This might get interesting...
I received the following email, directed at the graduate department, from a fellow graduate student:
"This is what makes me afraid of being a photographer in the times we live in. I've been stopped and questioned in America for taking photographs, and have learned that it's illegal to take photographs of a federal building unless you have press credentials.
I'm not in the same position as Hussein--at least not for now."
And he linked to this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/photographer_detained
Here is what I sent out to the department:
I don’t know if this Bilal Hussein dude deserves to be held by U.S. forces or not, but here is what I do know: The article you linked to is an A.P. story about an A.P. reporter; the same A.P., mind you, whose Lebanese stringers scandalously and unethically staged numerous photos during the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. Therefore, I have to take this story with a grain of sand.
Here is a link that highlights some salient issues that the A.P. story about the A.P. downplayed or ignored all together: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015301.php
N: “This is what makes me afraid of being a photographer in the times we live in. I've been stopped and questioned in America for taking photographs, and have learned that it's illegal to take photographs of a federal building unless you have press credentials.”
Perhaps such a law is an overreaction? Then again, maybe it isn’t considering the very real terrorist threats we live under these days? It’s also against flight regulations now to carry-on toothpaste, or shampoo, etc. I don’t blame the TSA or whoever makes the rules—I blame the terrorists for forcing their hands. Some of us bemoan—perhaps rightly at times—the alleged erosion of some of our freedoms in this era of mass casualty terrorism. However, when the next deadly terrorist attack occurs (and it will), I am sure there will be finger pointing at our government for not having done enough to prevent the attack.
N: “I'm not in the same position as Hussein--at least not for now.”
I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you don’t become too chummy with head-chopping terrorists who are dedicated to killing American soldiers, Iraqi election workers, bound hostages and the like.
We all have our political biases and so some of us will ignore certain things and focus in on others. But as journalists, journalists in-the-making and or scholars of the media, don’t we have an obligation to be a bit more circumspect here? I mean, let’s be clear: for every Bilal Hussein there have been many—far too many—western, Arab and Iraqi journalists who have been kidnapped, tortured and executed—just for doing their jobs. Here is a link to the Committee to Protect Journalists website with a rundown of journalists killed in Iraq since 2003: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/Iraq/Iraq_danger.html. We should be concerned about the safety of all journalists in Iraq, not just the ones whose plight makes America look bad.
I will update any replies.
"This is what makes me afraid of being a photographer in the times we live in. I've been stopped and questioned in America for taking photographs, and have learned that it's illegal to take photographs of a federal building unless you have press credentials.
I'm not in the same position as Hussein--at least not for now."
And he linked to this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060917/ap_on_re_mi_ea/photographer_detained
Here is what I sent out to the department:
I don’t know if this Bilal Hussein dude deserves to be held by U.S. forces or not, but here is what I do know: The article you linked to is an A.P. story about an A.P. reporter; the same A.P., mind you, whose Lebanese stringers scandalously and unethically staged numerous photos during the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. Therefore, I have to take this story with a grain of sand.
Here is a link that highlights some salient issues that the A.P. story about the A.P. downplayed or ignored all together: http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015301.php
N: “This is what makes me afraid of being a photographer in the times we live in. I've been stopped and questioned in America for taking photographs, and have learned that it's illegal to take photographs of a federal building unless you have press credentials.”
Perhaps such a law is an overreaction? Then again, maybe it isn’t considering the very real terrorist threats we live under these days? It’s also against flight regulations now to carry-on toothpaste, or shampoo, etc. I don’t blame the TSA or whoever makes the rules—I blame the terrorists for forcing their hands. Some of us bemoan—perhaps rightly at times—the alleged erosion of some of our freedoms in this era of mass casualty terrorism. However, when the next deadly terrorist attack occurs (and it will), I am sure there will be finger pointing at our government for not having done enough to prevent the attack.
N: “I'm not in the same position as Hussein--at least not for now.”
I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you don’t become too chummy with head-chopping terrorists who are dedicated to killing American soldiers, Iraqi election workers, bound hostages and the like.
We all have our political biases and so some of us will ignore certain things and focus in on others. But as journalists, journalists in-the-making and or scholars of the media, don’t we have an obligation to be a bit more circumspect here? I mean, let’s be clear: for every Bilal Hussein there have been many—far too many—western, Arab and Iraqi journalists who have been kidnapped, tortured and executed—just for doing their jobs. Here is a link to the Committee to Protect Journalists website with a rundown of journalists killed in Iraq since 2003: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/Iraq/Iraq_danger.html. We should be concerned about the safety of all journalists in Iraq, not just the ones whose plight makes America look bad.
I will update any replies.
posted by semite1973 at 10:59 AM
5 Comments:
I very much want to hear this reply.
I don't think any replies are coming. I haven't heard from him yet, and I even sent him more information about Bilal Hussein.
I had to reply because I've had many classes with this guy, and I can't stand the way he views everything through an America-hating prisim.
It drives me even more crazy when you consider that we are supposed to be open-minded thinkers... and here he is freaking out about one journalist who is probably a terrorist when REAL journalists are being slaughtered in Iraq just for trying to do their job.
You'd think a student of the media would be a bit more circumspect, but such is not the case when people are blinded by hatred and ideology.
You're absolutely right, zak. And it's scary.
But I also think it's a manifestation of something deeper. We have failed with many of our children (well, they are actually my own age) in giving them something to believe in. Thus they have been open to believing in the wrong things. Rather than teaching and instilling values and morals that are timeless and irrespective of most religions, we have given forth the idea that people can figure it out for themselves.
Um, not always. They look for someone who tells them what to believe. And then they hold onto it irrationally.
There is such a thing as right and wrong. We were very wrong for trying to deny that.
You're absolutely right, zak. And it's scary.
But I also think it's a manifestation of something deeper. We have failed with many of our children (well, they are actually my own age) in giving them something to believe in. Thus they have been open to believing in the wrong things. Rather than teaching and instilling values and morals that are timeless and irrespective of most religions, we have given forth the idea that people can figure it out for themselves.
Um, not always. They look for someone who tells them what to believe. And then they hold onto it irrationally.
There is such a thing as right and wrong. We were very wrong for trying to deny that.
The secular West is struggling to combat Islam in the ideological war - basically because on our wholesale desertion of Christianity since the 1960s. Multiculturalism, PC-piety, atheism, socialism and the like have corrupted. not strengthened us.
Ryan
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