SPECIAL EDITION
DID ROSIE CALL OUR TROOPS TERRORISTS?
We need to practice some Critical Listening in addition to Critical Thinking. Some people hear only what they want to hear not that which is said. To see just how this works I'll use something that has been the talk of the cable channels for several weeks, especially FOX NOISE.
I've taken the so-called fight between Rosie and Elisabeth. I say so-called because I don't think is started out that way and I'm not sure that's how it ended up. Unlike some folks that seem to think they have the inside scoop even though they weren't there.
One small example of this is that I heard on several cable shows since Friday that said Rosie isn't coming back, that she did her last show on Thursday. Well surprise, surprise see what I found today on The View WEB page. "Tune in on Monday, May 28 for Rosie's last day with The View." Image that and these talking heads spoke with such authority.
To all of them I say "You're entitled to your own opinion; you're just not entitled to your own facts."
Let's begin at the beginning. I've take the three shows that talk about the issue at hand. I have not cut or edited them in anyway. They each run just under 10 minutes. I just let each segment run from beginning to end so you can make your own judgment as to what was said, what was intended to mean by the words spoken. In other words you get to use your Critical thinking and listening skills, so you can make up your own mind.
SHOW 1: This is the show that gets it started. Rosie is talking about the people in Iraq that have been killed during the past 5 years.
SHOW 1a: Here is just a snippet of the words the pundits have jumped on. It's short about 30 seconds.
SHOW 2: Here is the second show a few days later.
SHOW 3: And the last show.
I found this on Rosie.com and I think it tells the story as it truly is, not some jerk that can't hear and what he does hear he needs to spin it to fit his agenda.
Did Rosie Call Our Troops Terrorists? By Shelly
The is directly from the transcripts of The View for May 17th:
O'DONNELL: I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists? HASSELBECK: Who are the terrorists? O'DONNELL: 655,000 Iraqis - I'm saying you have to look, we invaded - HASSELBECK: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans? O'DONNELL: I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us? HASSELBECK: Are we killing their citizens or are their people also killing their citizens? O'DONNELL: We're invading a sovereign nation, occupying a country against the U.N. I just watched Chris Matthews and his panel of journalists including Howard Feinman, Jill Zuckman, and Jonathan Capehart. Matthews asked the panel after replaying that segment of the show if she in fact said that our troops were the terrorists. They unanimously agreed with Matthews that she did call our troops terrorists. That conforms with the majority of journalists who have reported on this comment. Rosie does not mention the troops at all in that segment of the show. She poses a rhetorical question. "Who are the terrorists?" "I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us? "In both of her rhetorical questions she refers to the "United States" and "us." The policy of the United States or "our" policy in Iraq is not the responsibility of the soldiers who are ordered to execute the policy. It is obvious that state supported terrorism can only be implemented by those who have the responsibility of doing the fighting and dying. But, it is not the soldiers who are the terrorists in that hypothetical. And she was not calling the soldiers terrorists. It is absolutely absurd that these journalists agreed with the interpretation that Matthews and the majority of the MSM had concluded. These journalists who are supposed to be experts on language and communication certainly know that she meant that the U.S. policy was the villain here and not the soldiers. Yet they persist in accusing the accusers who do not fit into their elite club. People like Rosie and others who have been branded as eccentric and outside the main stream are always fair game. They do it with many others who speak truth to power by carefully portraying sound bites out of context. They have done that to Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal for years. The truth is that it was the elite reporters like the Hardball panel aforementioned who aided and abetted the rush to war in Iraq and fostered the terrorist policy that has resulted in this catastrophe. So it is not Rosie who is the villain. It is journalists like these who have to rationalize their lack of courage and appropriate skepticism of a "policy" that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of our soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.
I could not have said it better. Now you have all the info you need to make up your own mind. Did Rosie Call Our Troops Terrorists? To me it's clear by her own words she did not. Your turn.
I wanted to post the following on Rosie's Blog but she has turned off the comments section for a little while to give it a rest.
Hi Rosie,
I don't have a question just a short WISH YOU WELL.
I just saw on The View Web page that your last day will be Monday the 28th. There are two reasons that notice is important at least to my way of thinking.
First and foremost I think your Fans deserve to say good bye. I think that's important for them. . . They truly do Love you, as do I. You've got guts.
The second reason is because of what I heard on a number of cable shows since Friday that said Rosie's LAST DAY WAS LAST THURSDAY. How these folks have such insight is beyond me.
But, Oh my gosh, once again you've made the pundits eat crow! Way to go.
Mick Horan
PS: They did the same to Ron Paul too. Guess they just can't handle the truth.