Back in February they had some clips of Bellafonte going to the visit and the footage of that event, in the context of US discourse in particular, but even among leftists, made Bellafonte seem more than a bit kooky. I'll have to dig up that episode for the transcript, but, again it is the kind of footage that doesn't help the general cause because it makes people with legitimate critiques suspect in the eyes of the general population.
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You can watch a Quicktime movie of that segment here (4.3 mb) -
<http://www.darrelplant.com/images/belafonte.mov>
During a public appearance in Venezuela with Chavez, Bellafonte called Bush the "world's greatest terrorist". Stewart riffed on this, saying that ObL might be a better candidate for that title.
And of course, since most Americans associate the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" entirely with crimes people like bin Laden commit - a sinister method totally disassociated from the terror visted upon Iraqis by US ordinance, for example - Stewart could easily enjoy a bit of fun ragging on the absurdity - from a conventional point of view - of Bellafonte's statement.
So what have we learned from Jon Stewart this week?
The lesson is, always be polite, even when you're talking about mass murder. Chavez should have soberly declared Bush in particular and US foreign policy in general 'unhelpful' or 'counterproductive' or used some other diplomatically smooth description. Bellafonte, during his visit, should have called Bush 'mistaken' or 'misguided' and left the terrorist word out of the mix.
This way, clever chaps like Stewart wouldn't have ammunition for their double-take brand of comedy and sensitive Americans - easily offended when their leaders are compared to riff raff bomb throwers and hijackers - might listen to more substantive critiques.
Sorry to be blunt (or perhaps 'unhelpful'), but that sounds like a plateful of bollocks to me.
In reality, as Carrol Cox says, it really doesn't matter what any of us think of Chavez; events in Latin America are evolving according to their own logic and we're merely chattering (and quite irrelevant) spectators.
And as for Bellafonte...
I think there's a good deal of physical evidence to support his assertion. We can debate the finer points of course but an unnecessary and illegal invasion that has deprived tens of thousands of life and millions of tranquility must be described in the harshest terms.
Terrorism is as good a word as any (indeed, "shock and awe" was quite explicitly an air terror campaign).
.d.
How should you approach life? Like a samurai, ready for death at any time.
Pater Monroe, 1978 ...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/