PrintMarch 8, 2007
Pleased to offer corrections
Commentors at Davidsmedienkritik properly point out some factual errors in today's piece on "Germany's Anti-American Neurosis" amidst mostly general agreement on its thesis. On some of these points, I simply stand corrected (below). To err is human; to fail to correct oneself is just bad news! So we correct ourselves whenever possible.
Obviously I am not indicting all Germans, which would be grossly irresponsible. Who precisely is responsible for the wild anti-American narrative in the media? I would guess it is members of the "1968 generation." But whoever it is, they should be held to account for their grossly irresponsible manipulation of vulnerable people, just as many in the English-speaking media should. Simple decency and morality has no borders.
On some points below, I have a different interpretation of events, and we can agree to disagree. Otherwise, I am delighted by our cross-web dialogue, which is good for all of us. I am also encouraged and moved by the many people of good will on the David's medienkritik site, who are willing to say there is something wrong --- and that we all hope the decent people in the German media will soon make their voices heard.
-James Lewis
Some corrections of fact:
Ray at Davidsmedienkritik tells us:
"The figure in black garb was an Abu Ghraib inmate, not a KKK member."
(I stand corrected on this point. The Abu Ghraib scandal was of course a classic agitprop campaign, since the soldiers in question had already been arrested, and their case was already going through the US Army criminal justice system. The media simply seized on the sexiest scandal they could find, and attempted for months to smear the entire American effort through the misdeeds of a small number of grossly irresponsible people. Tens of thousands of good and decent US soldiers were falsely smeared by association.)
"... the headline read "The Torturers of Baghdad" not the "Fuehrers"."
(I stand corrected. My apologies.)
The "Rambo" cover reads: "Operation Rambo: The Secret Special Troops of the USA". There is no mention of Spetznaz - which are Soviet/Russian special forces - not death squads.
(Stand corrected - I misread "Special Truppen" as "Spetznaz Truppen.")
The author implies Schroeder compared Bush to Hitler. Schroeder did not, though his Justice Minister was relieved of duty after she allegedly did so shortly before the 2002 election.
(This is a matter of interpretation. In my view the Justice Minister dropped a carefully arranged leak. Schroeder did not want to do it himself, but it made his demagogic point to the voters just in time to capture the pre-election headlines. Whether she was prepared to resign, or was planning to do so anyway, or was strong-armed by Schroeder, I don't know. The technique of using surrogates is of course common in politics. However, I cannot prove my interpretation, and Ray at Davidsmedienkritik is certainly correct on the appearances.)
