Take a look at the following videos. This first one shows Rosie (and, incidentally, two others as well) talking about terrorism and the United States.
Videos like that one are what make pundits rich. Predictably, Rosie is condemned in the next clip:
This next video shows the repercussions of the constant punditry and name calling:
First, hurray that Elisabeth Hasselbeck finally fights back. I've seen a few clips of her encounters with Rosie and frankly she wilted every time. Good for her for sticking to her guns when literally everyone else held a differing opinion.
But that's not the real issue here. I think Rosie was close to tears. I think she was honestly stung by all of the criticisms and sniping that goes on in the world. She obviously reads and watches what is written and said of her and her views. Most of it is venomous. People like that Joe Scarborough are trying to get her fired and silenced. I don't agree with her views on most things. I think she can be belligerent and overbearing. I think she harms the war effort in a very meaningful way. But I respect the fact that she thinks, and is not afraid to share her opinions. She creates dialogue. She says what many "normal" people are thinking on some level, but are unable to express fully. I want more people like her out there. And I want more people to hear others' views and think critically about them, and form opinions of their own. Rosie O'Donnell facilitates that process.
5 comments:
thank God for rosie.
guts
you have any??
see clip
http://www.bravemind.com
Hey! It's been a while. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to post again. ;0)
I think that what the reporter said in your second clip summed it all up. Have your opinions. But, don't cross the line. She did. Now she has to deal with the repurcussions and she doesn't want to. Too bad she had to take it out on the poor pregnant girl. ;0)
That's right, I'm back!
The lady reporter in the second clip said that Rosie was, "trying to make a point, but made it the wrong way." I think she's right. Rosie's point is that US foreign policy causes terrorism. She's making the case that US action in Iraq is inciting terrorism. It can be a tricky argument to make because it sounds awfully close to saying our troops are the same as suicide bombers like those that recently left two children in the car when they blew it up. Unfortunately, Rosie didn't say it well and the pundits jumped all over it. The venom with which she is attacked is horrible, and no one deserves it. She is quite right when she says that she is characterized as "fat, lesbian, loudmouth Rosie", and it's just not right, regardless of what she may say on tv.
Now, while I disagree with Rosie, I think that if the pundits would stop shouting for a minute they would see the deeper meaning behind what she says.
Terrorism is at its core a propaganda tool.
Terrorists attract new recruits through propaganda. In this Rosie is absolutely correct. Iraq is a full fledged propaganda war, with the bullets and bombs really playing a secondary role. And the US is losing the propaganda battle.
But what Rosie does not realize is that she is offering up the same propaganda as the terrorists. The flag burning war protests, the Harry Reid "we've lost" comments, Barack Obama saying the soldiers' lives are "wasted", the bribed benchmarks in the war funding bill, Rosie's 9/11 conspiracy theories; all of these are propaganda designed to weaken the US efforts to stabalize Iraq enough so that a democratic government can exist there.
Cameron,
The reason that the terrorists are so successful in their recruiting by "propaganda campaign" is that the US keeps acting exactly in the way their propaganda says we act. Rosie is certainly not an eloquent and precise speaker, but at least she understands that the US invasion of Iraq was wrong and the continuing occupation is wrong. When outspoken Americans call this administration on its lies and deceit, it is not propaganda, it is truth. There is a difference.
An example of terrorist propaganda:
You should invent stories about American soldiers you have [allegedly] personally known (as classmates... or members in a club who played baseball and tennis with you) who were drafted to Iraq and then committed suicide while in service
Lies. Invented stories. All used for the purpose of planting seeds of doubt in the minds of "weak-minded Americans".
Speaking of lies and invented stories, "occupation" is what Germany did to France. It's what Japan did to the Phillipines. It's what Iraq did to Kuwait. "Occupation" does not include setting up a sovereign government and holding national elections.
Lies and deceit indeed.
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