[lbo-talk] The Second Looting of New Orleans

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Dec 18 12:34:55 PST 2006


Steven:

So the quarrel is with the CounterPunch website/publication generally. But apparently not with the article posted which was by a former resident of NOLA and whose work has appeared or has been cited in other forums as well, as no evidence of poor fact checking or general inaccuracy has been pointed out.

[WS:] My problem is that a self-styled "radical left" publication/author is espousing a quite conservative view that charity is a knee-jerk way to help the "less fortunate" and based on that premise insults charitable institutions (foundations) for failing on that job. His main concern seems to use his vitriol on a punching boy (no pun intended) and apparently has no clue on how foundations operate or how social assistance is actually funded in this country (and elsewhere) i.e. by government not by private charity. There are no "facts" to be proved or disproved in the piece in question - this is just an angry rant and a bunch of generalities whose main purpose seems to evoke angry response in the audience.

As I said before, Counterpunch is not alone - this form of tabloid journalism seems quite popular on this side of the pond and is spread all across the political spectrum, but especially on the right. However, this kind of cockiness gets on my nerves, so I generally try to avoid it, and do not appreciate when this crap is being peddled in the checkout line in which I happen to stand.

Wojtek

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