In “The Big Picture(s),†I noted the tendency of the establishment media, from the outset of the invasion of Iraq, to view the story through the prism of Vietnam — or at least the establishment media’s view of Vietnam.
This was likely one reason why The New Republic landed in the scandal over its “Baghdad Diarist,” Pvt. Scott Beauchamp. The story of the soldier dehumanized and involved in inhumane or criminal acts due to fighting in war is one recycled from Vietnam, even though far fewer Vietnam veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress as a result of their wartime service than one would have believed from the media. It is a story the establishment media is eager to believe and relay to its audience.
The latest example comes from the New York Times, which has launched a “series of articles and multimedia about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have committed killings, or been charged with them, after coming home.” The Army responds that:
the newspaper’s statistics “appear to be based on a basic review of American newspaper crime stories from 2004 to 2006, rather than statistics provided by the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense, or even any interviews with military medical or judicial professionals.”
Moreover, the article fails to make a valid comparison of homicide rates among vets to rates among the general population, perhaps because the former remains far lower than the latter.ÂÂ
Phil Carter — certainly not a fan of the invasion of Iraq — wisely adds:
More broadly though, I worry about the larger narrative of this story. It seems like we’ve been down this road before  casting veterans in the role of crazed, violent, disturbed young men who come home from war to become homeless or criminal (or both). America needs to wrap its arms around its sons and daughters who go to war, not alienate them and push them away with this kind of narrative. We sent these men and women to fight; we have a sacred trust to ensure they’re taken care of when they come home. Irresponsible journalism like this impedes that effort by giving people the wrong impression about combat veterans. I’m disappointed in the New York Times for running this story, and for giving it such prominence.
I cannot say that I am disappointed, if only because it is precisely what I expect from the New York Times. For the media, it is all about The Narrative.™
First the media tried to hose around with the suicide statistics for vets and were exposed. I guess they decided to try something different.
Started skimming that article. Except for the fact that the NYT always spins a funky lead, their articles usually settle down, so that by the end you’re going “huh?” and it’s not so bad. Kinda funny that they shoot their own leads down. Must be their Dan Ratherian “Knights of Journalism” selves that take over…or something, slapping themselves down. Which could explain why their editorials are incredibly goofy.
America does. It’s the treasonous “progressives” who do not, unless they wrap their arms around them in order to plant a knife in their backs.
And the media wonders why it is losing audience share, when the only model they can crank out is from 1968. They have stagnated, the world has marched past them, and they remain stuck with a forty year old model. What is even worse is that they don’t even notice.
Imagine if in 1968 the major news media viewed everything through the prism of the Great War and Teapot Dome. Wouldn’t that have seemed odd, ignoring forty – fifty years of history? Then why doesn’t viewing everything through the prism of Watergate and Vietnam seem odd? It is odd! It is the most conservative, reactionary stance ever. They are like Miss Haversham in Dickens’ great Expectations – never moving forward.
And you may recall, Miss Haversham was an example of some really goooood Crazy.
At least we got some good movies out of it:
Taxi Driver
First Blood (and subsequent Rambo movies)
They are like Miss Haversham in Dickens’ great Expectations – never moving forward.
In the same way jocks past their expiration date relive their glory days through sports-talk radio, aging hippies use the New York Times, et al.
They got themselves a whole lotta sex back then, and dang wasn’t that just great?
You mean like “I once scored 3 touchdowns in a single game”
oh, Karl, that reminds me.. y’all might want to mark your calendars for this (in case the link doesn’t go through, IVAW is planning a “Winter Soldier – Iraq and Afghanistan” for March of this year.
The news media seems to forget that we had an *organized* enemy during the Vietnam War, a much purer form of Communism than exists today. The Soviet Union was using it to bleed us and wreck our army. Of course, we returned the favor with Afghanistan, but still, the Soviets used ‘Nam to kill off Americans and try to strengthen their position. Look how well *that* turned out.
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