Article

2007-08-04 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2007-08-04 01:26|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 Typical NPR-esque boilerplate trash.

Young men from Bibneen and other Sunni towns and villages of northern Lebanon form the backbone of the force that is waging the army's drawn-out, two-month fight in the Palestinian camp.

poor, widdle soldier's only join the military because they are dumb, impoverished, "youth" who can otherwise find no work due to the fact that evil war prevents them from fishing peacefully and living in perfect harmony. And, of course, despite the fact that the army appears, on the happy surface, to have high moral and be a symbol of increasing nationalist unity, every one who is anyone knows that "frustration is starting to mount as the fighting drags on" in a "drawn-out, two-month [!] fight".

gag. It only needs the sound effects of babies crying, women wailing, and clanking pots to be complete.

Posted by AT 2007-08-04 04:05|| 2007-08-04 04:05|| Front Page Top

#2 This exemplifies the "resistance-is-futile-surrender-to-the-terrorists" meme.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-08-04 06:56|| 2007-08-04 06:56|| Front Page Top

#3 Hmmm, gotta say, I didn't read the article that way. I thought the article was pretty positive in tone regarding the soldiers. It's the sort of article one could write about young men in the American south who join the Army or Marines because that's what Dad and Grandpa did in their time.

I saw it as honoring these men for their service to a greater good, that is, a country that would be worth having.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2007-08-04 12:02|| 2007-08-04 12:02|| Front Page Top

#4 Steve - maybe you are right and I have just become too cynical. But to me this just follows the exact format of every single, solitary NPR piece. They go like this:

1. It was a dark and stormy night - the mood is set, be it in a local school or in the hills of Afghanistan or busy city of Lebanon. Lots of adjectives and soothing background music.

2. Meet X - in this case, Walid. You know - the Joe normal we can all relate to. Usually, as in this story, Walid will have a family member or friend standing by to give him depth.

3. About this time we get the "clanging pots" as I call them. A series of NPR sound effects that usually include the interviewer starting an interview with the interviewee. This will fade to the back and the translator or the narrator will voice-over them. Most favored sounds are children playing, women talking as they clang pots in the kitchen. Each piece will have sound effects specific to the piece, for example - if it is about school lunches - you will get cafeteria sounds - or a war zone, you will hear shooting mortars, etc.

4. The Truth(TM) that feeds the lie. In this case, the fact that we revere the sacrifice of sons who must fight for freedom. The Truth(TM) is most often centered around mother-hood/apple pie and the children; the benefit of education; the pain of loss or poverty; the power of hope; the unquenchable nature of the human spirit - etc., etc.

5. After examining the happy surface, it is now time to look just beneath to see the dark evil that is hiding there - because every single NPR piece can be summed up thus "UNDERNEATH EVERY HAPPY SURFACE LIES DARKNESS.

In this case - the dark and sinister is that these peaceful fishermen really don't want to fight for freedom - they just want to fish. And it is so sad, such a waste, they might as well go home because resistance is futile!

I could go on...but you get the point.

Posted by AT 2007-08-04 22:08|| 2007-08-04 22:08|| Front Page Top

23:39 Pappy
23:33 OldSpook
23:30 OldSpook
23:20 E Brown
23:18 Zenster
22:57 Super Hose
22:33 wxjames
22:33 Redneck Jim
22:20 JAB
22:16 Zenster
22:08 AT
21:54 newc
21:48 Zenster
21:46 CrazyFool
21:42 Free Radical
21:35 Zenster
21:34 Free Radical
21:31 Zenster
21:30 RWV
21:25 AT
21:04 Gary and the Samoyeds
21:04 DarthVader
20:48 AT
20:33 Sock Puppet of Doom