I'M ACTUALLY ANGRIER ABOUT JUDITH MILLERComplications Ensue
Complications Ensue:
The Crafty Screenwriting, TV and Game Writing Blog




Archives

April 2004

May 2004

June 2004

July 2004

August 2004

September 2004

October 2004

November 2004

December 2004

January 2005

February 2005

March 2005

April 2005

May 2005

June 2005

July 2005

August 2005

September 2005

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

September 2006

October 2006

November 2006

December 2006

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2014

September 2014

October 2014

November 2014

December 2014

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

May 2015

June 2015

August 2015

September 2015

October 2015

November 2015

December 2015

January 2016

February 2016

March 2016

April 2016

May 2016

June 2016

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

October 2016

November 2016

December 2016

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

May 2017

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

December 2017

January 2018

March 2018

April 2018

June 2018

July 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

January 2019

February 2019

November 2019

February 2020

March 2020

April 2020

May 2020

August 2020

September 2020

October 2020

December 2020

January 2021

February 2021

March 2021

May 2021

June 2021

November 2021

December 2021

January 2022

February 2022

August 2022

September 2022

November 2022

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

July 2023

September 2023

November 2023

January 2024

February 2024

 

Thursday, July 07, 2005

This is going to seem callous, but the jailing of Judith Miller for not revealing her sources made me angrier than the London bombings.

The bombings left me angry, but cold. I hate those guys. They hate us. We're in a war with them. They murdered at least 37 people today. I'm not sure modern society will ever be free of lunatics who mistake Islam/Christianity/Judaism/Hinduism/Buddhism for an excuse to murder people. There are just too many people, and modern explosives are so devastating.

But Judith Miller... when a reporter from the Times is jailed, that strikes at the heart of a free society in a way that angry Islamists could never do. Jefferson once wrote that he'd rather have newspapers without a government than a government without newspapers. He was exaggerating to make his point, but a society in which everyone's scared to blow the whistle when their bosses commit crimes -- and the Republicans who outed Valerie Plame were committing treason -- is a scary society on its way towards despotism. Without Deep Throat, Nixon would never have paid the price for the Watergate break-ins. Would Mark Felt have gone to the Washington Post if Woodward and Bernstein could have been compelled by a court to reveal his identity?

Meanwhile, our leaders raise the terror level, and put cops on the platforms, as if that's going to protect anyone. The next attack will not come by plane. It won't come necessarily by train. The likely target everyone's been talking about is cargo containers. But our fearless leaders have done almost nothing to stop terrorists from packing a standard shipping container with something horrible and shipping it into New York harbor.

I can think of some much more effective ways to terrorize North America, but I'm not going to blog them. They're just too damn easy, and terrifying.

I'm not scared of the terrorists. The IRA killed lots of people but never fundamentally changed British society, or even got the Brits out of Northern Ireland. But I am really scared about the political climate in the US. We are losing our freedoms, and slightly more than half the country thinks it's part of the war on terror.

When our leaders use the terrorists as an excuse to grab more power, terrorism wins.

6 Comments:

For the first time in my life, I'm actually scared of my government. I don't want to turn into one of those people who see black helicopters everywhere, but I've never seen a power grap so obvious and yet so un-commented upon by the press at large.

By Blogger Unknown, at 4:15 PM  

I am actually just tired at this point. The extremists just make me sad. They have gone so far into the dark and away from real people that they are just cartoons. It is the politicians who make me angry. They fought hard for the jobs that they grandstand with and yet they do not seem to understand. Yet we are just as bad- when our legislatures do the slow and boring work of real legislation with thought and care and a chance of meeting the standards of our constitutions then we vote them out of office. We need the free press to be less afraid of their marketing departments and get back to the work of telling us what is really going on and when they do, we must support them for doing it.

By Blogger Hawise, at 7:25 PM  

Just google "Buddhist riots" or "Hindu riots," Bryan. There was violent anti-Muslim rioting during the Partition of India. The Buddhists riot in Burma, among other things. Why should they be exempt? Just because their religion is peace-loving? So is Christianity.

By Blogger Alex Epstein, at 7:53 PM  

Why don't we simply throw Robert Novak in jail to find out who HIS "anonymous goverment source" was? After all, if we can do this to Judith Miller, why not Novak? Oh, that's right, he amd Karl Rove are good buddies. After all, Rove got FIRED from Bush Sr's campaign in 1992 for "allegedly" leaking info to Novak.

By Blogger writergurl, at 7:57 PM  

BTW, according to the Times editorial, there are state laws protecting journalists' rights in 49 states. There is just no federal law protecting them.

By Blogger Alex Epstein, at 10:00 PM  

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050706-12264700-bc-india-templeshooting.xml

The key sentence: "Hindu activists blamed Pakistani-supported Islamic militants for Tuesday's attack on the temple where Hindus in 1992 tore down the Babri mosque, which sparked Hindu-Muslim riots that killed 2,000."

Not 1915. 1992. (Partition was 1947.)

By Blogger Alex Epstein, at 12:38 AM  

Post a Comment

Back to Complications Ensue main blog page.



This page is powered by Blogger.