I Come to Praise
Helen Thomas, Not
to Bury Her
Wednesday 09 June 2010
Helen Thomas, Not
to Bury Her
Wednesday 09 June 2010
by: William Rivers Pitt, truthout|Op-Ed
I am not going to try and defend the comments
Helen Thomas made about getting the Jews out
of Palestine and sending them to Germany and
Poland; that was an unbelievably stupid thing
to say, not just to a rabbi, but to anyone.
Thomas is a Lebanese-American with very
strong views on Israel, views to which she
has every right, but in saying what she said,
she abrogated two responsibilities: first, to
treat others as she would want to be treated,
and second, to avoid undercutting the
legitimacy of her own views with incendiary,
insulting and inappropriate vitriol. Thomas
blew it on both fronts, and her words
became torpedoes that struck the ship
of her career at the waterline.
Helen Thomas made about getting the Jews out
of Palestine and sending them to Germany and
Poland; that was an unbelievably stupid thing
to say, not just to a rabbi, but to anyone.
Thomas is a Lebanese-American with very
strong views on Israel, views to which she
has every right, but in saying what she said,
she abrogated two responsibilities: first, to
treat others as she would want to be treated,
and second, to avoid undercutting the
legitimacy of her own views with incendiary,
insulting and inappropriate vitriol. Thomas
blew it on both fronts, and her words
became torpedoes that struck the ship
of her career at the waterline.
Perhaps, it is entirely just and appropriate
that her comments have finished her as a
journalist, but that is an argument for
other people to make. In this space, I
come to praise Helen Thomas, not to
bury her. There are plenty of voices in
the so-called "mainstream" media who
gleefully shouted her down after her
ill-advised tirade, a lot of whom are now
very happy to see her gone. You see,
Helen Thomas was and remains a mirror
held up to the rest of the press, forcing
them to see their own glaring flaws and
faults, forcing them to see just how much
blood is on their hands.
that her comments have finished her as a
journalist, but that is an argument for
other people to make. In this space, I
come to praise Helen Thomas, not to
bury her. There are plenty of voices in
the so-called "mainstream" media who
gleefully shouted her down after her
ill-advised tirade, a lot of whom are now
very happy to see her gone. You see,
Helen Thomas was and remains a mirror
held up to the rest of the press, forcing
them to see their own glaring flaws and
faults, forcing them to see just how much
blood is on their hands.
I refuse, I absolutely refuse, to let this one
incident become the thing everyone
remembers about Helen Thomas. That
would be a sin equally as great as the one
she committed with her words, and it would
give cover to the mainstream press cretins
who always wished she would go away,
because she exposed them for what they
really are.
incident become the thing everyone
remembers about Helen Thomas. That
would be a sin equally as great as the one
she committed with her words, and it would
give cover to the mainstream press cretins
who always wished she would go away,
because she exposed them for what they
really are.
Frauds. Mouthpieces. Dupes. Willing
participants. Colluders. Conspirators.
Traitors. That's what much of the press
has become over the last ten years, but
not Thomas. Never Thomas. Much of
the outrage directed at Thomas today
isn't based on her comments about Israel,
but are, instead, a barbaric yawp from a
pack of liars who are thrilled to see her
gone, as it means they no longer have to
look at themselves in that mirror she held
up with her life, her career and her
uncompromising way of speaking actual
truth to power.
participants. Colluders. Conspirators.
Traitors. That's what much of the press
has become over the last ten years, but
not Thomas. Never Thomas. Much of
the outrage directed at Thomas today
isn't based on her comments about Israel,
but are, instead, a barbaric yawp from a
pack of liars who are thrilled to see her
gone, as it means they no longer have to
look at themselves in that mirror she held
up with her life, her career and her
uncompromising way of speaking actual
truth to power.
It was articles like this by Thomas that
made her colleagues in the media squirm
and blush, and well they should, because
in this, she was exactly correct:
made her colleagues in the media squirm
and blush, and well they should, because
in this, she was exactly correct:
Of all the unhappy trends I have witnessed - conservative swings on television networks, dwindling newspaper circulation, the jailing of reporters and "spin" - nothing is more troubling to me than the obsequious press during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. They lapped up everything the Pentagon and White House could dish out - no questions asked.
The naive complicity of the press and the government was never more pronounced than in the prelude to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The media became an echo chamber for White House pronouncements. One example: At President Bush's March 6, 2003, news conference, in which he made it eminently clear that the United States was going to war, one reporter pleased the "born again" Bush when she asked him if he prayed about going to war. And so it went.After all, two of the nation's most prestigious newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, had kept up a drumbeat for war with Iraq to bring down dictator Saddam Hussein. They accepted almost unquestioningly the bogus evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the dubious White House rationale that proved to be so costly on a human scale, not to mention a drain on the Treasury. The Post was much more hawkish than the Times - running many editorials pumping up the need to wage war against the Iraqi dictator - but both newspapers played into the hands of the Administration.
Like Helen Thomas, I was one of the
reporters out there who strenuously pushed
back against the war rhetoric from the Bush
White House, rhetoric which was inevitably
parroted and amplified by the mainstream
media. Unlike Helen Thomas, I made very
little headway in altering the narrative.
Thomas, from her front-row seat in the
press room, was a very public thorn in the
side of every Bush press secretary who tried
to sell the public a bill of rotten goods.
reporters out there who strenuously pushed
back against the war rhetoric from the Bush
White House, rhetoric which was inevitably
parroted and amplified by the mainstream
media. Unlike Helen Thomas, I made very
little headway in altering the narrative.
Thomas, from her front-row seat in the
press room, was a very public thorn in the
side of every Bush press secretary who tried
to sell the public a bill of rotten goods.
Had the press and the Bush administration
paid heed to Helen Thomas, there would
not be 5,000 new graves at Arlington
National Cemetery. There would not be
40,000 plus wounded American soldiers.
There would not be thousands and
thousands more suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder and other
ailments, who are unable to get proper
treatment from an over-stressed Veterans
Affairs' system. There would not have
been soldiers left to rot in Walter Reed.
There would not be more than a million
dead and maimed Iraqis. The Sunnis
would not have been massacred, and
Iran would not now be in full control of
Iraq. There would not have been hundreds
of billions of our tax dollars poured into
the sand and into the coffers of Bush-
friendly "defense" contractors; they call
our current economic situation the "Great
Recession," but by rights, it should be
called the "Iraq Recession," and it would
not be as bad as it is had we listened to
Helen Thomas.
paid heed to Helen Thomas, there would
not be 5,000 new graves at Arlington
National Cemetery. There would not be
40,000 plus wounded American soldiers.
There would not be thousands and
thousands more suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder and other
ailments, who are unable to get proper
treatment from an over-stressed Veterans
Affairs' system. There would not have
been soldiers left to rot in Walter Reed.
There would not be more than a million
dead and maimed Iraqis. The Sunnis
would not have been massacred, and
Iran would not now be in full control of
Iraq. There would not have been hundreds
of billions of our tax dollars poured into
the sand and into the coffers of Bush-
friendly "defense" contractors; they call
our current economic situation the "Great
Recession," but by rights, it should be
called the "Iraq Recession," and it would
not be as bad as it is had we listened to
Helen Thomas.
Perhaps, these things were inevitable. Bush
and his crew wanted a war, and if the entire
press corps had been made up of Helen
Thomas clones, it is entirely possible we
would have wound up mired in that filthy
conflict anyway. But Thomas tried when
her colleagues did not. Thomas asked
sharp questions when her colleagues
refused. Thomas wrote the truth when
her colleagues reprinted Bush
administration talking points to protect
their seats in the press room. Helen
Thomas was right, did right, just as she
has done with every administration since
John F. Kennedy.
and his crew wanted a war, and if the entire
press corps had been made up of Helen
Thomas clones, it is entirely possible we
would have wound up mired in that filthy
conflict anyway. But Thomas tried when
her colleagues did not. Thomas asked
sharp questions when her colleagues
refused. Thomas wrote the truth when
her colleagues reprinted Bush
administration talking points to protect
their seats in the press room. Helen
Thomas was right, did right, just as she
has done with every administration since
John F. Kennedy.
One stupid comment cannot wash away
60 years of credibility and honor. One
stupid comment cannot wash away the
fight she waged against the Bush
administration's criminal campaign in Iraq.
One stupid comment cannot wash away
the fact that, by her very existence, Helen
Thomas exposed the mainstream media
for what they are, and no matter how
vigorously they jump on her today, they
all know the blood remains on their hands.
60 years of credibility and honor. One
stupid comment cannot wash away the
fight she waged against the Bush
administration's criminal campaign in Iraq.
One stupid comment cannot wash away
the fact that, by her very existence, Helen
Thomas exposed the mainstream media
for what they are, and no matter how
vigorously they jump on her today, they
all know the blood remains on their hands.
I am sorry she said what she did. It was very
stupid, and perhaps even justifies the
termination of her six-decade career. That,
as I said, is for others to decide. I stand
today to remind any and all that one bad
act does not erase a lifetime of excellence.
She is gone, and perhaps rightly so, but
we were a better country while she labored
for us, when she asked the tough questions,
when she stood before the powerful and
called them liars to their faces.
stupid, and perhaps even justifies the
termination of her six-decade career. That,
as I said, is for others to decide. I stand
today to remind any and all that one bad
act does not erase a lifetime of excellence.
She is gone, and perhaps rightly so, but
we were a better country while she labored
for us, when she asked the tough questions,
when she stood before the powerful and
called them liars to their faces.
Thank you, Helen Thomas. For everything.
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And read what Robert
Parry had to say here.
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