Posted by The Editors |
- Paxmans the one doing the 'Hoodwinking'
Posted by OrwellianUK
on November 6, 2009, 8:56 pm, in reply to "Responses to latest alert"I don't believe for one moment he believes what he's saying. - my email to Paxman
Posted by emersberger
on November 6, 2009, 9:14 pm, in reply to "Paxmans the one doing the 'Hoodwinking'"Mr. Paxman:
You recently said
""As far as I personally was concerned, there came a point with the presentation of the so-called evidence, with the moment when Colin Powell sat down at the UN General Assembly and unveiled what he said was cast-iron evidence of things like mobile, biological weapon facilities and the like...
"When I saw all of that, I thought, well, 'We know that Colin Powell is an intelligent, thoughtful man, and a sceptical man. If he believes all this to be the case, then, you know, he's seen the evidence; I haven't.’
"Now that evidence turned out to be absolutely meaningless, but we only discover that after the event. So, you know, I’m perfectly open to the accusation that we were hoodwinked. Yes, clearly we were."
Why is that most of the people around the world were not hoodwinked?
They took to the streets to in massive numbers to protest that war before it even began.
They saw through the nonsense spewed by the likes of Colin Powel.
What advantage did ordinary people around the world have over highly paid journalists?.
Joe Emersberger
--Previous Message--
: I don't believe for one moment he believes
: what he's saying.
:
- Re: my email to Paxman
Posted by George_HK
on November 7, 2009, 10:38 am, in reply to "my email to Paxman"
: What advantage did ordinary people around
: the world have over highly paid
: journalists?.
:
: Joe Emersberger
Compassion.
G - Re: my email to Paxman
Posted by The Editors
on November 7, 2009, 11:54 am, in reply to "Re: my email to Paxman"Dear Jeremy and Peter,
It was interesting to read recently of your admission that you were
"hoodwinked". Why was it I and a million others who marched on 15th
February 2003 weren't taken in by the propaganda? Perhaps because we
understood the need to examine the facts and not take the
pronouncements of those in power at their word.
You also stated:
“I’d plea for an unwillingness to believe what you’re told. It seems
to me you want to have an instinctive distrust of powerful vested
interests.”
Well that is exactly my mindset but why wasn't it yours at that
crucial time? Are you putting your fine words into practice?
In the same interview you referred to "Irans nuclear weapons
programme". As you must be aware such a programme is alleged by those
who are rather keen to attack Iran as they did Iraq. The cost of your
being hoodwinked along with the rest of the corporate media is the
devastation of Iraq with over a million dead and 4 million refugees.
Can we expect Newsnight to perhaps show some scepticism when it comes
to reporting the allegations of those in power?
Yours sincerely,
R Speechley
I read a rather depressing litany of your comments about believing the Vietnamese holocaust denier Colin Powell's claims about Saddam Hussain before the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Iraq people (but not Iraqi oil) on the Medialens interweb site.
Sad to say I was not surprised because Newsnight became a soap opera disguised as a news programme in the late '80s.
Out of curiosity I would like to know something. Had you not been bamboozled by Powell et al, would you have been able to keep your lucrative job as a newsreader on ComBBC? Perhaps I underestimate you but I do get the whiff of pieces of silver (admittedly a lot more than thirty).
Regards, Keith
- Re: my email to Paxman
Posted by The Editors
on November 7, 2009, 11:58 am, in reply to "Re: my email to Paxman"Sir,
On reading your remark on the key interest for you in pursuing your career in the recent medialens article, I was struck by the unhappy consonance of your phrase and the "black"saying of the Sixties regarding the Armed services ; "Travel the world.Meet lots of fascinating people. Kill them"
What progress since the Sixties ! We now have a hysterical exploitation of (British, and, what the heck, that of our glorious allies) militarism everywhere in the mainstream, from Murdoch to the Beeb, and it is , in my view, improper for any serious actor in this malign circus, as you are, to pretend to lost innocence, and, by implication, to promise to be a good journalist in future.
The effect of the populist propaganda being fed to the young especially, from virtually all quarters of the British media,must be devastating for the kind of well-meaning, not-too-cynical humanism which you would seem to aspire to.
in sorrow,
David