Thursday, March 03, 2005
North Korea, A 'Balanced' Approach
Hugh Hewitt has up a full head of steam today over the Los Angeles Times publication of a piece that is pure unadulterated North Korean propaganda. Hugh's lengthy, and growing post on the story can be found here.
As an LA county resident, I'd cancel my Times subscription, but I already did during the Bush/Gore election cycle when they were so biased I could feel my blood pressure rise over breakfast. But by all means, if you subscribe -- STOP NOW.
There is little I can add to the great work Hugh is doing, but I can comment. Check out this quote from early in the piece:
This belies a deeply troubling idea that is floating around today, that truth is somehow relative. The very thought that North Korea's viewpoint on it's own atrocities is somehow balancing, or relevant, says that one's perception of facts, or truth, is more important than the facts themselves.
In the end, such ideas can have devastating effect. Let's look at this on a smaller scale. The local Florida judge in the Terri Schiavo case, has made his decisions based not on the facts of Terri's life, but on deciding who has the stronger claim to make decisions about her life. To him, it's not important whether Terri is killed or not, it is only important who gets to decide whether she is killed or not. And so, we end up with our very own atrocity right here at home.
Hugh is right -- this article is simply morally repugnant. I have been to grossly oppressive nations, China (PRC) in 1989, and the Soviet Union in 1991. You are initially struck by how "normal" life seems in a place like that. In both cases my visits were sanctioned, so I was greeted and escorted by people who worked very hard to emphasize to me how "normal" life was in those places. But, I did manage to slip their grip for a few hours here and there. It does not take long for an entirely different picture to emerge. And when the Soviet Union fell, and I heard from my friends, it was a floodgate of information about how very abnormal life really was. I still pray for my friends in China.
Alas, the LATimes is entitled to its editorial policies and decisions. Fortunately, we are also entitled not to read it. Please don't.
As an LA county resident, I'd cancel my Times subscription, but I already did during the Bush/Gore election cycle when they were so biased I could feel my blood pressure rise over breakfast. But by all means, if you subscribe -- STOP NOW.
There is little I can add to the great work Hugh is doing, but I can comment. Check out this quote from early in the piece:
This North Korean, an affable man in his late 50s who spent much of his career as a diplomat in Europe, has been assigned to help his communist country attract foreign investment. With the U.S. and other countries complaining about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its human rights record, it's a difficult task, he admitted.It is obvious that the LATimes feels that reporting has less to do with facts than it has to do with "presenting everyone's opinion." The Times no doubt feels they are being "fair and balanced."
"There's never been a positive article about North Korea, not one," he said. "We're portrayed as monsters, inhuman, Dracula Â… with horns on our heads."
So, in an effort to clear up misunderstandings, he expounded on the North Korean view of the world in an informal conversation that began one night this week over beer as North Korean waitresses sang Celine Dion in the karaoke restaurant, and resumed the next day over coffee.
This belies a deeply troubling idea that is floating around today, that truth is somehow relative. The very thought that North Korea's viewpoint on it's own atrocities is somehow balancing, or relevant, says that one's perception of facts, or truth, is more important than the facts themselves.
In the end, such ideas can have devastating effect. Let's look at this on a smaller scale. The local Florida judge in the Terri Schiavo case, has made his decisions based not on the facts of Terri's life, but on deciding who has the stronger claim to make decisions about her life. To him, it's not important whether Terri is killed or not, it is only important who gets to decide whether she is killed or not. And so, we end up with our very own atrocity right here at home.
Hugh is right -- this article is simply morally repugnant. I have been to grossly oppressive nations, China (PRC) in 1989, and the Soviet Union in 1991. You are initially struck by how "normal" life seems in a place like that. In both cases my visits were sanctioned, so I was greeted and escorted by people who worked very hard to emphasize to me how "normal" life was in those places. But, I did manage to slip their grip for a few hours here and there. It does not take long for an entirely different picture to emerge. And when the Soviet Union fell, and I heard from my friends, it was a floodgate of information about how very abnormal life really was. I still pray for my friends in China.
Alas, the LATimes is entitled to its editorial policies and decisions. Fortunately, we are also entitled not to read it. Please don't.
