Thursday, June 10, 2010

Does the Washington Post Ever Get Tired of Apologias?

While I'm on the subject of the Post, what the hell is going on over there? Now they're blaming Erdogan for the flotilla massacre.  It's unfocused—big surprise there—but apparently he's the bad guy because of his ties to IHH, and because he criticizes Israel without criticizing Iran.

Yes, they're reviving that whole "IHH are terrists!" thing, despite the U.S. being unwilling to hang that hat on their heads, and that assertion being a bit dicey no matter how you approach it. It's yet another game of "if the IDF says it, it must be true". (It's all the rage at the Post these days.)

Leaving that aside, why on earth would it be surprising that Erdogan is criticizing Israel and not Iran? I hate to be reductionist, but Iran didn't kill a whole bunch of Turks on a boat around a week and a half ago. I'm sure Iran could do such a thing, and I'm sure that Iran would do such a thing. Iran is run by violent idiots. But the important thing is that they didn't do such a thing, and Israel did. Turkey being a bit miffed at Israel sort of makes sense.

Sure, the Post already discredited itself by saying that there was no violence on any ship but the Mavi, thus implying that the IDF beating and electrocuting undoubtedly innocent activists on the other ships doesn't count. Violence is only really "violence" if it's being done against the IDF, after all. And sure, the Post will give a space to idiots like Charles Lane, who is still pretending that the real problem with American finance is FREDDIE freaking MAC.

(They publish George Will, for God's sake, and at this point that should be legal grounds for having those pie-in-the-face guys show up in your office with a batch of cream pies and a meaningful expression.)

But you'd think that the editorials would be slightly more professional and slightly more, well, journalistic. No wonder they're getting their asses kicked by random bloggers. I'm a random blogger, and this would be beneath even me.

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