Melanie Phillips criticises Simon Hughes (Jenkins) defending the BBC’s risible attempt to bring ‘dissenting’ voices to their coverage of what they have often called the ‘so-called’ War on Terror. Kind of like giving alcohol to a drunk man. If you do get to read the Hughes (Jenkins) column, note how he shrouds his purple patch of anti-WOT feeling with his concern for ‘our boys’ in Iraq. I appreciate his concern, as I have concerns too, but in the circumstances it’s thanks but no thanks- and the same goes for the BBC.
Update: Apologies to Simon Hughes, although I’m fairly sure he wouldn’t dissent much from the views of Simon Jenkins. An illustration, perhaps, of how easy it is to get confused between the various members of the liberal family.
Melanie’s article criticises Simon Jenkins, not Simon Hughes.
Simon Jenkins provides a classic example of using the fallacy of Apriorism – Don’t bother us with this 9/11 nonsense, suicide bombings, beheadings and slaughter of school kids. We know it’s all a neo-con invention. (we know who really gains from those acts).
The so-called BBC regularly uses this one though.
Melanie Phillips was on Radio 4 tonight (whatever the panel show was that ran from 8 to 8:45). She acquitted herself rather well in the discussion around the proposed religious hate legislation. (She was against.)
Good show. Those for the law definitely worked me up, though.
The Power of Nightmares –
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The whole programme was an exercise in nightmare making and the nightmare in question was of course – surprise surprise – the Neo-Con world takeover.
Why on earth do the BBC give Adam Curtis huge amounts of money to trat us to what in effect the equivalent of someone’s musings down the pub.
The whole thing was a travesty. What was most sickening was the attempt to maintain an equivalence between elected American governments and lunatic Islamist terrorist groups.
David Field
Re: Power of Myth…Watched it, too.
What they failed to mention regarding the Neocons’ imagined links between terrorist groups and the Soviet Union was that these links turned out to be real, in the end.
And I never thought I would see the BBC put Henry Kissinger in a positive light by contrasting him with the Neo-Cons. Henry Kissinger’s dream of world interdependence, Henry Kissinger, Man of Peace…There’s one more for the memory hole.
The Power of Nightmares
So neo-cons of 20+ years ago claiming USSR had secret weapons, dossiers produced. I wonder where the argument will lead in subsequent programmes?
Partly off topic:
BBC second paragraph on today’s campaigning in Iowa—
“Mr Kerry focused on the war in Iraq while Mr Bush covered a wide range of issues in his usual campaign speech.”
I’ve also noticed that the BBC now puts Kerry first, Bush second, in its reports of speeches. So the BBC Book of Etiquette thinks a Senator precedes a sitting President? Of course: they think a woodlouse precedes THIS President.
Oops, “Power of Myth”, meant Power of Nightmares…Freudian slip?
Has anyone ever heard of the “Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel”?
On the Today programme this morning Shirley Williams tells us she is a member of that group. She then launches a diatribe AGAINST Israel.
No doubt Jenny Tongue is the group’s spiritual director.
You can be a friend of Israel without being a friend of some of the more risible policies of the current Israeli government can’t you?
And those (more) risible policies are?
“And those (more) risible policies are?”
Probably refusing to sacrifice Israeli citizens on the altar of PC middle-class self-hate?
”You can be a friend of Israel without being a friend of some of the more risible policies of the current Israeli government can’t you?”
If you still think of them as risible, after taking into account the barbarous dark age tyrannies Israel is surrounded by, then I’m afraid no, you can’t
Irrespective of your opinion of the policies of the current Israeli government, surely you’d recognise that there are alternatives (including being more aggressive) therefore criticising these policies doesn’t mean you are anti Israel. If this was the case a sizeable minority of the citizens of Israel would be anti Israel.
Or are the people on here who criticise Blair anti-British?
Look, I just thought it was amusing that the Liberal Democrat’s idea of being a friend of Israel is to be pro-Palestinian in all matters. With friends like these….
Well not that I’m in love with her or anything but Shirley Williams has actually visited the region (including her friends in Israel!), seen the impact of the conflict on all sides and formulated an opinion on how best to resolve things for the benefit of all concerned (as opposed to being ‘pro-Palestinian).
To my mind that’s an improvement on those automatically ticking the ‘to criticise Sharon is to sacrifice Israeli citizens on the altar of PC middle-class self-hate’ box in their ‘I Spy book of right wing pet causes’, but then I’m probably a Jew hater.
Rich
Doesn’t mean she’s actually got a clue what she’s talking about does it?
She was a useless waste of space while an MP in this country yet all of a sudden we should stop everything and listen to her now in her dotage.
I’d put a tick next to her name in your book of left wing pet causes under ‘failed MPs who have received the mantle of wisdom because they’re old and say what we like to hear’ alongside Tony Benn
But her mum did write a good book!
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