Letters»
Biased worldview
NOV 12 - Journalism is the perfect profession for those who wish to promote their own peculiar worldview by ripping down other people. Best of all, one gets to criticise things without offering valid alternatives. An example is Nicholas Kristof’s haughty little missive “Sanctions don’t work.” (Kathmandu Post, November 11, 2003). From the ivory of media hypocrisy, he haughtily asserts that sanctions against nations run by dictators not only don’t work, they cynically and knowingly serve to slay hundreds of thousands of children, force untold numbers of girls into prostitution, and starve people at random, and all similar mayhem. What would the media be without the tools of half-truth and gross exaggeration?
Oddly, concerning the issue of trade embargoes, some of Mr Kristof’s points are valid, although he may not realise why. Carefully selected embargoes and targeted aid can indeed hurt the bad guys and help the needy. You’d never know it from Mr. Kristof’s broadside, because he doesn’t have to work out the details, he just gets to say embargoes are bad that that’s the end of it. Like I say, it’s not hard work, this journalism thing.
My intent is not to debate the details of embargo policy, but rather to challenge the Nicholas Kristof’s world: if you’re so smart, how about cutting back on your power lunch long enough to tell we poor unwashed souls what kind of policy toward dictators will actually work? Let’s hear the myriad of options from Those Who Know All And Don’t You Forget It.
If the media feels somehow licensed to rather than simply report the news, blast the britches off whomever they dislike, wouldn’t it be nice if now and then some workable alternatives were advanced? How are we to believe the validity of negative commentary when the writer conveniently sets aside any responsibility for presenting solutions? Of course, solutions no more thought-through than most pundits’ criticisms might set off a world war – of course that would be someone else’s fault.
Don Hardy
KathmanduPosted on: 2003-11-11 09:03
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