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June 8, 2005
More Amnesty Gulagery
Here's an honest admission of why people use bad historical analogies:
SCHULZ: Chris, I don't think I'd be on this station, on this program today with you if Amnesty hadn't said what it said and President Bush and his colleagues haven't responded as they did. If I had come to you two weeks ago and said, "Chris, I'd like to go on FOX with you just to talk about U.S. detention policies at Guantanamo and elsewhere," I suspect you wouldn't have given me an invitation.WALLACE: So you're saying if you make irresponsible charges, that's good for the cause?
SCHULZ: I don't believe that they're irresponsible.
Howard Kurtz asks:Excuse me, but did Schulz say that it's okay to unleash words like "gulag," even if it's not an "exact or literal analogy," because it gets him booked on Fox News? Is that the new standard? Yes, Chris, I called the president a war criminal because it was the only way I could get on Hardball? Kurtz also notes that this has produced a minor miracle -- agreement between the Washington Post and Washington Times editorial pages!
This helps. Satire, of course, but it helps.
And even further . . . Amnesty tries to get a former prisoner of conscience to agree with their formulation. He not only refuses -- he writes a Washingont Post oped which concludes:
Words are important. When Amnesty spokesmen use the word "gulag" to describe U.S. human rights violations, they allow the Bush administration to dismiss justified criticism and undermine Amnesty's credibility. Amnesty International is too valuable to let it be hijacked by politically biased leaders.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 8, 2005 9:44 AM