Been Gazing at Faux News?

[chappy]

A succinct, if a bit snarky, deconstruction of the unrealistic right-wing conspiracy narrative surrounding the attack on Benghazi.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by chappy

A succinct, if a bit snarky, deconstruction of the unrealistic right-wing conspiracy narrative surrounding the attack on Benghazi.

Considering the BS nature of the allegations and of the media outlet presenting them, I can forgive a bit of snark.

[chappy]

Originally Posted by kladner

Considering the BS nature of the allegations and of the media outlet presenting them, I can forgive a bit of snark.

I agree, but I think we can hold ourselves above them. :)

[chappy]

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/...sus/?mobile=nc

[kladner]

Originally Posted by chappy

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/...sus/?mobile=nc

As Aslan pointed out towards the end of his interview, many scholarly works have been written about Islam by Christian academics. Those authors, he noted, are rarely if ever asked to defend their credentials or explain why they chose to cover a religion apart from their own, certainly not on Fox News, which regularly provides a platform to hate-mongers like Pamela Geller and Frank Gaffney and passes them off as experts on Islam.

The quote in the article referring to Aslan as "an educated Muslim" sure does sound like those who have condescendingly referred to "educated Negroes" as if a post-grad education were some kind of circus trick.

I saw him on Colbert's show.

[chappy]

Originally Posted by kladner

The quote in the article referring to Aslan as "an educated Muslim" sure does sound like those who have condescendingly referred to "educated Negroes" as if a post-grad education were some kind of circus trick.

I saw him on Colbert's show.

yes, the article referenced is particularly bad including the line:

Aslan is not a trained historian. Like tens of thousands of us he has been formally educated in theology and New Testament Greek.

Which apparently is not exactly true, since his training as a religious historian has been good enough for several universities (setting aside my own qualms about the value of a degree in imaginary :)

[kladner]

Originally Posted by chappy

Which apparently is not exactly true, since his training as a religious historian has been good enough for several universities (setting aside my own qualms about the value of a degree in imaginary :)

Thinking of it as sociology or anthropology might help. I mean, humans engage in all sorts of non-reality-based behaviors which are still fruitful fields of study. <EG>

[chappy]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-dru...pened-benghazi


I'm not normally a fan of Mother Jones, but this article is a good summation of where we are in understanding Benghazi.

Couple points I will make.

1) The Right-wing spin machine was totally wrong on almost every aspect. All the way up to Romney being wrong during the Presidential debates to McCain claiming a conspiracy of cover-ups, to Issa's complete lack of connection to reality. (seriously why aren't Republican Hawks upset with Issa for releasing unredacted sensitive data?

2) the Administration fumbled the ball by trying to explain with very limited data what happened. Just say, "this is a developing situation that we are still trying to figure out." Yes, you will take some heat for that because people are dumb.

3) It's likely that the completely blind focus on Al Qaida is making us less safe. (I'll contrast this with the NSA type stuff which is just wasting money and not making us more safe.)

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by chappy

It's likely that the completely blind focus on Al Qaida is making us less safe.

Which branch of Al Qaeda - the "evildoer" one which the US is relentlessly pursuing throughout the galaxy, or the "freedom fighter" wing the US is supporting in Syria?

[chappy]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Which branch of Al Qaeda - the "evildoer" one which the US is relentlessly pursuing throughout the galaxy, or the "freedom fighter" wing the US is supporting in Syria?

It's a good question that points to the problem of defining such a nebulous (and therefore almost devoid of meaning) group as "The Enemy."

[ewmayer]

Meanwhile, back in "pacified" Iraq, Al Qaedists just retook Fallujah and Ramadi. I didn't see anything about that in recent MSM n00zcasts, perhaps because it simply got crowded out by the more-important stories of post-xmas deep discounting by retailers, the great year Wall Street had in 2013, Colorado's legalization of recreational pot, and the latest arctic blast across the eastern half of the US.