114 Comments on Bordering Barriers: Jerusalem
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Could we get a copy of those fence plans? There’s an area south of here that would benefit.
What, you think Mexicans are trying to launch suicide attacks on America?
No but i think that they are coming in to our country illegally and they should not. come on be smart. Don’t try and twist the words… and to ismart don’t be afraid to say Mexico.
Well, maybe if our economy wasn\’t so hot, we wouldn\’t need so many people to work which would mean that we\’d have no need for cheap Mexican labor. It\’s Mexicans crossing the border but its American businesses that are hiring them.
You Canadians should just relax. We mean you no harm.
Do we hear from the opposing side in all this. If your are going to be Journalists than you must balence your reportage.
It’s their blog—they can do whatever they want. If you don’t like it, ask for your money back.
Sure, they can do whatever they want. And lose lots of credibility.
Obviously, the RB team has an agenda. Maybe they don’t care about “credibility” and besides, unless you’re using them as source material, who gives a fig?
Who says their done their reporting?
Props to you my friend.
Oh good, and here I was worried today’s comments were going to be dull.
…I know. I get my ‘heavy’ news all the time, but this is no fun. I’m leaving.
-s
When is the MSM going to give us both sides? It seems to me that RB is just following tradition and doing exactly what they want to do. Credibility?! What outlet has any credibility? Name one. Then after you name it, it then becomes moot because that is your opinion.
Equal time legislation, which I think contributed much to the current idea of a “balanced” news report, was initially aimed at National Public Radio during the Regan administration.
NPR was fully funded by the government at the time and was known as Radio Managua in some circles.
Of course, prior to that time, intelligent consumers of news balanced their intake by looking to the sources they new would do the best job reporting on a given spin. Equal time was simply one attack in the successful war on liberal radio. (There was a prior precedent designed for political campaigns which really doesn’t enter into this.)
The consumer still needs to seek the news source with the initiative and expertise for the point of view needed for his/her balanced understanding.
By definition the mandatory opposing point of view is not the story the news agency has initiative in telling. It is mainly a waste of news resources and a major dilution factor in the quality of modern news reporting.
In the epitome of irony, and with amazing and ingenuity, FOX News has dealt with this issue by aggressively making a farce of equal time and bending it to their own design. While, decades later, and with no more government funding, NPR still dutifully plops out their equal time conferee without much effect other than to waste precious air time.
Who said they’re being journalists? Drew never calls himself a journalist. You people who are claiming Rocket Boom to be guilty of bad journalism are either people who consider themselves journalists or people who don’t like what the tour guide is saying.
Where do they keep the American A-bombs?
As long as RB is there, you should really do an honest story on Isreal’s nuclear weapons stockpile—oh yea we don’t talk about that.
I think this was much better than the last three days of Rocktboom content.
Damn, rocketboom people, show me something fun and interesting. I don’t care about groups of people who are hellbent on killing one another.
Actually, they aren’t hell bent on killing each other. Only one side actually goes out and kills people eating pizza with their family. Not everything you see on the news is correct or even representative of anything. I see all the anti-Israel stuff and even though I’m not even Jewish, I don’t understand how we Americans can be all about fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan - both of which do not pose any immediate threat on the country - but are against everything Israel does trying to keep it’s citizens alive - when it’s existential there. Clearly a matter of survival. Most people on both sides want peace - it’s just one side that blows up civilians in the process. The same side that whose government refuses to even recognize Israel’s right to exist!
Hmm, one side kills people eating pizza, while the other kills people in their sleep by bombing and/or bulldozing occupied homes. From 2000-2006, 1,113 Israelis (113 children) were killed by Palestinians, while 4,209 Palestinians (892 children) were killed by Israelis. Israel doesn’t seem all that not-hell-bent to me.
I think that the rocketbooms have been maybe a little dull but very interesting.
Wow, disappear for 2 days and this place takes on a whole new face! B-man, looks like you were kept busy!
@ CaptWill:
In skimming over the last 2 days this morning I believe Drew already addressed your point on Monday when he said:
————
“Rocketboom does not follow any guidelines like “you must report fair and balanced.” In fact, we claim to be one sided. We often show stories that have other sides.
Personally, I don’t believe there is such a thing as fair and balanced. There is no objectivity, in my opinion. Everything is subjective and one sided.
This is just a story about the world, take it for what it is.
Meanwhile, lets hear more from you then about “the other side of the story”…”
————
I haven’t studied the issue in any depth but I’m not entirely sold on the fence being the only reason for attacks dropping from 47 to 1 over a 5 year span. It just seems like a whole lot of work and time for such a ratio. Don’t get me wrong, 1 is a whole lot better than 47 but it just seems we hear about a lot more activity going on than this.
Maybe it’s as simple as a fence working. Is the US government learning from this? Probably not.
Of course I don’t know the statistics… but to quote the video: “There was only 1 terror attack… in which the suicide bomber was able to penetrate the fence.” Maybe I’m nit-picking, but does that mean there was only one terror attack or that others got in by a different means?
It’s never as easy as a fence.
bravo my friend bravo…. i think that we could learn alot from other country’s but we cant do anything right now because every one is too split. but come on be nice to the gov. i bet they do the best they can
SpongeBob in China
So, I’ve been following RB for a couple of years, and I’d have to say that when July rolls around, Bad Judgment seems to show up. It must be their “news cycle”. What is most striking to me is how the two main fragments of RB1.0, AC/ABC and RB2.0, have gotten the journalism thing wrong in the same way. Good journalism is not about objectivity/subjectivity. It is about completeness and breadth of perspective (and that may be why we have so little of it anywhere these days).
What we have here is a close view not of the wall/fence but of the opinions of something like a helicopter tour operator. This is what makes this piece one-sided. There is no real inherent interest in his opinions; they are essentially identical to the official government line, there is no nuance in them, and they could be gotten anywhere. This is rather different from, e.g. the reporting of Ruud Elmendorp or Andy Carvin, both many times featured on RB, who both have a knack of finding people whose perspectives are unique, e.g. the LRA soldier in a meeting in Sudan, captured by Ruud. You don’t have to like any of the perspectives involved to be edified by the piece and to appreciate the journalism.
RB would do well to emulate the work of these field reporters, if it wishes to do more serious pieces of this type. Otherwise it will be percieved as merely a mouthpiece for some particular side or agenda, and its audience will diminsh accordingly.
Thank you JP for this striking analysis! I am very disappointed too by this “propaganda series” on Rocketboom”.
RB would do well to emulate the work of these field reporters, if it wishes to do more serious pieces of this type.
So you\’re saying Rocket Boom should learn how to do good journalism… from Rocket Boom?
Not a big fan or borders and fences, the more walls we build the more hatred grows. On both sides.
I’m 100% certain that building a fence between my neighbor’s yard and my yard has created MORE opportunity for the two of us to congregate with each other through summer bbqs. We’re growing closer, but obviously neither of us is teaching our children to blow themselves up for the Ultimate.
Fences don’t teach hatred. People do.
how do you people live with your selfs… “lets not build a fence… let every body in” i wish we could do this and so you could see how it would FAIL see not everyone in the world is nice and caring… well maybe in your world but where i live not so much
So when it was Italians and Irish and Jews, give us your tired and poor and all that stuff, but decades later when it’s the Mexicans to fill our job rolls we’re inviting danger?
The thing I have always enjoyed so much about Rocketboom is the refreshing, offbeat and yes, especially quirky programming. The very fact that most of what RB has produced is not the same bitter flavor of mainstream media, makes it a genuinely refreshing splash of creative insight into the many other venues for positive, inventive, expressive living. I for one hope that this topic will not become a feature of RB’s format and we can soon return to exploring the lighthearted world of human eccentricity and jubilant expression of our imaginative human spirit. I can always tune into Fox news (or a myriad of other mainstream outlets) if I need a (reality(?)) check!
Hooray, and thank you. To many of the others… “Chill out, Francis!”
Watch how fast a fence gets built on the southern border once the drug smugglers cross over and start wiping out American citizens. If 224 people were killed in that area by bad guys, would we do anything? Especially with a couple of boder guards rotting in jail while the US Legal System is defending the red handed drug smuggler they were trying to capture runs around free. Makes you wonder.
Since when are drug smugglers crossing the border in order to kill people? From what I understand, drug smugglers don’t want people to know they’re there.
This should be viewed first before the other one
Well, Hamas can send an invite too. They seem to be running the show. Anytime. Waiting. When the phone don’t ring you know that it is Hamas calling.
When is this propaganda series on Rocketboom going to end? I am tired of having to listen to the crap those people try to convince me of. The Israeli are not always the “good guys” and the others the “bad guys”. I hate the simplification that are made by the people in each episode. Please Rocketboom, come back to the good stuff you usually do…
Yes. When?
Joanne, please hurry back.
What’s up with the noxious looking haze on the horizon as viewed from the helicopter? Is it fire from rockets or wild fire blazes? Looks fairly toxic.
If you’re wondering where they got the idea for the wall, well they got it from US Customs down along the Tijuana, San Diego border. I know this because I did a piece a few years ago about the border - which looks almost exactly the same — and I bumped into visiting Israeli officials who had come to learn about the US experience.
While I appreciate RB’s exploration of a serious issue three days in row, the tidbits of information contained in the three pieces, while interesting, do nothing to cast light on this issue. Having grown up and lived in various socialist country, the agitprop is just too much from the Israeli tourguide. But I’m sure we’d get the same from a Hamas type, too.
Ultimately, we all know the roots of this conflict boil down to the Palestinian’s sense they get no respect from Israel, and Israel’s own fear of being annihilated by its hostile neighbors. I’ve seen this movie way, way to often. Now, RB, can we please move on?
I’ve seen this movie way, way to often. Now, RB, can we please move on?
Hear, hear.
By the way, RB, I thought you all were supposed to be “new” media? Or you all salivating about selling out to an “old” media company? Is that why we’re viewing things that we can watch every night on CNN or the BBC?
You run another “Palisreal” story tomorrow, you’re going to lose me for a long, long time…If I ever come back.
Hey you know something called manners we use them some times. you can say “would you mind moving on RB?”
As far as the fence is concerned, a truly great people can look beyond that, indeed ignore that and build there own society.
It’s interesting that a lot of Palestinians want too see Israel destroyed, but yet have to rely on them for jobs and such.
I say don’t worry about the fence and start building your own realm, contribute to the world.
Enough with the propaganda, please. I’ve gotten dizzy from all this spin.
In response to the explainer…
(1) The “wall” (25-ft high concrete) is not only present in Jerusalem proper, but also in much of the surrounding area. In some areas, e.g., Bethlehem, the structure is a combination of “wall” and “fence” (like what was shown in the video), but is still just as imposing. Besides, whatever the form of the wall/fence, it still functions as a land grab (yes, it cuts into land legally owned by Palestinian people, who were not compensated), a way to make Palestinian life ever more difficult (cutting them off from their jobs, families, and agricultural land), and a tool to facilitate apartheid.
2. The explainer proudly states, “just last week, four Palestinians got through the fence, but the Israeli army intercepted them and killed them.” Lots of Palestinians do try to get through the fence for various reasons, including to reach places of work or family. Notice that we were not told whether the Palestinians who were killed last week were planning attacks or trying to visit, say, a dying relative. Notice also that these individuals were killed on the spot. Shoot first, ask questions later. How nice.
3. I had to laugh at the final comments the explainer made about those statistics. So, in 2002, there were 47 attacks in which people were able to reach Israel from the West Bank, but last year, there was only one attack in which a bomber was able to get through the fence. Note that (1) the frequency of attacks has decreased due to other factors, most notably cease-fire agreements which, while not completely successful, have been effective, and (2) there may have been only one attack by someone who got through the fence, but there were many more by people who got into Israel through other means.
Again, RB has unapologetically presented a very one-sided picture of the “security” wall issue. Visit http://www.stopthewall.org for more info on the “apartheid” wall.
So the wall cuts into some of the land legally owned by the Palestinians? If they want compensation just throw some money over the wall! If you like you can attach an apology note to it, problem solved!
I’m pro-Palestine, not anti-Israel, have read about and heard first and second hand accounts of atrocities on both sides of the fence. That’s why I find the little details in these reports interesting.
Everyone here is listening to the tour guide and shouting BIAS! like your the only one who notices. Well guess what. EVERYONE knows he’s biased and those who don’t either already have their mind made up or are naive.
At first I wondered if these reports were Joanne and Drew endorsing this tour guide’s point of view but then I’m looking at the shots of Joanne and she looks like she’s observing with a lot of skepticism. So unless she comes in and says otherwise, I’m going to take that and wait for them to return from Israel and get back to regular Rocket Boom again.
The bottom line is, without a wider context for what is presented here, the hackneyed, naive debate about objective versus subjective aside, this series is boring.
Why? It insults our intelligence.
When that happens, the trust with the viewer is broken; we step away or just fall asleep.
I think you might have hit on it,”old man”. This is why we are so very tired of all of this right now.
The other relevant observation is the excess of acerbic comments; the “poisoning” of the comments feature.
I just hope the familiar old Rocketboom will survive all of this.
I’m just catching up on the last few days of Rocket Boom and you seem to be really upset and offended by something. You call Drew and Joanne stupid and accuse them of failed journalism (who do you report for, by the way? I assume you’re some kind of super perfect journalist.) Best of all, you keep on saying how no one wants to watch this when you’ve been back to comment EVERY DAY.
So what’s it going to be?
Oh for pete’s sake… can we get a disclaimer on the RB site or episodes already? If you don’t want to be judged by journalistic standards then make it clear and let that be the end of it. This has been going on for three days. THREE DAYS!?!
I can tell this forum is going to be no fun this week. I think I will take an RB holiday this week too.
For fellow fun-lovers - there is salvation!! New episode of Tikibar!! I could kiss those canadians, I really could…
- a frustrated beagle
LOL — I liked that one. Here’s for some fun:
http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/index.html
http://www.retroradar.com/Home_10.0.html
http://www.thrillville.net/
-s
Thank you, Rocketboom.
Why?
Well, you took a story that we see every day in the mainstream media simply as a tally of facts and figures on a newspaper page, and you gave it a personalized look. That’s what you do best, and you did it here, no matter what the other commentors here have said.
I do not understand why this is “propaganda,” or “one-sided,” or “selling out”–or even why any of those things would matter in this case. Joanne was in Israel for a few days for a conference, and she saw interesting stories, and she told them. She has no obligation to be “balanced” or “show the other side” or any such thing–this is a vlog, not a news source. If you want to criticize RB as journalism, then why not take on Casual Fridays first, which tell us almost zilch about the world (in a journalistic sort of way, that is)?
A general misconception that many people have today is that every story has two sides, and that both deserve equal treatment. Neither assertion is true. Some stories have three or more “sides,” and some really do only have one. Some stories have several “sides,” but not all deserve equal coverage. The tendency in the mainstream media to identify exactly 2 points of view and then to give equal treatment to both is what gives us things like the ID vs evolution “debate,” or the global climate change “debate.” Ask a qualified expert about either of those questions, and they will tell you that there’s really no room for debate about them at all on the scale that we see in the media! And if you disagree with my assessment, then ask yourself whether you think other “sides” to these stories–for instance, Pastafarianism–also deserve equal treatment with the original two!
By only covering one aspect of this story, RB delivers on its promise to be exactly what it is. It’s not “mainstream media” in the slightest–BECAUSE it’s not presenting “every side” with equal weight.
Finally, I question the need to cover both “sides” of this aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict as a whole–sure. But the terror strikes within Israeli civilian areas, and Israel’s attempts to limit those? What would the other side look like? An interview with a Palestinian who tells Joanne, “Well, I had a problem, so in order to solve the problem, I launched a rocket that blew up a house with a family in it. That was a good and reasonable way to solve my problem.”
Cease-fire agreements in Israel do not have a successful track record. But the number of deaths–of both Palestinians and Israelis–dropped precipitously after Ariel Sharon began his policy of unilateral disengagement.
Also consider this: During the war with Lebanon–which, certainly, degenerated into a very-difficult-to-justify mess in the end–Hizbullah fighters would set themselves up in Lebanese residential areas and fire rockets into Israeli residential areas. Israel would respond with airstrikes–but not before dropping thousands of leaflets on their target area, warning residents that an airstrike was incoming! Hizbullah’s goal was for civilians to die on both sides: Israelis, so that the Israeli government would be incensed, hurt, and pressured; and Lebanese, so that the Israelis would suffer PR attacks internationally. My point is this: sometimes, in this conflict, even balanced coverage still looks “one-sided” to me. And I hardly blame the Israelis for throwing up fences…were my family in danger of a rocket exploding near them at any time of day, I too would want to do all I could to keep the launchers away from them. And I’d feel even more so for suicide attacks.
So thank you, Rocketboom, for showing me some things I’d never seen before. I’d read about the fences and the rockets, but I’d never seen the fence or seen crumpled hunks of metal lying in crushed synagogues. Whatever else you did, you helped show another perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Now just keep doing what you do best: showing whatever you want, regardless of what anybody says to you!
Hear hear! Very well said. Thankyou for stating that so clearly, JP (but not the other one)!
Agreed!
Although it\’ll be nice once we get back to regular Rocket Boom again. When do you get back from Israel, Joanne? Are you going to come back a Hasid?
The last 3 episodes of RB really didn’t tell me anything about any sides or anyone. It’s a waste of time! And who is that guy talking anyway?
Bit sad. Hope we get back to normal soon.
Gram
They really haven’t told you anything about any sides or anyone? Or just nothing that you personally didn’t know already?
I find it extremely informational about that guide’s opinions, and he’s probably parroting a fairly popular view in a way few of us outside of the area ever hear about.
I personally believe he’s a bigot on a mission to perpetuate lies, fear, and hatred, but wow he’s made “his side’s” contribution to the problem crystal clear in a way the MSM never manages to communicate! (Which may not be a bad thing, in this case…)
The Jurassic Period Part II is closing in on us fast … run for your lives!
Giant squid…..
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070711162154.zr8euodr&show_article=1&image=large
Giant mushrooms….
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070710184905.473qrihk&show_article=1&image=large
And all those plastic bottles filling up the landfills and the high seas…
http://www.offlicencenews.co.uk/articles/46952/Plastic-bottles-do-not-cause-global-warming.aspx?categoryid=9059
… are causing dolphins to take up surfing…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=467706&in_page_id=1770
Go figure…Al Gore puts on a rock concert and screws up the planet.
I want my dancing sunglasses on a desktop! And mystery piece of paper on the floor! And more from the world of Bre Pettis! I’m hemorraging.
Conflict
http://www.audiodharma.org/mp3files/2007-05-21_GilFronsdal_Conflict.mp3
(I posted this late last night and said it would be my last post on the subject. Here it is again in case you didn’t see it. The first line is in response to a post by Jensen)
Jensen, you wrote: “Most of us probably don’t take sides, nor want to take a side.”
Well, I was recently received this email which seems to fit in with your above statement and with the recent dicussions on RB.
A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a
number of large industries and estates.
When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can
guide our attitude toward fanaticism. “Very few people were true Nazis “he said,” but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam
is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want
to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely
irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and
meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the
globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at
this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50
shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter
Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over
the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb,
behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque
after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and
hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority” the “silent
majority” is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace,
yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20
million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China’s huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists
managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a
warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across
South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder
of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not
be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace & loving”?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our
powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because
like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the
fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs,
Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many
others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it
was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only
group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is
serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, can contribute
to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So,extend yourself a
bit and send this on and on and on!! Let us hope that thousands, world
wide, read this - think about it - and send it on.
(This will be my last entry on the subject)
This is no fun at all any more. Lots of heat, precious little light.
HARTLESS, meet me in the bar. First round’s on me.
What about the effect of the wall on biodiversity? Never discussed when the subject of a wall with Mexico comes up. It would be a true disaster for many species. It will have little effect on number of illegals. But it will cost lots of money and the politicians can pretend they did something.
What about a WAL MART’s effect on biodiversity. Put them back to back and they are probably have a sq. footage larger than Israel. What about your cattle farms, ranches, your pig fields…gimmeeeeeeeeeee a break.
THE WALL IS THERE TO SAVE PRECIOUS JEWISH LIVES.
TO SAVE LIFE. FROM JIHAD MARTYRS WHO TO FUCK 72 VIRGINS!
KAPISH!
AND IT’S FUCKING WORKING!!!!!
IT’S FUCKING WORKING!!!!!
/someone will probably post a comment about my swearing
No problem with your swearing, tacky as it may be. I just find it interesting that you mention the wall saving “precious Jewish lives,” as though Jewish lives are the only ones that are precious or worthy of being saved. Tell me, are Muslim or Christian lives any less precious? Yet your precious Israelis killed almost four times as many Palestinians, and almost eight times as many Palestinian children, as Palestinians killed. Between 2000 and 2006, 117 Palestinians died due to being denied access to medical care at Israeli checkpoints; of these, 31 were stillborn babies, who had absolutely nothing to do with any of this conflict.
At worst, it may be said that the Israeli border troops in those cases actively killed people by preventing them from receiving medical care. At best, they may be said to have sacrificed Palestinian lives in order to prevent potential harm to Israelis. Not only did they decide that Israeli lives mattered more than Palestinian lives, but that the avoidance of hypothetical harm to Israelis was more valuable than the avoidance of certain death to Palestinians. Israel is so gosh-darned warm and fuzzy like that.
Killing is always wrong, and all lives are precious, regardless of political views.
Good point…I suppose the wall also saves would-be suicide attackers’ lives…not to mention the innocent Palestinian bystanders who get killed by suicide attackers, or who get killed in reprisals.
you are clueless, no point in even responding.
I personally don’t see a point to all these viewer’s whining and bickering about how slanted these past few reports have been. Of course they’re slanted!
It’s very important to hear what people have to say, and learn what they believe before making a decision. I’m learning a hell of a lot about the situation, partly because of and partly in spite of, this guide’s obvious bigotry and apparently all-consuming hate & fear.
Strong opinions can still be educational, even if they’re pure opinion. Different opinions & points of view allow for different perspectives & fresh insights. Knowing how to think for yourself is key.
People spouting off with thoughtless remarks on this forum are as big a part of the problem as people like that guide. Alas, we will always be with us.
Drew and Joane, please stop behaving like the all american stupid tourist at the Berlin wall (sic!). Go to some theme park and eat popcorn or find a McDonalds or whatever, but FFS keep that camera switched off.
Yes, we want our censorship back. Please. Please.
Everyone is screaming for a wider context, what about the other side? Where has everyone been for the last 10 years? Ever watch Orla Guerin, Middle East correspondent for the BBC Worldservice report from Gaza & The West Bank on PBS over the last decade. Every report was 10 minutes long as she zoomed in on the horrors that Isreal was inflicting. She would even turn a broken toe nail into a gut-wrenching pro-palestinian rant that made me want to vomit. Here was a seasoned professional who not once gave the other side of the story. I must have watched at least 50 reports by this woman, if not more. Never mentioned why a house was bulldozed as it contained accomplices who had just sent their son or neighbor off with the blessings of Allah to blow up 50 Israelis on a bus, or a restaurant or a wedding ceremony. (remember that one) No the bulldozer was shown from ever conceivable angle. The cement house crumpling…the screaming family. Where were the screaming Jewish families of the 50 blown up Israelis? Not to mention those injured on the street by flying nails and screws. No, Orla’s reports never focused on the Israelis…their lives were meaningless.
At times her report would show a 5 second flash on the screen. Typical ambulance siren,,,running people in the streets (long view shots-not closeups as with the Pals)…then back to Orla and the suffering violated palestinians.
You have been getting the other side with NO context for years now and you’ve never complained or maybe you never noticed. Reporting today is a joke…and do you know how many of those news items you saw were staged? I’ve seen footage taken by nearby cameramen. The palestinians are urged to run, throw rocks and roll on the ground. It’s unbelievable like watching the making of a movie. Guess you never saw those clips? Of course not, MSM only want SHOCK VALUE. THEY WANT RATINGS AND ADVERTISING DOLLARS…so what if a little scene is staged…like the photographer who doctored an Isareli airstrike showing plumes of smoke as if a whole city block had been blown up…it was exposed by an ordinary citizen who was a photoshop expert. The photographer was canned.
So don’t cry to me about CONTEXT & THE OTHER SIDE… they’ve had more than their share of air time….
RB is not a news service. They showed a slice of life in Israel over the past 3 days.
Want biased coverage? Turn on the TV right now. Any channnel. Go buy any newspaper, especially the New York & LA Times. And have a let’s bash Israel Fest.
And besides, if you follow evebnts in the mid-east, what was shown over the past 3 days is nothing new. I’ve known, seen, heard and read about all 3 reports for the longest time now and I’ve seen how MSM (mainstream media) have distorted all their reports to fit their agenda… The person who said “The Jews control the media” must have been pretty drunk that night…
There is so much more about the palestinians it would make your head spin. You want a copy of their schoolbooks? You want to see how 5 year olds are taught that Jews are decended from apes and pigs? Would you like to hear that about yourselves? Well, that’s kindergarten in Gaza & The West Bank.
Like I said, I learned nothing new here these past few days. What I couldn’t believe was the whining. WHAT IS YOUR AGENDA? Never hear of the WALL before…do you know it’s entire perimeter/length? That most is just a wired fence as shown and not the huge concrete monster portrayed on most newscasts,
IF anything, I hope these last 3 days will make you look at reports from MSM with a more critical eye. I’ve timed the suicide bombing reports on a few dozen occasions when they were happening. If they got 30 seconds of coverage on ABC they were lucky. But a Palestinian story usually went on for 5 minutes or more.
As someone above mentioned, if you use RB as your source for “news” you’re in big doo-doo. Just as someone doing a serious report who uses wikipedia.
Go watch BBC Worldservice I’m sure they’re still as biased as ever. I haven’t watched them in 4 years now. Their reporting style will make you feel a whole lot better. Guaranteed.
Israel isn’t a saint, but they retaliate to Palestinian attacks, as they should.
This is not an XBOX game…this is a fight for survival.
I’ll say it again, want the other side, turn on your TV.
Who’s the one with the agenda here?
Look in the mirror.
When the car bombs start going off in NYC, Chicago and L.A. then maybe, just maybe some (not all, they’ll be cheering) will wake up to the fact that life is not in Broadband. Then of course, they will wonder why nobody was able to stop them.
B-man, I thought you had posted your last post on this subject. . . . . ? ? ?
Why does it seem to always come down to something about YOU, and Israel?
Seems to me to be a bit self indulgent. Your posts are so long-winded that few are reading them.
As I’ve said before, this incendiary discussion should be taken elsewhere. THIS is not Rocketboom.
Save rocketboom.
Mr, G. SpongeBob made me do it!
…your shortest post ever…
SpongeBob!!!
sponge…./ minus!!!
I’m sick of this.
I think there are lots of relevant questions about why we haven’t been able to “stop” the terrible things people are doing to each other in the Middle East, some important issues to be aired. But you know what? You’re probably not going to hear them on this board any time soon. Everyone is too busy digging in and tossing word-bombs at anyone who disagrees with them.
There are a lot of really long, really boring posts above as a result.
I have spent time with Israelis and Palestinians both, separately and together, listening to the laundry lists of grievances each of them carries around, and the lists of terrible things they justify with those other lists. The single strongest emotion I feel at those times is despair, at the bottomless anger and the complete paralysis it breeds, the self-perpetuation of all the hate and the atrocities that come with it. People who seem capable of better are not, and that diminishes us all.
And I’m feeling a slice of that same despair right now about this comments board.
I love debate. And I like this board, usually, because you can usually get an interesting one going. People don’t always agree but we hash stuff out. Different voices are heard. People bring information and humor and humanity to the table.
That is not happening here now. Instead we are getting a little taste of life in the Mideast, the fearmongering and the endless pontificating, the inability to forgive any perceived slight or rhetorical challenge.
Part of me is tempted to suggest that we all stand down, stop wallowing in all this fear and hate, stop slapping back at anyone we perceive has slapped us, and try to move on. But I am not so naive.
So you guys have fun. I’m taking my leave until this board gets the fuck back to what makes it good.
And what did you learn from your encounters with the palestinians and Israelis? Father Leron you have offered nothing to this board except act as an overlord stating the obvious. Where were your personal insights? Where was your “hash” so to speak? Anger, despair, yadda yadda… we’ve heard that song and dance a million times. Any solutions to offer. Any glimmer of hope? Any insights?
“People who seem capable of better are not, and that diminishes us all.”
And why do you think that is? If they are capable, why is this capacity being thwarted? I’m all ears.
See you round the pool room… or the confession booth.
“That is not happening here now. Instead we are getting a little taste of life in the Mideast, the fearmongering and the endless pontificating, the inability to forgive any perceived slight or rhetorical challenge.”
Spot-on, leron.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)
Let’s see anti-Israel, anti-religion, anti-freeze?
Totally agree with JP #2 in thanking RB - thank you RB for an interesting view into one tiny aspect of the situation. I’m having some trouble understanding why people would think that the purpose of a vlog is to mimic mainstream news media. I saw this as an interesting “fly on the wall” opportunity for those of us who don’t get to travel to Israel, to see and hear some of what the RB people were seeing and hearing while there. There is no narrative, as per traditional news media, framing what the guy is saying. For me, that shows very clearly that his statements and opinions are being presented as his and his alone, for us to interpret for ourselves (as the people commenting here have clearly done). As Ook points out, if we truly can think for ourselves, then surely we don’t always need to be spoon-fed the delicate illusion that we’ve been presented with the “whole” story. I think, given the mountains of coverage of this situation and the generations of history behind the issue, the folk at RB probably assumed that the existence of other views would go without saying. A vlog is whatever it is - no more, no less. If we want more, hey, we’re already online. Surely we all know how to do the research.
yes. i understand. no narrative, no context. but isn’t that romancing innocence? the footage is raw, uncut, unblemished, pure stream-of-consciousness, and since it has not been framed, it is “pure.”
but it has been framed, someone had to choose what we view, what we hear. that IS editorializing. there is no way to run from it. once you do that, you have a whole different thing. you no longer have a vlog — which is just an idiosyncratic voice. you have set us up for “reporting,” in a very traditional way.
the problem i have with romancing innocence is that it is a slippery slope. president bush loves to romance innocence — his way to make major decisions is to pray and “let the spirit move you,” in great awakening style.
there’s nothing wrong with letting the spirit move you, as long as it is married — somehow — with a genuine, fresh analysis. you know, some critical thinking.
this piece has no critical thinking. sorry. and it keeps holding up the “purity” sign, romancing innocence, as its excuse.
stream-of-consciousness, unedited raw footage, is great for finding one’s voice, which is what a vlog is all about — a unique voice. but the task at hand here, when you hire a helicopter (or let the PR firm behind this pay for it) and go up in the air and let some guy spout on and on and insult our intelligence, sorry, you have opened a can of worms.
you can’t have it both ways — a vlog that honors an idiosyncratic voice and one that is trying to earn some stripes in the “hard” news department. i know, i know, you’re going to say — that is not my intention. but sorry, it is, conscious or not. just look at the pictures, the actions behind it, the meta messages. this is some kind of “reporting,” and all it traditionally goes with it.
America loves to romance innocence. The Beats, the Great Awakening, George Bush and Osma Bin Laden, strangely enough, have a lot more in common than they think.
RB, go back to the innocent kite making, race walking, twittering topics. The middle east is a can of worms (see above) and - with all due respect - a little out of your league.
Rocketboom’s beginning to look like another Faux News Channel to me. Who is that PR flack in your “tourist” videos? I’m not sure he’s been properly introduced. Looks like Uncle Jerry from Shtrong Island or Brooklyn. I’m waiting for Joanne to actually interview someone… as a “journalist” might do. Are you guys getting paid by some AIPAC front for these corporate pieces? Keep up the excellent guerilla PR work for Eretz Yisrael. I’ve been there, and also to the West Bank. To me, the differences between these videos and reality is like heaven and hell.
I was never a fan of Jimmy Carter as President. In fact he was one of our worst (up until now). He did, however, always convey a sense of honesty and humanity. He was also a pretty good authority on Arab/Israeli relations having put together the Camp David peace accords.
In his latest book he compares the Palestinian situation to South African Apartied. I’m just sayin’.
Aw Steve … the B-man is gonna be all over you for this one. It’ll be many paragraphs for sure. Good point though. However, I’m sure B-man knows a lot more about ALL of this than a former president.
oops. I’m not being a gentleman ;^)
Long live Rocketboom, if it survives.
Actually, I agree with Kombi. Let’s get back to the pillow fights and dancing robots and leave the fanaticism behind.
I don’t think that wall will be as moveable as the tour guide suggested. Israel is under loads of pressure to at least build it on the Green Line, but they refuse. You don’t spend $10 billion on a concrete permanent wall and wither intense political pressure, then announce you will move it.
Pigs will fly before they “move” the wall. It’s a land grab and has more downsides than positives, as the guide left out.
Come on, RB! I’m a longtime viewer, partly because you never got more political than a Dick Cheney joke. How else can I relax from the news?
I think Golda Meir said it best:
“Peace will come when the Palestinians love their children more than they love killing Jews.”
Thanks for the on-location field report!
This is getting out of hand. We have to provide a way for RB to come back in any way credible. Everyone shut up now and let them recover, I am sure they will make up for this big time.
Hello, please note that this montage/mashup is only an artistic-like rendering and has no meaning any deeper than: “hey, cool picture”. I am, however, torn among three finalist for it’s title: ‘No Comment’; ‘Will The Real Enemy Please Step Forward’; and ‘Hey Everyone, Blow It Out Your Ass”. Currently I’m leaning toward the latter.
Hurry and get your negative vote in now before this episode disappears into tomorrow-land oblivion.
Keeping on swallowing what the MSM feeds you about the Arab-Isreali conflict, especially from the BBC.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=467754&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
I think this is an interesting look at a slice of reality most of us don’t see. This is the kind of travel and “vacation” that appeals to me. Also, to those accusing Rocketboom of “pro-Israeli bias,” first please get over yourselves and watch what is actually being presented here, and second, you have no idea know what RB is planning. Perhaps they will visit the Palestinean territories next week.
100th!
Sorry, couldn’t resist. We need some levity in here!
Yay, more of these reports! Saves me the ten minutes per day that I usually spend on watching RB episodes.
A fitting site to sum up the last 3 days:
http://www.psych.sjsu.edu/~glennc/courses/psy110/songs.html
I recommend \”All The Madmen\” by David Bowie under Psychotic disorders
Just click on it.
***you\’ll need RealPlayer to listen to the song
Wow, the number of comments might just beat last year’s Gay Silence Day that Amanda ran, which everyone just adored as being so fabulous. (another can of worms) Of course nobody would dare say anything bad about that. But Israel? Open season baby. Can’t talk about that. Nope. Off limits. Not PC enough. Wrong side of the PC fence it must be. So, why doesn’t somebody just come out and say kill all the Jews and give the Palestinians the land. Then there will be peace in that area of the world. Simple. But then again, when the Nazi’s tried that, it didn’t go over too well. So, we’ll have to try something innovative. How about moving everyone in the country to Brighton Beach, NY. If we can absorb a gajillion illegal aliens, why not an entire country of Jews too? I wouldn’t mind them living next to me. They obviously know how to get things done. But then, who would be around to show the Palestinians how to do anything? Oh, well. Not going to solve tha problem here. Oh, and speaking of the totally thankless Amanda. Well, yes fluff is more than a name for a marshmallow topping made in Massachusetts. There is a big difference between sticking up for something with facts and intimidation for PC effect. Sorry, but its true. Shalom baby! Now maybe we can all go back to a nice casual friday of innocuous trendiness.
It\’s Friday already, Eastern Time, and there\’s no Thursday RB yet. I wonder what that means.
Love your palestinians and Islam, well here you go…soak it up!
How rabid would this group be if the tables were turned and someone were saying “How about that scumbag spy who came to a christian land and his father had that stupid Arabic accent.” etc. etc. Now I don’t believe most normal people would be spouting that crap. But it is OK that these guys do. Which means they are now your neighbors. Hmmmm. What is one supposed to think? Nonetheless a great representative of Islam here. Totally made himself into the stereotype that none of us are suppose to beleive exists because we need to be tolerant with this guys “faith.” Hmmmm. It all comes down to religion makes people nuts. And these guys are the nuttiest of all. If he can spout what looks like baloney to me, than I can spout what will look like baloney to him. After all he said it best when he said “its my American right to speak, freedom of speech, freedom of belief…” So there. And I thank Rocketboom for the privelege to stand up to these bastards.
No Thursday Rocketboom! Oh, my God. Withdrawal sympthoms are setting in. Maybe there were complications in Israel? Maybe JoCo did try to go to Gaza and got captured and the next videoblog we see will be with Farfur holding a gun to JoCo’s head in front of a classroom of children? Oh, my. Something sinister must be happening. Maybe their helicopter went someplace it shouldn’t have? Maybe it got hit by one of those water pipe missles? Maybe they are all wandering around in the desert hoping to get rescued. I don’t know if I can stand the suspense. What if the unthinkable happens? What if there is no Casual Friday? What if they have to have La La sub for JoCo? You’ll never find out how this mystery unravels unless you stay tuned in. I think they planned this. Don’t you
Getting an image of La La anchoring for RB allright, Heheh… will take something nasty to wipe the grin of my face today ;-)
About the other comments: tbh it keeps surprising me how much I am really fed up with the way Israel acts. I mean, it is a democracy, it is basically a Western country, I think almost everybody in the West knows somebody who lives or has family there… there are just so many ties between us and them.
But that may be precisely the problem too- when I look at Israel and the mess that they help perpetuating, I feel betrayed. Which makes me very, very angry.
This is getting ugly. We are making it almost impossible for RB to react. They just didn’t know what they got themselves into. To save RB, cut the crap now, all of us.
RB, please, please, give us a soothing casual Friday episode.
REQUEST DENIED!
go see for yourself!
I always enjoy RB for its awareness on stuff that sparks my interests. and this time around they did provide a view of something I care about because peace in the Middle East would be the greatest step for global peace. Thank you for sharing your experience with all of us. And the queen looked look like she farted lol.