(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Conflation for the hell of it: NYT suggests campus protests about Gaza are like Vietnam protests [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-24
I am a frequent critic of the New York Times, often taking to task its both-siderism approach to political coverage.
But a story in today’s online edition struck a more cynical and darker nerve.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/24/us/gaza-vietnam-student-protest.html
The headline and lede are as follows:
In Campus Protests Over Gaza, Echoes of Outcry Over Vietnam The war in Vietnam ignited a protest movement that helped define a generation. Is the war between Israel and Hamas doing the same thing?
First, I am old enough to remember the Vietnam war (my older brothers were of draft age; one of my best friend’s brother was killed in action there), and my reaction to this headline was, “Talk about conflating two completely different things! They are in no way similar. If anything, today’s campus protests are more analogous to the anti-Apartheid movement.”
And second, I am cynical enough to have then thought, “So what’s the NYT’s angle? My bullshit detector is telling me this story is somehow going to be presented as yet another opportunity to undermine Joe Biden.”
I read the entire story and, sure enough, its general tone and final three paragraphs confirmed my cynical suspicions:
“The last time an antiwar movement faced a generational divide, many young people sat out the 1968 presidential election between Mr. Nixon and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Mr. Nixon won the Electoral College by capturing four states by fewer than 88,000 total votes. Professor Kazin recently published an article in the liberal journal The New Republic wondering whether history could repeat itself there, too. “People like me were opposed to Humphrey, and were happy, in a sense, to see him lose,” he said. “Now, a lot of people are saying they’ll never go for Biden. And it’s not clear who they vote for, if they vote at all.”
Gee, I am glad Professor Kazin was “happy” to see Humphrey lose, because Nixon was such an excellent outcome (that we are still paying the price for 55 fucking years later). What a naïve fool; no admission — or warning of — a mistake, just smug Naderesque self-satisfaction. And then he trots out the old, “a lot of people are saying” canard. That sounds very…um…Trump-like.
The Times framed the story in a way that rationalizes a similar self-fulfilling outcome by suggesting something like, “Ooh. Let’s run a story implying this can be this generation’s Vietnam protest. They can read about it and wear it like a badge of honor (e.g., “We are just like the Vietnam war protesters, and can feel special about ourselves because that’ll show Joe Biden!”)
These types of front-page stories happen in the Times far too frequently and further confirm its drip, drip, drip anti-Biden agenda. But her emails redux.
As far as I’m concerned, at this stage of the game anti-Biden = pro-Trump.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/24/2213695/-Conflation-for-the-hell-of-it-NYT-suggests-campus-protests-about-Gaza-are-like-Vietnam-protests?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
