Statecraft Informer

Sparxafire!

This is just the kind of thing that ticks me off and gets this country into so much trouble! In today’s edition of the NEW YORK TIMES, yes… our national newspaper of record…. NOT the Wamego Times, Wamego, Kan., but the NYT lead headline is, “Marines Press to Remove Their Forces From Iraq.” Wow. This sounds like the troops are just getting so fed up, they’re begging/pressing to please just come home. Glass half empty.

Not.

They want to remove themselves from Iraq and go to Afghanistan to fight the original Al Quaeda that bombed the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

That’s very different.

These kinds of irritating headlines have an ever greater influence over the rapidly growing stupider U.S. population, who are not inclined to actually read beyond the headlines. Journalists know by now that if they can’t tell the story in the headline, pull quotes and photo captions, then the story won’t get told! That headline should have read, “Marines Want to Move on Afghanistan” or something similar. Glass half full.

This headline represents the exact same kind of logic that “Che-bush-ney” use when they talk about the international coalition in Iraq like they’re a big deal. Even Great Britain is withdrawing half their force, but the REAL story is that they only have about 5,000 soldiers left there!

It’s like bumping into a fence post and trying to act like you meant to do it. It’s childish and demeans not only those who write headlines like that, but it demeans the reader as well!

I am thoroughly insulted. As with anything else, there’s nothing to be done about it. Fire off a letter to the editor of the NYT and see what happens.