New York Times Confused about Who Elected Hamas
The New York Times frequently describes Israelis as “tough” and Palestinians as “militants” or “terrorists.”
One might have a difficult time imagining the Times identifying Israel’s governing Likud party as “the Jewish nuclear-armed group elected to govern the Israelis.”
Instead, the Times identifies Likud simply as “right-wing.”1 Ironically, the title of the article about Israel article is: “[Likud Leader] Olmert Orders ‘Iron Fist’ Against Militants,” referring to Palestinians.
With its strange passive-voice identification, the Times seems confused as to who elected this “militant group,” Hamas, to power. They must have forgotten how the Palestinians voted Hamas to a sweeping victory a couple months ago in a high-turnout, internationally monitored democratic election.
I’ll add that since I wrote this post, the Times quietly changed the word “militant” to the word “radical.” I guess they can’t make up their mind in how to best insult Hamas.
Comment by organelle — March 4, 2006 @ 11:27 am
Well if you think about it, radical is quite the compliment. Just ask my friend Leonardo . He’d think you were totally cool if you called him radical.
Also, I think you have a misquote in this: ““the Jewish nuclear-armed group elected to govern the Israelis.”” According to this , I think your quote should be ““the Jewish suspected nuclear-armed group elected to govern the Israelis.””
Comment by Craig — March 4, 2006 @ 11:37 am
Coming from the central command post of mainstream corporate thought — namely, the New York Times — “radical” is an insult. I’d say that generally, “radical” isn’t a good or bad word, but just depends on the context.
In the context of Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, “radical” is high praise.
As for the Israeli gov’t, there’s a chance it doesn’t have nuclear weapons. And there’s also a chance that the TMNT don’t really like pizza. Both odds are infinitesimally small.
Comment by organelle — March 4, 2006 @ 2:23 pm