Jill Carroll released a statement through her employer, the Christian Science Monitor, that proves, as Jim Gerghaty says, the efficacy of editors:
During my last night in captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me they would let me go if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and wanted to go home alive. I agreed.(HT: Michelle Malkin)Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best. They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends—and all those around the world, who have prayed so fervently for my release—through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this.
I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn’t threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times.
Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: That I refused to travel and cooperate with the US military and that I refused to discuss my captivity with US officials. Again, neither is true.
I will not name names nor link to bloggers who thought the worst of Miss Carroll. They and their readers know who they are and I trust they will be suitably chastised. And if they have an ounce of integrity, they will write a public apology.
But after the sack cloth has been worn and the ashes spread, it might be a good idea to step back and see what the hell is going on here.
The speed and ferocity with which people piled on Miss Carroll for not immediately disavowing her propaganda statement as well as her first statements to the press which seemed to give her brutal captors a pass reminded me of the jaw-dropping way the left pounced on the Administration in the immediate – and by immediate I mean that lefty bloggers were screaming “incompetence” less than 24 hours after hurricane winds had died down in New Orleans – aftermath of Katrina. The point isn’t to bash the left here but to highlight a problem with blogs that seems to be presenting itself with alarming regularity.
In people’s haste to be first, or different, or just plain ornery and contrary (all the better to get links and readers) a culture of “shoot first and ask questions later” has arisen in the blogosphere that quite frankly, is proving every bad thing that the MSM has been saying about blogs from the beginning. Many of us – including myself – have been guilty in the past of hitting that “Publish” button when perhaps it would have been prudent and proper to take a beat or two to think about what we just wrote and the impact it might have beyond the small little world we inhabit in this corner of Blogland.
Scalp hunting has become the national pastime of blogs. Both lefty and righty lodgepoles have some pretty impressive trophies hanging on them; Dan Rather, Mary Mapes (twice), Eason Jordon, Trent Lott, Ben Domenech, to name a few more noteworthy ones.
But is this what we are? Is this what we are becoming? Are we nothing more than a pack of digital yellow journalists writing pixelated scab sheets vying to see who we can lay low next? If this be the way to fame and fortune in the blogosphere, I truly fear that, like television, the last great technological breakthrough that promised to change the world, we will degenerate into a mindless, bottomless pit of muck and mudslinging, dragging down the culture and trivializing even the most important issues.
This is no idle concern that can be dismissed as the nature of the beast or the way of the world. This kind of thing has to be stopped, an admitted impossibility with 29 million blogs out there. Maybe it’s enough that we are aware of it and that people of good faith and good intentions will, in the end, marginalize the muckrakers and come out on top.
Don’t count on it.
Meanwhile, less than 24 hours after being released from a captivity in which she endured unspeakable fear and hardship for 87 long days, Jill Carroll was forced to come out and issue a press release stating the obvious; someone had a gun to her head threatening to kill her if she didn’t say nice things about the brutes who held her captive. The reason she was forced to issue the statement was largely a result of questions raised by the 24 hour news nets about her captivity – questions that originated on blogs. And in the ever more symbiotic relationship between the great, gaping maw that is cable news and the content rich medium of blogs that feeds the beast, questions raised if left unanswered fester like an open wound until an answer is forthcoming.
Jill Carroll was twice a victim – once of jihadist terrorists who kidnapped her and once of a culture that sought to exploit her tragedy to satisfy personal ambition and ego.
Shame on us all for allowing this to happen.
UPDATE
Permit me a Derbian moment of gloom. Carroll issues a coerced statement before she’s released, and some corners of the blogosphere erupt with a torrent of scathing hatred, declaring that Carroll “may as well just come right out and say she was a willing participantâ€, that she’s a “spoiled brat America-hater†and “she was anti-America when she went over there and I say the kidnapping was a put up deal from the get go.â€
Over in the Corner, JPod states that there will be talk about Stockholm Syndrome, and others demand an apology (presumptuously speaking for Carroll), they wish for his kidnapping, he’s labeled a “Reichwingnutâ€, etc.
This is what we’ve got a blogosphere for? For these kind of (pardon my French) pissing contests? The citizenry around the globe has the greatest mass communications tool in the history of the world, and this is what it’s led to?
My question is what will the blogosphere look like 5 years from now? If things continue the way they are, we’ll be just another cog in the great mass communications bordeom killing machine, titillating and entertaining our readers with our own snarky takes on the dirt dished by the MSM while our blogs are festooned with ads for everything from cold cream to the latest super-absorbent manifestation of Depends.
So much for citizen-journalists…
UPDATE II
Ed Morrissey links here and makes a point that everyone – including me – seems to forget:
Finally, for those who blamed her for being in Iraq in the first place, let me remind you that we have continually harped on the media for being balcony reporters—for not getting outside of the Green Zone and trying to get the true stories of Iraq. Well, that’s what Jill Carroll tried to do, and she got unlucky enough to get kidnapped for her efforts. We need reporters to take those kind of chances, and we should have been more supportive of her all along. Now that she’s home, let’s hope we remember that with the next reporter unfortunate enough to find themselves the victim of violence and not victimize them a second time when they cooperate enough to be set free.
If you haven’t read this gut wrenching column by David Ignatius on how hard it is to cover the situation in Iraq, please do so. It reinforces what Ed was saying.
And Don Surber has chastised me in the comments for not linking to the bloggers who jumped on Jill Carroll so soon after her release.
As I explained to Mr. Surber in an email, I did not link because I did not want to start the petty back-and-forth between bloggers who criticize one another known as a “Blog War.” They’re silly. They’re a waste of time. And I had no intention of getting embroiled in one.
10:11 pm
The port-deal.
Harriet Miers.
Katrina.
Ms. Carroll.
Maybe there should be a 24-hour waitng period when a person posts!Perhaps a background check before web-space disburtions. Where’s Sarah and Jim Brady when we need them!
10:18 pm
I very much agree: Like TV, the blogosphere is a technological development that holds the potential for revolutionizing the means by which we see the world. And like TV, 97% of its content may prove to be insipid trash if self-policing is not taken seriously. I personally find myself spending much more time reviewing blogs than the MSM but, as is illustrated above, if I come to the conclusion that bloggers are so self-absorbed by their own wit, rancor, or ideological venom that they lose all devotion to reason and prudent judgment, then I will simply stop reading blogs. It’s the same reason I find MSM a waste of time: if I cannot trust the people who put forth the content, then I have no use for the content.
I don’t mean to sound like Bill O’Reilly, but somebody should keep track of the sniping that occurs and make sure that irresponsible bloggers are known to be what they are and are not allowed to cloak themselves in respectibility.
10:39 pm
Brilliantly written, and sadly, all too true.
10:40 pm
Excellent take.
10:41 pm
“I will not name names nor link to bloggers who thought the worst of Miss Carroll. They and their readers know who they are and I trust they will be suitably chastised. And if they have an ounce of integrity, they will write a public apology.”
Why not?
Look, if you can criticize Harry Reid, etc., then be Big Enough to call Debbie Schlussel and Jonah Goldberg on the carpet (if they are whom you mean).
Would you pull punches on NYT or WaPo?
Just making trouble on Saturday night
10:47 pm
Apologies Are In Order…
Though I doubt they will be forthcoming. Debbie Schlussel in particular, but many others, unfortunately mostly, if not exclusively, from the right, were ready to assume the worst about Jill Carroll and spewed all sorts of venom on the day the unfortu…
10:53 pm
For Debbie Schlussel
Can we all agree that Debbie Schlussel is a nutcase who makes Ann Coulter seem like a reasonable man? ...
10:57 pm
Jumping To Conclusions Is Not Good Exercise
Jill Carroll has released a statement through the Christian Science Monitor, now that she has safely left Iraq and the clutches of her captors, that repudiates the video that the kidnappers forced her to make: During my last night in…
10:59 pm
The voice of reason.
This post gives me hope for the blogosphere.
Thanks.
10:59 pm
[...] Then RickTheWise over at RightWingNuthouse put a very elegant spin on all of this. Iwould urge you to go read it right away. [...]
11:42 pm
Good grief, Rick..If you’re going to argue for fairness and reason…(Good work, as usual.) I think it fair to have some reservations for we have seen some useful idiots in these situations, but yes, it is better to wait until the prisoner is free before attacking.These are situations in which the speaker is in apparent durress and under stress , and we should withhold judement until we know more.
Warmest regards, C
12:16 am
Look Before You Leap
Jill Carroll’s release is news. It’s not often that a female journalist captured in Iraq and threatened with death again and again emerges after three months with her head still attached to her body. I’ll sheepishly admit to harboring private
12:18 am
Why is everyone condemning the bloggers who said ‘something’s not right’ instead of the MSM outlets who announced her propaganda piece as coming ‘after her release’?
Sounds like those who said ‘something’s not right’....were right.
And save a little condemnation for the loony lefters who said her abductors were more civilized than American soldiers.
12:25 am
Not everyone overreacted. I explained in some detail why it was not wise to take Jill Carroll’s initial pro-terrorist statements at face value and cautioned patience. Here’s the link to my earlier post.
Give Jill Carroll a Little Time Before Condemning Her Latest Statements
I was not alone in cautioning patience. Much of the blogosphere did get it right. You just have to know where to look.
12:25 am
[...] Right Wing Nut House » TWICE A VICTIM Filed under: Politics and Media Comments: [...]
1:01 am
The mysterious Carroll release
Bloggers should read this post from Rick Moran, even though it hurts.
1:59 am
[...] UPDATE: Rick Moran at Right Wing Nuthouse makes the case for the efficacy of editors and notes the occasional breakdown in sanity we see in the blogosphere. Emotionalism is plain bad fuel for the gatekeepers and their watchers, too. [...]
3:30 am
What Jill Carroll did is no different than what Jane Fonda did when she sat on the gun barrel in Vietnam. They both showed absolutely no integrety or love of country. The patriotic thing for Carroll to have done is to take a bullet and have that video shown around the world.
3:51 am
WWright wrote:
“What Jill Carroll did is no different than what Jane Fonda did when she sat on the gun barrel in Vietnam.”
That is rubbish, and I’m being very kind wiht that term.
Fonda willingly went to NV to propagandize and willingly participated in anti-American acts and statements; in other words, treason in the prevailing circumstances.
Thirty years later, she has yet to have, or even claim to have a genuine chang of heart of mind regarding her actions, and so far as I can tell, has NEVER issued any condemnation of North Vietnameses behavior.
I have had some discomfort with the Carroll situation from the beginning. I did have a suspicion that this was another Sgrena. It now appears that is not the case. My unease lingers, but it is possible the rat I keep thinking I smell is the fact that there was an inside job here, though perhaps not by Carroll.
6:27 am
[...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. [...]
8:05 am
Jill Carroll is home! I don’t blame her for saying whatever she had to in order to get out.
8:11 am
I’m still wondering which Jill Carroll will show up some time down the road. She was in Iraq to expose our troops’ bad behavior. She experienced the bad behavior of the other side instead. Maybe she got a wake up call. But until she comes out in favor of the foreign policy that led to the war in the first place, I cannot say she didn’t mean some of the stuff in those videos…deep down inside her soul.
8:35 am
I agree with Craig C. I never believed that she meant all of the positive comments about her captors. Still, she WAS sympathetic to the other side from what I’ve read. Here’s to the hope she has indeed woken up.
9:23 am
Carroll’s reporting ….college days …...wrote for the student
paper at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
After college, Carroll worked as a reporting assistant for The Wall
Street Journal until August 2002. 24 years old. She then moved to Jordan and
reported for the Jordan Times for one year 25 years old before pursuing a freelance (?)[CIA]
career.
Carroll worked at The Jordan Times for one year after working at WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ann Arbor, Michigan—- Huron High School (Jill Carroll is a 1995 Graduate)
Jordan Times 2002-2003-2004?
WHY WAS SHE WORKING AT JORDAn TIMES?
Here are a few thoughts from those that knew her personally.
This from Baghdad Treasure:
‘’She was in love, but not with a man. She was in love with Iraq and
its people. She always felt that she belongs to this country. It was
obvious in her eyes. once, I had hamburger for lunch. “What is this?”
she said sarcastically. “You leave all this delicious Iraqi food and
eat a Hamburger?” she used to come to the office when she has time and
we spend great time altogether. I wonder what she is doing now. It’s
cold. Is she covered well? She was kidnapped wearing her light black
abaya. She used to call it a “bullet-proof abaya” but it seems she was
mistaken. I am afraid that she might die out of the shock seeing her
translator, the friend, killed in front of her.’’
On the blog 24 Steps to Liberty a fellow reporter in Baghdad relates:
‘’She loved this country and its people. She sympathized with its
sufferings and committed to tell the truth. When I talked to her about
how the Iraqis live, she always cried. She cried for the sufferings of
Iraq more than Iraqis. She has the nicest heart in this world. When I
blamed Iraqis for what is happening in the country, she said “don’t
blames the Iraqis. You should blame the governments for what they do.”
I remember once we were chatting and I asked her, “so where is home
for you?” And without hesitation or a moment to think, she said “This
is home. Iraq. Why? What’s wrong with that?” and as the chat goes on,
at some point she smiled and said “I know my fate is in Iraq.”
There is a much bigger story here, of who exactly is was will be JILL CARROLL and why was she so in love, xtreme love, with ARABIC culture and IRAQ? Was it a kind of misplaced romanticism or sexuality gone political cultural?
9:25 am
I went to the vile Ignatius story at WaPo and here is what I took away, in the first paragraph of his writings:
“...not “good news,” as some supporters of the administration often seem to want…”
What a complete bullshit statement.
He knows full well that the criticism of the MSM reportage on Iraq is not demanding of exclusive good news, but demanding of balance.
Why would you link to the writings of a liberal sycophant like Ignatius. You should know better.
10:02 am
[...] There have been some on the right who have gone a little overboard with their criticism of Jill Carroll, accusing her of everything from collaborating with the terrorists to Stockholm Syndrome. Right Wing Nuthouse provides a wakeup call for all bloggers who take to the blogosphere with news before it is proven in an attempt to be first. He also calls for those who attacked Carroll to apologize. The speed and ferocity with which people piled on Miss Carroll for not immediately disavowing her propaganda statement as well as her first statements to the press which seemed to give her brutal captors a pass reminded me of the jaw-dropping way the left pounced on the Administration in the immediate – and by immediate I mean that lefty bloggers were screaming “incompetence†less than 24 hours after hurricane winds had died down in New Orleans – aftermath of Katrina. The point isn’t to bash the left here but to highlight a problem with blogs that seems to be presenting itself with alarming regularity. [...]
10:05 am
Good points in this post but I think you’re glossing over a key event you reference briefly: Her interview with the Iraqi Islamic Party after her release, in which she continued to speak positively about her terrorist kidnappers.
Many bloggers, but but by no means only bloggers, were startled by the statements she made in what they took to be her first opportunity to freely speak her mind. The mainstream media reports about that interview pushed in the same direction. Here’s one from the Washington Post by Miriam Fam:
BAGHDAD, Iraq—American reporter Jill Carroll’s three-month hostage ordeal ended Thursday when she was left on a Baghdad street in front of a Sunni political party office. She appeared composed and eager to talk about her 82 days held captive in a tiny room.
“It’s important people know that I was not harmed,” she said.
Wearing a green Islamic head scarf and a gray Iraqi robe, Carroll was dropped off at midday near an office of the Iraqi Islamic Party. She walked inside and was then driven 20 minutes to party headquarters, where she called her family and gave an interview to Baghdad Television before being handed over to U.S. authorities.
The 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor said her kidnappers confined her to a small, soundproof room with frosted windows but treated her well. Although her captors issued televised threats to kill Carroll if American forces did not release women prisoners, she said: “They never said they would hit me, never threatened me in any way.”...
In the interview, Carroll seemed well and animated and spoke in a strong voice. She frequently tucked her hair under her headscarf, and appeared excited to be free nearly three months after she was ambushed and her translator killed….
Dr. David Wellish, a psychologist at the UCLA School of Medicine, said he had the impression Carroll was suffering from a psychological trauma known as “Stockholm syndrome,” a survival mechanism in which a hostage begins to empathize with his or her captors.
“Jill Carroll clearly went down the Stockholm syndrome spectrum part of the way,” he said, adding he thought it would take her “a few weeks to get over it and regain perspective.”
It was unclear, however, whether Carroll would have given a different assessment in the interview Thursday were she not still in Iraqi hands _ albeit the offices of a Sunni political party.
Now let’s face it, the general attitude of American reporters toward the war is not one that argues against believing what she said was heartfelt. But even more than that, I think you should pay more attention to how this interview was framed. She “appeared composed and eager to talk.” She gave an interview to “Baghdad Television.” She “seemed well and animated and spoke in a strong voice.” She “appeared excited to be free.” And when we get an expert in the story to talk about Stockholm syndrome, the reporter adds “It was unclear, however, whether Carroll would have given a different assessment in the interview Thursday were she not still in Iraqi hands.”
Now I’m not saying that every one of these points were made in every MSM story—but I think if you go back and read other accounts, you’ll find the same plot.
So I’d be much harder on people who attacked her statements while still in terrorist captivity than those made when it appeared she was completely free. I’d be much more critical, for example, of the party officials who exploited a kidnap victim in this way.
And I don’t get most of indignation about Podhoretz, who said the following:
It’s wonderful that she’s free, but after watching someone who was a hostage for three months say on television she was well-treated because she wasn’t beaten or killed—while being dressed in the garb of a modest Muslim woman rather than the non-Muslim woman she actually is—I expect there will be some Stockholm Syndrome talk in the coming days.
Again, this was made after the IIP interview. Seems like a reasonable statement which turned out to be true.
10:11 am
Apologies for muddying the waters: The story in the Post I cite above is by Mariam Fam (got the name wrong) of the Associated Press. Judging from the time stamp, that exact version didn’t appear in the newspaper itself, but was shot over the wires and available at washingtonpost.com.
10:45 am
Jill Carroll Hostage Case: A Black Eye To Blogging
Jill Carroll was twice a victim – once of jihadist terrorists who kidnapped her and once of a culture that sought to exploit her tragedy to satisfy personal ambition and ego. Shame on us all for allowing this to happen.
11:16 am
Hall of Shame
Debbie Schlussel posted “Jill Carroll is the tool and partner of extremists and terrorists”
Jonah Goldberg posted “But Jill Carroll is increasingly starting to bug me” and “I’m very glad she’s alive, but I’m getting a very bad vibe.”
Lets call to account the others who rushed to judgement.
11:27 am
The Repudiation
Throughout my coverage, I’ve not only noted the wide range of reactions – from Left and Right, but also that drawing conclusions as to Jill’s intentions requires information that only time and distance can provide (of course, I’m saying this far mor…
11:32 am
Astute observations and well said. Always a pleasure to find common sense and reasoned thinking on the “other side of the fence.”
11:44 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but did she not make two propaganda tapes? One before she was released and a second one after her release? I think the second one made after her release is the one being shown on television here. There were no men standing around with guns pointed at her. The information regarding her kidnaping and hostage is slow in coming, confusing, and contradictory. She says she wants to be judged as a journalist and not a hostage then she should act like one. Or, should we never take her word at anything now?
11:50 am
Ach! I didn’t see Chris’s comments.
12:20 pm
That’s okay smithy. I didn’t see that the story I cited was by an AP reporter, I didn’t see the correct spelling of the reporter’s first name, and I didn’t see how to correctly end italics. So you’re doing better than I am.
12:32 pm
Something for all bloggers to think about
Over at Rightwing Nuthouse, Rick Moran has posted a commentary about the blogosphere that I think every blogger and blog reader should read. Here is an excerpt from that commentary: In people’s haste to be first, or different, or just…
12:41 pm
[...] Update II: Right Wing Nuthouse says it better.  (HT: The Moderate Voice, who also has an excellent post.) [...]
12:47 pm
Well Chris, I find the current, “How dare anyone question jill carroll” meme utter b.s.
1:42 pm
Rightwing Nuthouse takes on most of the right wing bloggers
I’m not sure Rick Moran is getting at.
The quick version of the story:
Jill Carrol is that Christan Science Monitor writer who was taken hostage about 3 months ago. As you all know by now, she was released recently. Apparently she had made a vid…
2:31 pm
Shame on you, Rick! I never cited the video. I cited irrefutable facts about Jill Carroll, her Code Pinko friend Marla Ruzicka, her choice of anti-Semitic, anti-American employer the Jordan Times (and the Times statements of her views), and her Islamist buddies in the U.S. who worked for her release but no other American hostages’ release. These facts are stubborn things. Time to face them. Next time read more closely before you claim I said things I did not. You owe me an apology.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/04/premature_artic.html
Debbie Schlussel
3:12 pm
If the ravenous, imprudent blogging forced her to issue a statement making it clear that she was coerced, why is that a bad result? In other words, would she have ever given the real truth? Or would we have been left with her kind words for her kidnappers? Her first statements did a disservice to us in this war; however understandable they might have been psychologically, she is really only to be pitied if, in the end, she voluntarily clarified her statements. Which, indeed, she might have done, even absent the blogospheric pressure. Or would she have?
3:20 pm
Debbie Schlussel is not only demanding that an apology be made to her, Debbie, which is fascinating; she also erased the comments I left at her blog advising her to read this post and apologize to Carrol. Interesting choices, both of them.
3:47 pm
lgf: The Mujahideen Interview Jill Carroll
Visit: lgf: The Mujahideen Interview Jill Carroll. First, I am thrilled Jill is alive. Second, I don’t judge her for a minute over why she said what she said in the interview. She indicates that she believes her captors are more clever than the CIA. T…
4:36 pm
Debbie is now editing out “malicious” comments, and I’m pretty sure mine won’t make it onto her blog, so here it is. Submitted to this thread:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/04/premature_artic.html
I just want to know: who else should be included in the apology owed to Debbie Schlussel? Any other names in that category? I have a feeling your campaign for an apology will get a lot of publicity, so it would be good to have a full list. Thanks.
Also, if you could, why did you erase my comments at your earlier thread? They were polite and reasoned. I didn’t launch any personal attacks. I just advised you to apologize to Jill Carroll and her family, and retract statements like this:
“Is Jill Carroll endorsing the Iraqi Islamic Party? Sure looks like it (see below). So nice that she likes them more than her loyal translator, who was murdered by her “kind and generous” kidnappers….”
where you jumped the gun and didn’t realize her statement was coerced. Many thanks.
5:14 pm
re: Twice A Victim
I’m a liberal, patriotic American, and i thank you for your sensible post.
Coop
5:29 pm
Debbie is now editing out “malicious†comments
That’s nothing new—that’s SOP at that joke of a site. Anyone who disagrees with her either gets deleted OR is told they have a reading comprehension problem. Really farking intelligent debate skills, huh? So persuasive! hahahaha
Rick, I don’t do blog wars either, but Debbie Schlussel is THE exception. She’s an embarrassment, and doesn’t deserve categorization as being on the Right any more than Fred Phelps does. If I had written one way or the other about the rhetoric after Carroll’s release, I’d have definitely named her.
5:37 pm
Beth:
I know where you’re coming from.
She left that nasty comment above asking me to apologize. I emailed her asking why since there’s no mention of her name or site. Her reply:
Um…let’s see, your post is about two posts by
Geraghty (and others) ripping on me. So you don’t
name names, and yet most you linked to or who
trackbacked to that entry ripped on ME specifically
and by name. Just a tad intellectually dishonest.
Ditto on the trackback on this.
That’s right – she wants me to apologize for what someone else wrote about her.
Jay (if you’re lurking):
Thanks for the kind words. I read your comments on Schussel’s blog before they were erased. Not only were they mild, you were much more gentle in your chiding than I would have been.
6:13 pm
Judge Not lest ye be judged…
Remember this? Well you would think now that the truth is out about what happened to Jill Carroll, someone owes her an appology… Ya Think? NAW! See that would be the classy thing to do… The right thing. But some…
6:39 pm
I think we conservatives are very sensitive after the lousy, ungrateful attitude of the Peacekeepers after their recent freeing. In contrast, Carroll sounds very classy and very American in her post-release statement.
6:46 pm
Twice a victim? Is your title meant to evoke sympathy? Nothing like a good dose of guilt the popular victimology way, eh?
I’m going to withhold judgment on Jill – she isn’t adding up. And I’m patient enough to give her a free pass until she recovers from her detainment. We’ll see what she says and does in the future.
Jill’s press release was in response to people asking legitimate questions about her incredibly controversial statements. (Would she have bothered to issue the correction if there was no public pressure to do so? That’s a decent question.) The reason people BELIEVED Jill’s two separate videos is because those statements were consistent with some of her known personal viewpoints. It wasn’t a stretch to believe her when she actually chuckled and said Bush was a liar and wanted this war. Not so unbelievable at all, considering who it was coming from.
Was everyone supposed to stand up and automatically scream, “She’s lying under duress!!”? Why so when she was only reiterating what Code Pink types, Kos, DU, and our favorite Sheehag say every day?! You can imagine that THEY are not happy at her reneging on her earlier statements.
The blogosphere asked questions, and Jill’s handlers knew she had to answer somehow. We’ll see if her future words and actions match her press statement. There’s money and notoriety to be made among the Michael Moore sycophants of the world – let’s wait and see what she does when she’s among personalities that so desperately want her propaganda tapes to be TRUE.
Lastly,remember she said in her statement that she didn’t think her post-release interview would be seen or aired. So then it seems to me she felt she was talking in relative privacy. So why would she carry on the “charade” of praising her captors, even going so far as to describe in detail her little jaunts to the bathroom to shower – if no one was ever going to see it? That’s why her claim that she “feared retribution” is a little THIN. If no one was going to see it, what was there to fear?
The questions are fair. I don’t feel guilty about asking them. She’s said some incredibly offensive and incediary things. The FACT that they match some of her previously known beliefs is what makes them so believable. Yet, I’m willing to allow that she was under incredible duress.
We’ll see, we’ll see…time will tell…and so will the movie they’ll surely make about it all. I can so hardly wait.
7:11 pm
Pray For Debbie Schlussel
Right Wing Nut House: Twice a Victim
Middle Earth Journal: The dreadful Debbie Schlussel
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: Hey, You’re On My Turf, Vinnie!
(Updated… Four Times Now)
7:33 pm
There is a much bigger story here, of who exactly is was will be JILL CARROLL and why was she so in love, xtreme love, with ARABIC culture and IRAQ? Was it a kind of misplaced romanticism or sexuality gone political cultural?
I suppose the same could be asked of George Bush. After all, we’ve narrowed down our reasons for being in Iraq by dismissing the phony WMD claims, the link to al qaeda and any of a number of different untruths from the administration…what we’re left with is Dubya’s sincere, oh so sincere, desire to bring peace and love to the Iraqi people. He’s even looking forward to having streets named after him. Are you suggesting we should doubt his sincerity? Are we really not there to spread freedom amongst an Arabic culture?
Because if none of the things above are true, perhaps someone can truly explain to me why we are there.
And while you’re at it—-in between taking up the Laura Ingraham cause of complaining about journalists unable to leave their balconies to do their reporting—-please indicate exactly what the parameters of reporters in Iraq should be. Because if they’re not supposed to be on the balcony and they’re not supposed to try to blend in to get alternative news coverage, I’ll be damned if I know what the endless complaint about the media in Iraq is.
7:44 pm
I’ll be damned if I know what the endless complaint about the media in Iraq is.
Here let me explain it to you: If you are going to spend all your time trying to dig up dirt to make the US military look bad, don’t get yourself abducted. That way our military doesn’t have to waste time and endanger their lives trying to save your sorry moonbat ass.
As to your bizarre homo-erotic attraction to George Bush, can’t help you there. lol!
7:52 pm
Who the heck is Debbie Schlussel? And to whoever asked if one should assume that a person who has been held hostage for three months might be making a statement under coercion even though they couldn’t see the guns, the answer is—yes. Until said former prisoner is on US soil, one could assume they might fear to speak freely, as one might for any prisoner of war.
8:04 pm
Here let me explain it to you: If you are going to spend all your time trying to dig up dirt to make the US military look bad, don’t get yourself abducted. That way our military doesn’t have to waste time and endanger their lives trying to save your sorry moonbat ass.
Wow Smithy! Thanks for the explanation! However, it appears that the US Military (while certainly not un-involved) were not the only ones anxious to help Jill. In fact, I’m not sure how to determine exactly how many man hours and how high the personal risks were for the military in regards to rescuing Jill. Do you? Please share.
Also, I am glad to have run across you on this site as you appear to be an expert on the kind of stories that Jill Carroll was regularly filing from Iraq. Of course, all I could find was the content in the archives at The Christian Science Monitor and, even though they are available for review, I didn’t want to pay to do so. But since you can readily quote all those instances where she slandered the US Military or denounced the president in print, I guess I can save some money after all.
Again, please share what you’ve found. I know it’s really easily to just flap your gums and spout out drivel that someone else posted before you, but I really do appreciate fresh and original thinking.
Thank you, Smithy!
8:33 pm
How To Alienate Yourself From The Blogosphere
Now why would someone erase comments if you disagree with them? What the heck is everyone in the entire blogosphere talking about? Threating? Hey, its not like its the first time. ….or the second time even. ….or even the third. Who need…
8:48 pm
The latest Debbie Schlussel Controversey
The only words I have are….BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Loser. I didn’t bother to click on her fan club–I didn’t want to see her picture again.
The latest Debbie Schlussel Controversey
Some of the blogosphere’s reaction
Pray for D…
9:17 pm
[...] Right Wing Nuthouse [...]
9:45 pm
Jill Carroll Hostage Case: A Black Eye To Blogging
Rick Moran and Joe Gandleman take some bloggers to task over their handling of the Jill Carroll case.
11:03 pm
Jill Carroll – a liberal who’s been mugged. Be nice, dammit!
Christian Science Monitor correspondent Jill Carroll has been released by her Jihadi captors. Good!
Before she was released, she was forced to make video-statements which (surprise surprise) were critical of the West and favorable to the Jihadis.
Today I
11:22 pm
For someone who was “coerced,” Jill Carroll certainly went above and beyond the call of duty in her taped statements. She even giggled at times. I’ve seen people give coerced statements, Michael Durant for one. It’s not necessary to prattle on for paragraphs, giving the enemy more than they could have hoped for.
Given her apparent enthusiasm for, and voluminous, propaganda, the best I can say about Carroll’s denial is inadequate.
After so many fake kidnappings, from the Japanese to Sgrena and Osthoff, it’s not exactly surprsing the blogosphere reacts negatively to seeing yet another westerner doing the the bidding of the mujahideen.
1:12 am
Last Week’s News, In Platitudes
Re the Jill Carroll release:
First reports tend to be always wrong and always believed.
Hitting the “publish” button before thinking hard can cause troubles. It is useful to understand what’s going on before hitting that button. ...
1:12 am
[...] I think it may be useful to dig through the sludge of the links above, with all the namecalling and nastiness, as a cautionary tale. I think I will take away these thoughts to consider if I’ve my wits about me: [...]
2:15 am
If she was a true American, a true patriot she would have only one thing to say on those tapes – “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
4:06 am
Are some people stupid, willfully naive or just plain assholes?
a- Couldn’t you see how scared she was in that videotape?
b-That widely circulated photo of Jill Carroll in the abaya was a carefully orchestrated appeal to her captors, to Iraqis, to influential clerics, politicians, sheiks, etc in an effort to win her freedom.
In an effort to save her life.
(Barzan Daharagai (sp?) in recent LATimes shows the original uncropped photo and explains the campaign. Highly recommend the read)
c-I’d also recommend that people read Carroll’s journalistic work, particularly the CSM stories that came out of her month-long embed which ended a week before she was kinapped. You can start with the letters of support she received from military commanders.
4:07 am
Give the Blogosphere SOME credit. After all, even though they jumped to conclusions, they are now furiously self-flagellating over it. Something the MSM would NEVER do. (Rather still believes the documents are real).
The Blogosphere is self-correcting.
4:45 am
Hey Tilli – If your not prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice stay out of harms way. All I got out of watching the tapes is what a coward this girl really is.
7:01 am
i think what i would love to see happen… in the vein of “free market” and all that… is that those that shoot their mouths (keyboards?) off in such disasterously hideous fashions should simply lose credibility with their audiences.
they should simply no longer be taken seriously.
sadly, i don’t think this will happen… given the american public’s penchant for the bastardized opinion-forming method of finding evidence for their conclusions, and not the other way around.
that being said, those that proclaim she should have essentially committed suicide by refusing to make the tapes… are simply fools. sad, sad, pathetic fools.
8:51 am
Bloggers owe Jill Carroll an apology
It will be interesting to see if those same bloggers are as quick to offer Ms. Carroll an apology. Don’t bet on it – because they would then have to admit that they jumped the gun and reported on a story without first getting all the facts. But you w…
9:32 am
Rick, I have read a number of your posts in comments on another blog and while I didn’t always agree with them, they were still well written and articulate. I can’t agree with you more on this subject. The shoot-first-ask-questions-later attitude in blogs is starting to sicken me. The issue of Jill Carroll is just one of many where war was declared simply because somebody thought they saw someone blink. I don’t post hastily on blogs anymore mostly because I have eaten my words after learning more of the truth behind a subject and not questioning what I was reading. Which is my own fault of course.
The tragedy is that even after a blog has made a stand or leveled an accusation that ends up wrong or badly distorted, the resulting admission never comes afterwards or certainly not made with the same clarity with which it was initially reported. “Mistakes were made” is usually what is heard without any outright
Anyway, thanks for letting me post. I am at work and don’t have time draft anything more astute.
9:35 am
Damn – the last part of the sentence was lost at the end of the second paragraph.
should end with “....without any outright admissions of error.”
Sorry about that.
10:03 am
Thank you for writing this. It is a great testament to the organic nature of this medium, that there are efforts to heal wounds that still ooze and ache. I think the ease at which ideas can find a comfortable space online can make introspection equally hard.
I’m sure you will see at least three types of reactions to your intramural critique from my side:
1. a dismissal that you are not a good representative and it won’t change closed minds anyways.
2. the right is at war with itself – a meltdown.
3. you have seen the light, even if a little late and grudgingly.
But, you wingnuts are just as bad, and you know it!
Everyone needs to examine the partisan filter through which we see the world. If you briefly test your assumptions with common sense and awareness of an inherent bias, then crazy shit like Thursday wouldn’t have happened. How did Jill Carroll’s release become a partisan issue – clear assumptions were made before she ever spoke.
There are obviously many reasons why someone in her condition would make the comments she did. But one, and only one was seized up that morning – allegiance. My biased opinion? Jill Carroll was already marked a traitor by the righties before her release. But if I think about it, I can understand how some bloggers would have been swept up in the moment.
When I heard on the news that Carroll had been released, I admit I immediately thought politics – it was good news and the people on Kos were simply happy for her. That’s why I went to look at Freerepublic. I expected comments suggesting the left would be bothered by the “good news.” – when I saw what was being said (45 minutes before any public statement) I was shocked and shocked that I could be shocked by Freerepublic comments. It really was the darkest, most craven thread I have ever seen.
I know most republicans didn’t feel that way, but actually stating so is a class act.
11:49 am
Jilly DOES not work for the CSM. She is only part time with those morons. Her full time work is with some anti west pro islam news service in Jordan.
I’d have rather died that done PR work for the diaperheads killing out troops but that’s just me. I’m American and remember islam’s leason on 9-11.
12:43 pm
You should post the sites that attacked Carroll.
You can start with mine.
I still think she’s a seditious, America hating, rat and I could care less that she’s free.
1:03 pm
Hit ho’s ruining Blogtopia
Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse is the exception and he’s right on with this post. The scalp hunters are turning Blogtopia into a cesspool.
1:25 pm
Suspicion (FURTHER UPDATED)
UPDATE IX: The London Telegraph attacks the right wing Blogosphere in a major way….Embittered’, the ever hateful and bitter Mahablog, who cannot string two words together without spitting out venom, who calls me “ever-brainless” and a “dimwitt”
6:15 pm
[...] Very well said, and I thank you. [...]
10:09 pm
[...] There is also another video that she made her last night in captivity, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly praising the US. As far as I know, this video has only appeared online. The blog world had a field day with these videos. This Right-Wing Nutcase sums up the whole situation quite nicely. [...]
11:00 pm
[...] There is also another video that she made her last night in captivity, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly praising the US. As far as I know, this video has only appeared online. The blog world had a field day with these videos. If you want to know some details, this Right-Wing Nutcase sums up the whole situation quite nicely. [...]
2:48 am
There is video evidence of her giving aid and comfort to the enemy. It’s and slam dunk case and she should have been arrested when she left the plane in the US.
5:22 am
Jill Carroll vs. the Blogoshpere
While the mainstream media rushed to judgment and proclaimed the release of Carroll by Iraqi kidnappers to be a positive thing, many in the blogosphere urged caution.
7:42 am
Cynthia, Saddam, and Jill… oh my!
Yes, I’ve been out since Friday. Good thing, too, with the lunacy in the news.
Cynthia McKinney is claiming she was racially profiled by Capitol Police. If a person of another race had dodged the metal detectors with improper ID and not resp…
5:08 pm
On Jill Carol, Jill Carol apologists, and people unwilling to take a stand.
Good thing I chewed on this for a while. I had a lot to say about Rick Moran’s apologist shit over at Right Wing Nuthouse.
Anyway, I was a bit miffed by the RWN take on it, so when I saw this biton Ace Of Spades, which basically indicates that she …
8:50 am
Bloggers, corrections, credibility
Facts unchecked, swift judgments based on rumours and misinformation. Smear campaigns. Blogs can supply all these things, and they will. Maybe it’s time to talk more about that. The occasion is Jill Carroll’s release and subsequent soul-searching amo…
1:22 pm
[...] Facts unchecked, swift judgments based on rumours and misinformation. Smear campaigns. Blogs can supply all these things, and they will. Maybe it’s time to talk more about that. The occasion is Jill Carroll’s release and subsequent soul-searching among some bloggers – or lack thereof. [...]
7:10 pm
[...] Upon reading this post by Right Wing Nuthouse, I have realized two things. [...]
9:52 am
[...] My interest in Jill’s story also led me to this interesting post on the blog “Right Wing Nut House” … which discusses the role that bloggers played in accusing Jill of being an Iraqi sympathizer following her arrest … [...]
10:07 am
mediterranean catamaran sailing cruises91
8:11 pm
[...] Upon reading this post by Right Wing Nuthouse, I have realized two things. [...]
3:44 pm
Buon luogo, congratulazioni, il mio amico!
7:40 pm
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6:39 am
[...] I swore to myself that after the Jill Carroll nuttiness, I’d never link to a Debbie Schlussel post again. But this foolishness is so far beyond the pale of rational discourse that it merits me breaking that promise. The idea that having a Muslim father or even being a Muslim oneself disqualifies anyone from high office is so foreign to the very ideas that gave birth to this country that one wonders whether Schlussel can truly grasp the insult she does and the hurt she causes by even suggesting the idea. [...]