I don't usually write on the Israeli Palestinian conflict, because while I have my views, I am not self educated and informed enough to run commentary on the issue that would be worthy of the quality that TPV has become known for. I don't plan on a departure from that today. But I did think it is extremely important, in light of the recent media bruhaha about what the President said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for everyone to actually listen to what the President had to say. Here is the President's speech at AIPAC today:
Nothing to add, really. Steven Spiegel of the Israel Policy Forum wrote that the President, with his speech on Thursday, had moved closer to Israel's position, and made a more constructive move towards a peaceful solution. J Street, a pro-Israel, pro-peace organization, commended President Obama's speech on Thursday, as they themselves called for peace negotiations based on the 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps. AIPAC itself today praised the President's statement.
That a public statement by the President of the United States advocating for what has been the baseline for negotiations for a long time would set of a firestorm is a statement in and of itself about the pathetic state of our media today. It is also, however, a reflection on our politics - much of which has become based upon knee-jerk reactions to cherry-picked parts of a speech, legislation, etc. It pervades the Right wing noise machine, but today, it also affects the Purity Left noise machine just as well as they, too, concentrate on ginning up people to react rather than to think. Far too often, our media - and our Inboxes - urge us to be outraged, and act from that outrage, rather than for us to think, understand full context and facts, and act out of responsibility rather than simple, raw, ideological rage. Think about this in your personal life: you hardly ever make good decisions when you are angry.
If we are to build a better country, we must rise above that constant barrage of reactionism. There are plenty of things in the world to be outraged about, but outrage must be informed, not ignorant. Ginning up anger in place of presenting facts is responsible for today's media environment that is toxic, unproductive, and unbecoming for a mature democracy.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/05/corporate-media-fail-manufactured.html
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