Monday, January 3, 2011

so close to genuine praise

Today we have a two-fer of stupidity that almost got me with my optimistic blinders on.



The first was an article that I really wanted to like about the first performance of the Palestinian National Orchestra. What caught my eye wasn't what they were calling themselves but rather where they elected to play for the first time. I was immediately curious as to why a group of musicians with obvious desire for a Palestinian nation would debut in the jewish state? The first sentence threw me right back to reality that this was a poorly written article that was more of a fluff piece than anything else.

It is the obvious skewing of facts that creeps into your brain. In the first sentence the author uses the adjectives "occupied", "annexed", and "Israeli". Even though that are all parts of the same state the adjectives make it seem that these places are different. Sure there is a different demographic in each place (and thankfully the author does mention that there are Israelis and Arab-Israelies in the audience) but unless something happened that missed every newsite on the planet then they all belong to the same state.

Even if you disagree with my previous points aren't you a little miffed about the size of the article and all the unanswered questions? like...
1) Where did they get the instruments?
2) Who taught them to play?
3) Where did they practice all this time?
4) Why did they have to premier there and not in Gaza or some other Fatah/Hamas owned place?
5) How did they feel about their Israeli audience?
6) How were they recieved?
7) Will they tour?
8) What is the Palestinian national anthem? was it this?

etc etc etc etc. So many questions, so many questions.
________________________________________________________

The second is another article that is ridiculously short and leaves way too many questions unanswered. It is incredibly odd that a simple thing as people running a marathon can spur people into wanting a boycott. I hope Adidas knows that they did nothing wrong in sponsoring this event and that bowing to these ridiculous demands won't get them anything. Yet again, way to many questions arise.....

1) Who are these two Meretz council members that are now calling for the boycott of Adidas?
2) Why are they changing the route?
3) What is the big deal that people now run through a different part of Jerusalem?
4) Why couldn't some agreement been reached to prevent it from going this far?
5) Was it about money? (isn't' always about money?)
6) What do the runners have to say about this?
7) Who are the type of people to run in the marathon in israel?
8) What was security like before this change? What about after?


I combined these two articles into one post because they both had incredibly interesting topics but fail to come close to anything that helps the reader make an unbiased decision on the matter. The worst part is that it would have been incredibly simply to expand on these topics since I doubt these articles made print and were online exclusives. Either way it is important to understand what you are reading and ask as many questions as possible.

p.s Happy new year to everyone. May this year's happiness and success far outweigh the sadness and frustrations of the past.

No comments:

Post a Comment