Page 155 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Free Speech Fatalities 145

Separating Sheehan from her anti-war supporters may very well marginalize
the very anti-war movement she is attempting to mobilize. Sheehan made this
point herself when refuting claims that she was being victimized or used by the
anti-war movement, explaining: "the media are wrong. The people who have
come out to Camp Casey to help coordinate the press and events with me are not
putting words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth."58 The im-
plication in the press that it is acceptable only for grieving parents like Sheehan
to protest the war, implying that it is acceptable for one mother to dissent, but
not for others to sympathize with and work with her is an effective way to dilute
a broad-based anti-war movement. Then again, this may very well be the goal of
many of those in the media who attack Sheehan and anti-war protest groups.
Christopher Hitchens is one of the many pro-war personalities in the media
who helped lead the effort against the anti-war movement. Hitchens assailed
Sheehan for "spouting sinister piffle." Labels such as "sinister" create distinc-
tions between proponents of war and "evil" opponents of the U.S. occupation.
Hitchens, while berating anti-war and progressive movements, has at times mis-
applied the negative labels on which he relies. Hitchens' attack against Cindy
Sheehan's "cheerleader" Michael Moore for Moore's "spouting [of] fascistic
nonsense"59 is a deliberate effort to redefine free speech as an affront to Arneri-
can dignity. Terms like fascism, used to characterize anti-war dissent, demonize
those who oppose war.
Fascism has traditionally been defined through governments that prioritize
the state and the party over the individual-through efforts to merge a repressive
and totalitarian state with the corporate capitalist system. It is difficult to un-
cover, even on the most tangential level, how activists like Michael Moore and
Cindy Sheehan fit in under the context of this definition. As they lack any status
as corporate or government leaders, and are exercising their First Amendment
rights to dissent against government, these activists have nothing in common
with fascists of modem history such as Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Such a
vital distinction is lost in reckless efforts to link anti-war activists with some of
the most repressive dictators and criminals in world history.

Railing the Rest

Cindy Sheehan is not the only personality subject to incendiary media rhetoric.
After stating that the Iraq war was illegal under international law, U.N. Secre-
tary General Kofi Annan became the subject of a firestorm of criticisms amongst
television anchors, pundits, and columnists. The Washington Post attacked his
statement as "inappropriate" and "counterproductive,"60 failing to note that An-
nan's criticism was factually accurate. While discussing the issue with Geraldo
Rivera on Fox News, Rita Cosby found it "stunning" that Annan would make
such a claim against the war!' On CW, Lou Dobbs spoke skeptically of the
Secretary General's "incredible outburst"-this "bizarre statement" questioning
the legal legitimacy of the c0nflict.6~ Dobbs' condemnation was driven, more
than anything else, by an unwavering commitment to American political leaders,