Why Haven't We Heard About the Heroes of the War on terror?

Posted By Blackfive

Well, if you read MilBlogs, chances are that you have read about the heroes of the War on Terror - Leigh Ann Hester, Paul Smith, Rafael Peralta, Jason Dunham...

This post could be subtitled:

The NY Times - All the Nuance that's Fit to Print

Damien Cave writes today in the New York Times:

...Their names are Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Sgt. Rafael Peralta. If you have never heard of them, even in a week when more than 20 marines were killed in Iraq by insurgents, that might be because the military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized their actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II...

You read that correctly - it's Bush's fault and the culture at large.  Well, I'd agree with them if the culture at large really was the nation's most heralded news organization.

One point that I'd like to make here - if you go back to the top of the post and click on the heroes' names or go to the Someone You Should Know or Fallen But Never Forgotten indices here on Blackfive, you will find a majority of the information about these heroes is, in fact, provided by the main stream media - it might be more local news media than international but certainly still would be considered mainstream.

So, is it the "culture at large" or is it the large anti-war culture at the New York Times?

I believe that it's all an agenda - a formula to decided what will get printed if it meets the following tests:

1.  Does it tarnish the current administration?

2.  Does it prove that Iraq is a "Quagmire"?

3.  Will it erode the support for the War on Terror?

I am probably over generalizing a bit, but ask yourself, why hasn't the NY Times written about the many, many, many heroes in Iraq?

No matter the nuance, they conscientously haven't reported on heroes as much as they really could have...

Update: Greyhawk is a bit more understanding than I am about this issue.

[Hat tip to Instapundit]

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Why Haven't We Heard About the Heroes of the War on terror?

Well, if you read MilBlogs, chances are that you have read about the heroes of the War on Terror - Leigh Ann Hester, Paul Smith, Rafael Peralta, Jason Dunham...

This post could be subtitled:

The NY Times - All the Nuance that's Fit to Print

Damien Cave writes today in the New York Times:

...Their names are Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Sgt. Rafael Peralta. If you have never heard of them, even in a week when more than 20 marines were killed in Iraq by insurgents, that might be because the military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized their actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II...

You read that correctly - it's Bush's fault and the culture at large.  Well, I'd agree with them if the culture at large really was the nation's most heralded news organization.

One point that I'd like to make here - if you go back to the top of the post and click on the heroes' names or go to the Someone You Should Know or Fallen But Never Forgotten indices here on Blackfive, you will find a majority of the information about these heroes is, in fact, provided by the main stream media - it might be more local news media than international but certainly still would be considered mainstream.

So, is it the "culture at large" or is it the large anti-war culture at the New York Times?

I believe that it's all an agenda - a formula to decided what will get printed if it meets the following tests:

1.  Does it tarnish the current administration?

2.  Does it prove that Iraq is a "Quagmire"?

3.  Will it erode the support for the War on Terror?

I am probably over generalizing a bit, but ask yourself, why hasn't the NY Times written about the many, many, many heroes in Iraq?

No matter the nuance, they conscientously haven't reported on heroes as much as they really could have...

Update: Greyhawk is a bit more understanding than I am about this issue.

[Hat tip to Instapundit]

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» Hero Index from The Cool Blue Blog
It's a little strange seeing a piece in the New York Times lamenting that lack of War on Terror heroes when even though author Damien Cave is able to name some, the New York Times itself seems ignorant of them. [Read More]