and don't forget Tahoe in August. Sweet. Ciao. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-14 6:33:24 PM |
| #7 I'm not always up to writing such a clear analysis, but I'm pretty good at whacking Tell me about it. Thanks to you I can afford the payments on the MissCoganist see you in the Keys this Spring. |
| Posted by: NMMs Therapist 2004-2-14 6:09:16 PM |
| #6 B - Good clear logical analysis - Thx! I hope you don't mind, but I may borrow this for whacking some of my friends over the head. I'm not always up to writing such a clear analysis, but I'm pretty good at whacking. Just need good tools to whack with, y'know? So this one goes in the tool shed, heh. Thx, again! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-14 1:04:10 PM |
| #5 Chicken. Egg. Pfeh. It's hard to say which is the more inane... that ABC would declare itself subordinate to the UN (and here I thought that 'news' orgs clamored to be independent) --or-- that the UN is so obviously fatally flawed and defective and Jooo-hating and flat-world that such terrorist orgs have not and apparently will not be declared as such. Mob rule... and there are a helluvalot of asshat piles of twits calling themselves nation-states which have a vote. ZimbobHaitiCuba cancels out USUKAU. Right. ABC - Get a grip, step up to the plate and define your own policies - like most adults do. UN - FOAD, already. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-14 11:39:44 AM |
| #4 A Terrorist by Any Other Name I'd like to say that it doesn't matter what you call them - if you target innoncents to make a political point, you are a terrorist. No matter how worthy your cause. In the long run, if you don't call them "terrorists", all that happens is a that new word is formed to describe what we currently mean by terrorist. Look at the word "retarded" . Healthy kids once mocked other healthy kids by screwing their faces, faking a muscle spasm, and calling them retarded. As the word became a slur to those who really were retarded, it underwent many revisions, such as "handicapped", "disabled" and now is along the lines of "special needs". (And further irony is that "retarded" was the kind word to replace "idiot" or "dolt.) But the fact is, that today's healthy kids still, in moments of meanness, screw their faces, fake a spasm and say, "he's special". What's changed? Nothing. With each word revision, there are self-appointed word police, who tsk, tsk, when someone is uncivilized enough to speak the now offensive word - publically scolding even well meaning elderly folks who just never got the memo. But in the end, nothing changes but the word that we use. I used to think it didn't matter. But in the short run, it does matter. Words do matter. Becaue in the immediate here and now, it allows everyone to look at the white elephant in the room and pretend it is just an elephant. It's ok to invite a "freedom fighter" to your cocktail party, but not a "terrorist". Changing the accepted adjective - that doesn't matter. But, pretending, that's what's not ok. So the moral of my long rant is, if someone tells you they "are not terrorists because the UN says so", please don't argue over whether or not you should use that term. Rather, just politely say, "OK, fine, if it offends you I won't....but what adjective would you like for me to use to refer to individuals who target babies in strollers for political gain?" That way, we will all have to acknowledge that the "elephant" is a white one. Thank you. |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-14 10:37:26 AM |
| #3 Your thought-crime has been recorded. Report to the Ministry of Love for your reeducation. |
| Posted by: RussSchultz 2004-2-14 10:27:16 AM |
| #2 Libya chaired the UN Human Rights Committee, so Libya must always be identified as a human-rights leader. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-2-14 9:55:04 AM |
| #1 So they are copying the Beeb then. The people blowing the shite out of ordinary Iraqis are called "the resistance". And I have ever heard the terms collaborators used on BBC News 24. |
| Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge 2004-2-14 9:43:45 AM |