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Say it Ain't So, Osama
His take-down was the story that grabbed almost 69% of the American "news hole" the week it happened, and from a media point of view it turns out to be the gift that never stops giving. Small wonder, since it's got just about everything: multiple wives, lost high-tech ste
May 18, 2011
His take-down was the story that grabbed almost 69% of the American "news hole" the week it happened, and from a media point of view it turns out to be the gift that never stops giving. Small wonder, since it's got just about everything: multiple wives, lost high-tech stealth helicopters, brave cyborg canines, killer tractors, championship-style celebrations, tiny helmet cams, private diaries, evil plans for future destruction, recalcitrant Pakistanis, shots of the world's arch-villain changing channels whenever his arch-enemy, the president of the United States, comes on-screen, and now -- the ultimate fundamentalist hypocrisy -- "a stash of porn." If that isn't God's gift to web traffic, what is?
As Reuters first reported and no one on this planet can now not know, in the treasure trove of computer hard drives and thumb drives collected by the Navy SEAL team that hit bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, CIA analysts claim to have found a cache of now-classified pornographic videos. News of this was leaked to the press in hopes of "tarnishing" the reputation of the man who, in 2002, denounced American culture for its "exploitation of women's bodies in dress, advertising, and popular culture."
Of course, with so much crucial news pouring out and news staffs shrinking across the media landscape, choices need to be made. Under the circumstances, there are always a few stories that have to give way before what's truly crucial, and so go unreported. In recent years -- explain it as you will -- the Pentagon's ongoing weapons trade with Middle Eastern despots has largely fallen into this category. Someday, perhaps, this trade, which can take place with the most fervent of Islamic fundamentalists, might be reclassified as pornographic and so get the attention it deserves. In the meantime, thanks to the reporting of Nick Turse, TomDispatch will continue to spend time in the unexplored interstices between what fascinates the media.
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© 2023 TomDispatch.com
Tom Engelhardt
The above piece, published here with permission, first appeared at Tom Engelhardt's substack page, where you can find more of his writing.
Engelhardt, was editor-in-chief of TomDispatch.com for over 24 years, is the author of numerous books, including: "A Nation Unmade by War" (2018, Dispatch Books), "Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World" (2014, with an introduction by Glenn Greenwald), "Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050"(co-authored with Nick Turse), "The United States of Fear" (2011), "The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's" (2010), and "The End of Victory Culture: a History of the Cold War and Beyond" (2007).
His take-down was the story that grabbed almost 69% of the American "news hole" the week it happened, and from a media point of view it turns out to be the gift that never stops giving. Small wonder, since it's got just about everything: multiple wives, lost high-tech stealth helicopters, brave cyborg canines, killer tractors, championship-style celebrations, tiny helmet cams, private diaries, evil plans for future destruction, recalcitrant Pakistanis, shots of the world's arch-villain changing channels whenever his arch-enemy, the president of the United States, comes on-screen, and now -- the ultimate fundamentalist hypocrisy -- "a stash of porn." If that isn't God's gift to web traffic, what is?
As Reuters first reported and no one on this planet can now not know, in the treasure trove of computer hard drives and thumb drives collected by the Navy SEAL team that hit bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, CIA analysts claim to have found a cache of now-classified pornographic videos. News of this was leaked to the press in hopes of "tarnishing" the reputation of the man who, in 2002, denounced American culture for its "exploitation of women's bodies in dress, advertising, and popular culture."
Of course, with so much crucial news pouring out and news staffs shrinking across the media landscape, choices need to be made. Under the circumstances, there are always a few stories that have to give way before what's truly crucial, and so go unreported. In recent years -- explain it as you will -- the Pentagon's ongoing weapons trade with Middle Eastern despots has largely fallen into this category. Someday, perhaps, this trade, which can take place with the most fervent of Islamic fundamentalists, might be reclassified as pornographic and so get the attention it deserves. In the meantime, thanks to the reporting of Nick Turse, TomDispatch will continue to spend time in the unexplored interstices between what fascinates the media.
Tom Engelhardt
The above piece, published here with permission, first appeared at Tom Engelhardt's substack page, where you can find more of his writing.
Engelhardt, was editor-in-chief of TomDispatch.com for over 24 years, is the author of numerous books, including: "A Nation Unmade by War" (2018, Dispatch Books), "Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World" (2014, with an introduction by Glenn Greenwald), "Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050"(co-authored with Nick Turse), "The United States of Fear" (2011), "The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's" (2010), and "The End of Victory Culture: a History of the Cold War and Beyond" (2007).
His take-down was the story that grabbed almost 69% of the American "news hole" the week it happened, and from a media point of view it turns out to be the gift that never stops giving. Small wonder, since it's got just about everything: multiple wives, lost high-tech stealth helicopters, brave cyborg canines, killer tractors, championship-style celebrations, tiny helmet cams, private diaries, evil plans for future destruction, recalcitrant Pakistanis, shots of the world's arch-villain changing channels whenever his arch-enemy, the president of the United States, comes on-screen, and now -- the ultimate fundamentalist hypocrisy -- "a stash of porn." If that isn't God's gift to web traffic, what is?
As Reuters first reported and no one on this planet can now not know, in the treasure trove of computer hard drives and thumb drives collected by the Navy SEAL team that hit bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, CIA analysts claim to have found a cache of now-classified pornographic videos. News of this was leaked to the press in hopes of "tarnishing" the reputation of the man who, in 2002, denounced American culture for its "exploitation of women's bodies in dress, advertising, and popular culture."
Of course, with so much crucial news pouring out and news staffs shrinking across the media landscape, choices need to be made. Under the circumstances, there are always a few stories that have to give way before what's truly crucial, and so go unreported. In recent years -- explain it as you will -- the Pentagon's ongoing weapons trade with Middle Eastern despots has largely fallen into this category. Someday, perhaps, this trade, which can take place with the most fervent of Islamic fundamentalists, might be reclassified as pornographic and so get the attention it deserves. In the meantime, thanks to the reporting of Nick Turse, TomDispatch will continue to spend time in the unexplored interstices between what fascinates the media.
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