Why do they major in the minors?
Why do they have the poor judgment that even dictators can see through ("One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic." -Joseph Stalin)?
The current media furor over the tragedy of the passenger jet evidently shot down over the Ukraine is a case in point.
The vagaries are being presented as the structural members of the story, while the knowns are tending to be presented as the twigs, therefore, it is likely that this is a brain washing exercise being attempted by a profession that operates like a panicky herd inside a laundromat (MH17: World See Tragedy, US Sees “Game Changer”).
Some professionals are quick to notice the hypocritical approach to this media frenzy:
Before you say Washington is too sophisticated to mistake one airliner for another, keep in mind that when Washington shot down an Iranian airliner over Iranian air space, the US Navy claimed that it thought the 290 civilians that it murdered were in an Iranian fighter jet, a F-14 Tomcat fighter, a US-made fighter that was a mainstay of the US Navy. If the US Navy cannot tell its own workhorse fighter aircraft from an Iranian airliner, clearly the US can confuse two airliners that the RT report shows appear very similar.(Sanctions and Airliners — by Paul Craig Roberts). Professor Roberts was pointing out a related event that took place some 26 years ago:
"Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.(Wikipedia, "Iran Air Flight 655", emphasis added). The U.S., some ten years later, paid about $200k ("without admitting guilt") for each man. woman. and child that the U.S. military admittedly killed.
All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died. This attack ranks seventh among the deadliest disasters in aviation history, tenth if including the 9/11 attacks, which includes ground casualties; the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Persian Gulf and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus aircraft anywhere in the world. The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.
According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft, and operators of Vincennes mistook for Mode II.
According to the United States Government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter (a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force).
The event generated a great deal of controversy and criticism of the United States. Some analysts have blamed U.S. military commanders and the captain of Vincennes for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.
The United States did not apologize to Iran."
But now the media is trumpeting this recent incident in the Ukraine like those people are worth $100 million each because the U.S. military did not do this one (cf. Facts Needed, by Ray McGovern and also Fact Free Zone).
President Obama has admitted that he believes in U.S. Exceptionalism very strongly, but does his definition mean "when we do it it is ok but when others do it that makes it wrong," as the neoCons do?
To the neoCons, "exceptionalism" means that those who are not us ("you are for us or you are against us") are the barbarian hordes:
The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims, while incidentally capturing their markets; to civilise savage and senile and paranoid peoples, while blundering accidentally into their oil wells or metal mines.(As We Go Marching, by John T. Flynn, 1944, page 222). The news media is a very essential member of MOMCOM, so, this exceptionalism dogma driving the Russia bashing appears to be the reality of the case.
The most pressing issues are not pressed upon by the presstitutes (The Damaged Global Climate System - 3, Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, The Deceit Business - 3).
Perhaps, then, the current media frenzy is bread and circus dynamics designed to keep our minds occupied with things that are trivial compared to the big picture, things that direct us away from guilt.
Or any number of other illegitimate propaganda goals (What Happened to the Malaysian Airliner?, Dear Fellow American) which Europeans have become aware of even if Americans have not.
For example, a leading member state of the EU (The United States of Europe - 4) is joining with Russia to develop methods in order to properly investigate the Malaysian MH17 crash (Merkel, Putin Agree on International Probe of MH17 crash).
No doubt that is not what Washington wanted.
One Trick Pony, Paul Simon
Chomsky perspective:link
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