BY WILLIE HAGER
I have heard all my life that “Truth, as well as Beauty, is in the eye of the beholder”. A sentiment that I believe to be true, and one that I happen to subscribe to. So, it follows that a large percent of what people see, they believe. This observation points out to me that it is therefore very important to “see” things with an empirical and unwavering criterion in order to define and to discern the real Truth of a situation when confronted with contradictions.
I, along with thousands of others I am sure, received the following “Call to Action” on an fw: of an fw: of an fw: E-mail…well, you know what I mean. Anyway, it proposes a political action that, in my opinion, is fraught with contradictions, yet compelling in principle. Well here, see for yourself…
Contributed by Working Assets:
On September 10th and 11th, ABC -- which is owned by Disney -- is planning to air a "docu-drama" called "Path to 9/11," which is being billed as "an objective telling of the events of 9/11." In fact, the film was written by an unabashed conservative who twists the facts to blame President Clinton.
In fact, the list of counterterrorism initiatives undertaken by the Clinton administration is lengthy and comprehensive. Regrettably, the record shows that most of these efforts were watered down or abandoned by the Bush administration when they came into office. History will also record that President Bush was the one who received -- and while on vacation, chose to ignore -- a Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001 entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US."
ABC's new six-hour film was apparently screened in advance only to conservative bloggers and journalists -- and received extensive praise from none other than Rush Limbaugh. ABC is advertising the film as being "based on the 9/11 Commission report" -- yet also admits that it's a "docu-drama," in which writers and producers are free to invent and distort facts. Former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has already completely refuted one of the key scenes of the movie.
It's simply stunning to think that as this fall's election approaches, a major television network would devote six hours of prime-time programming to air such a slanted and inaccurate program. There is simply no way that a conservative writer, with an anti-Clinton axe to grind, should be allowed to use public airwaves to broadcast a gross distortion of the truth -- especially on the anniversary of the worst day in our history.
Call to action:
Send a message to ABC asking them to cancel the show.
Deadline:
9/10/2006>>
But, after reading it over a couple of times, and thinking about it…I'm sorry...I can't help it, I gotta say it; I’m thinking that we would all find ourselves on the other side of this issue if it was the Swift Boat Vets (NSSVs) that were mounting an internet campaign to block the airing of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 on PBS.
In my mind; it's not really a question of the spin or the veracity of the content, it's more about the ol' Freedom of Speech issue. Should anyone have the right to suppress anyone else’s right to speak freely; in this case to air on commercial airwaves what they refer to as a "Docudrama" as opposed to what we all want to call a politically corrupt Rovized Documentary? To be honest with you; it's the books that they are reading, and the movies that they are seeing; most specifically the ones that I don't know about that really scare me. If you don't want the kids to see it, change the channel.
Semper Fi!
windbender@rose.net
