Comments on: Please, Mr. Postman http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:59:03 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Okf http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-58889 Okf Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:34:09 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-58889 Good job. Good job.

]]> By: BrianOfAtlanta http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2840 BrianOfAtlanta Thu, 13 Oct 2005 20:25:19 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2840 english guy: Although there are certainly some Dan Rathers out there, I'm not ready to declare there's a general conspiracy to mislead in the media. I think a lot of the slant can be explained by the relative difficulty of reporting on an Operation River Gate vs. reporting the latest body count that comes over the wire, combined with the natural coloring of events which comes from political leanings. In other words, don't ascribe to conspiracy that which can be explained by general laziness, subconscious bias and unprofessionalism. Dan Rather and his ilk nonwithstanding. Or maybe I'm just naive. english guy: Although there are certainly some Dan Rathers out there, I’m not ready to declare there’s a general conspiracy to mislead in the media. I think a lot of the slant can be explained by the relative difficulty of reporting on an Operation River Gate vs. reporting the latest body count that comes over the wire, combined with the natural coloring of events which comes from political leanings. In other words, don’t ascribe to conspiracy that which can be explained by general laziness, subconscious bias and unprofessionalism. Dan Rather and his ilk nonwithstanding.

Or maybe I’m just naive.

]]> By: the english guy http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2837 the english guy Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:28:01 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2837 Maybe we should be saying the caliphate they want to "recreate". Justin, I think he's trying to put the point across that all we see are the car bombs and IEDs all the time. We never see the <em>Operation River Gate</em>, or <a href="http://billroggio.com/archives/2005/10/week_one_of_sar_1.php" rel="nofollow">Operation Saratoga</a>, the military details must bore the media or something. If we SAW this, and heard of the successes against insurgents, don't you think that our opinion of the war would be better than it is? The media wants to portray it as something it isn't. And err, Callimachus, nice article but I get the feeling you think that a Caliphate is evil in and of itself. Was the British Empire evil? Was the Holy Roman Empire "evil"? They are just names. What makes their Caliphate "evil" is that they want to lead it and to do so have so far advocated cutting people's heads off on video. You mention, and I agree completely with, they're not stupid, and as you see have realized that these actions are not helping them (when was the last time any of us saw/heard of one of these?). I do think however they are misguided, to compare Vietnam to Iraq. Troops now are volunteer and much better trained, and yes, at least to appearances, the President is letting the Generals make the military decisions (which was not the case in Vietnam as so many have pointed out before). Maybe we should be saying the caliphate they want to “recreate”.

Justin, I think he’s trying to put the point across that all we see are the car bombs and IEDs all the time. We never see the Operation River Gate, or Operation Saratoga, the military details must bore the media or something. If we SAW this, and heard of the successes against insurgents, don’t you think that our opinion of the war would be better than it is? The media wants to portray it as something it isn’t.

And err, Callimachus, nice article but I get the feeling you think that a Caliphate is evil in and of itself. Was the British Empire evil? Was the Holy Roman Empire “evil”? They are just names. What makes their Caliphate “evil” is that they want to lead it and to do so have so far advocated cutting people’s heads off on video. You mention, and I agree completely with, they’re not stupid, and as you see have realized that these actions are not helping them (when was the last time any of us saw/heard of one of these?).

I do think however they are misguided, to compare Vietnam to Iraq. Troops now are volunteer and much better trained, and yes, at least to appearances, the President is letting the Generals make the military decisions (which was not the case in Vietnam as so many have pointed out before).

]]> By: Justin Gardner http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2827 Justin Gardner Thu, 13 Oct 2005 01:21:58 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2827 <blockquote>Many of us know that things aren’t going nearly as bad as the media portrays it. Unfortunately, too many Americans only get their “news� from the New York Times or the 6:30 TV news.</blockquote> You mean the same media that's reporting the Iraqis are getting along enough to get a constitution signed? What coverage would you be okay with?

Many of us know that things aren’t going nearly as bad as the media portrays it. Unfortunately, too many Americans only get their “news� from the New York Times or the 6:30 TV news.

You mean the same media that’s reporting the Iraqis are getting along enough to get a constitution signed?

What coverage would you be okay with?

]]> By: Project Nothing! » Blog Archive » Donklephat has a succinct thought http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2823 Project Nothing! » Blog Archive » Donklephat has a succinct thought Wed, 12 Oct 2005 22:01:11 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2823 [...] On the ballyhooing letter from Al Zawahiri to Al Zarqawi: “If you think Halliburton is the evil empire, consider the “caliphateâ€Â? these boys want to create.” [...] [...] On the ballyhooing letter from Al Zawahiri to Al Zarqawi: “If you think Halliburton is the evil empire, consider the “caliphateâ€Â? these boys want to create.” [...]

]]> By: Jim http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2820 Jim Wed, 12 Oct 2005 21:17:45 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2820 The rest of that letter dealt with the inadvisibility of blowing up Iraqi civilians in the PR battle. The media are spreading that word about that carnage too, and it is hurting the AQ effort. The rest of that letter dealt with the inadvisibility of blowing up Iraqi civilians in the PR battle. The media are spreading that word about that carnage too, and it is hurting the AQ effort.

]]> By: BrianOfAtlanta http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2821 BrianOfAtlanta Wed, 12 Oct 2005 21:17:45 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2821 Well, the slanted reporting by the vast majority of the media seems to be working both ways. If Al-Qaeda has truly bought into the "another Vietnam" meme portrayed by the media, that's to our advantage. Not that it outweighs the overall negative effect of the rest of the media's coverage, but it's something in our favor. The situation in Iraq is far from ideal, but it differs from that in Vietnam in most if not all of the militarily important ways. As long as our enemy thinks it's fighting something that resembles the Vietnam War, i.e. "Tet offensives work", it makes the job of killing them that much easier. Well, the slanted reporting by the vast majority of the media seems to be working both ways. If Al-Qaeda has truly bought into the “another Vietnam” meme portrayed by the media, that’s to our advantage. Not that it outweighs the overall negative effect of the rest of the media’s coverage, but it’s something in our favor.

The situation in Iraq is far from ideal, but it differs from that in Vietnam in most if not all of the militarily important ways. As long as our enemy thinks it’s fighting something that resembles the Vietnam War, i.e. “Tet offensives work”, it makes the job of killing them that much easier.

]]> By: ford4x4 http://donklephant.com/2005/10/12/please-mr-postman/comment-page-1/#comment-2815 ford4x4 Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:20:53 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=1075#comment-2815 and they certainly seem to be winning the battle in the media. The MSM was willing to help all along. al-Qaeda didn't even need to ask. Many of us know that things aren't going nearly as bad as the media portrays it. Unfortunately, too many Americans only get their "news" from the New York Times or the 6:30 TV news. and they certainly seem to be winning the battle in the media.
The MSM was willing to help all along. al-Qaeda didn’t even need to ask.

Many of us know that things aren’t going nearly as bad as the media portrays it. Unfortunately, too many Americans only get their “news” from the New York Times or the 6:30 TV news.

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