> On Jun 9, 2011, at 10:44 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>
> > When the IDF killed 23 Syrian demonstrators in one day,
> > the US media went to great lengths not to mention that
> > the demonstrators were unarmed.
>
> Worse, they described it as a "clash," as if it were
> something like a fight between equals.
The Times was downright surreal:
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PROTESTS DRAW ISRAELI GUNFIRE AT SYRIA BORDER
DEADLY CONFRONTATION
Trying to Force Way In Emerges as Strategy By Palestinians
Israeli forces fired at pro-Palestinian protestors on the Syrian frontier ... as they tried to breach the border for the second time in three weeks, reflecting a new mode of popular struggle and deadly confrontation fueled by turmoil in the Arab world and the vacuum of stalled peace talks.
... Israeli soldiers opened fire on those who crossed a new fence and tried to attack the border fence...
-------------
This is by one Isabel Kershner; it's from the print edition. The online version, interestingly, is more soberly phrased and less obviously crazy, though equally mendacious.
Don't you love the phrase "draw fire"? Like a magnet attracts iron filings. And it's definitely news when something is "fuelled" by a "vacuum".
As for Todd Gitlin and arithmetic -- honestly, if the guy told me 2+2=4, I'd be strongly tempted to re-examine the question.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
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