Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
November 11, 2007
Israeli Cows Suffer From SHOCK

When it bleeds it leads is an old rule in journalism. But the hierarchy in reporting also depends on who does the bleeding.

This article by the Associated Press describes a horrible incident:

Qassam strikes cowshed in western Negev, killing 7 cattle

What a mess! These ghastly Palestinians launch rockets on cowsheds, killing Israeli cows! People are shocked, SHOCKED! The cows are shocked too, SHOCKED!

Seven cows were killed and four were wounded when a Qassam rocket struck their shed in Kibbutz Zikim in the western Negev on Sunday morning.

Three people at the scene of the time of the attack were treated for shock and treated on site.

[…]
"The electric wiring and plumbing are damaged and the cows are suffering from shock which will mean they eat less," he said. "That means they will produce less milk."

The same piece, half way down and after the prioritized tragic tale of slaughtered cows, continues with a different scene nearby. It bleads too, but is obviously of lesser interest.

Israeli forces on Saturday killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and wounded three others in three separate incidents, Palestinian sources and the Israel Defense Forces said.

The first incident, which resulted in two deaths, occurred after troops noticed two Palestinian youths crawling toward the fence (to avoid detection, said the IDF) separating the Gaza Strip and Israel. The incident happened near Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Strip’s central region.

The two slain youths, Jihad and Bilal al Nabhin, 16- and 17-years old, were shot at night, and Gaza rescue forces reported they found their bodies in the morning. Palestinian sources said the two youths did not belong to any militant organization.

While such cattle slaughter continues, it was noticed that the new lack of milk in Israel will not influence the ban on milk powder deliveries to the unoccupied Gaza Strip.

Comments

Shock and moo?

Posted by: possum | Nov 11 2007 14:34 utc | 1

Duh. Of course cows owned by an Israeli are more important than a dead 16 year-old, a dead 17 year-old, and three additional wounded people when the dead and wounded are the WRONG religion in a country founded on religious supremacism.

Posted by: reality | Nov 12 2007 4:50 utc | 2

Heard both stories in tandem on NPR today, with no commentary. Why would NPR pick up that story(s) whole and pass it on down the line like breaking news? Reminds me of the old SNL skit where Eddy Murphy pancakes himself up as a white guy and gets on a bus where all the white folks are making deals and giving each other fist fulls of money until a black guy gets on the bus, and everyone goes silent. Best I can figure is they think no one listens to Israel/Palestine news anymore and just overhear the cows killed as Israelis killed.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 12 2007 7:58 utc | 3

Rice gets honored:

The long buildup to Annapolis, together with Ms. Rice’s many trips to the region, have given birth to a new verb in Israeli government circles: “lecondel,” meaning, to come and go for meetings that produce few results. The word is based on Ms. Rice’s first name.

U.S. and Israel Play Down Hopes for Peace Talks

Posted by: b | Nov 12 2007 8:17 utc | 4

I don’t know if this Debka report is just another bit of sabre rattling (it certainly rattles me) or a prelude to the timely naval incident which will “justify” U.S. “reprisals” against Iran. I particularly don’t like the adroit linking of the crisis in Pakistan with “the Iran menace” as a means to convince (stampede) Bush into following “his gut instincts”, nor do I find the prominent play given to “the threat from the Revolutionary Guards Navy chief Gen. Ali Fadwi to deploy suicide fighters”. I also wonder about the “confidential channels” of the “rapport” between Bush and Putin (not all that confidential, apparently if noted by Debka).

Of course, it’s only Debka, which specializes in pumping up trial balloons with propagandistic smoke, and distorting evidence with arcade style deforming mirrors. They are, alas, good at their work, and aided in it by many other industrious mediatic elves.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Nov 12 2007 10:35 utc | 5

I am kind of glad that Ms Rice is such an incompetent arrogant piece of offal. She has done more for equality than Susan B Anthony and all the suffragettes thrown together. She has shown beyond a shadow of doubt that women can be just as stupid and mean as any man.

Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 12 2007 11:55 utc | 6

Dan: Rice wasn’t needed for that. There already was the Wicked Witch of England, Maggie Thatcher, to show that women can be mean politicians.

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 12 2007 12:28 utc | 7

“deny anyone the right to punish Iran – even if it is proven to be running a secret military nuclear program”
By the way, does it mean that Debka acknowledges the right of international community to *punish* Israel for having run an illegal secret military nuclear program, and for harboring hundreds of nukes?
What about Pakistan?
What about India?

Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 12 2007 12:34 utc | 8

Doh! That’ll teach me to write on an unusual computer without checking first.
Now (well, as usual actually), I look like an idiot. Sorry…

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Nov 12 2007 12:36 utc | 9

Now here is a different perspective. Take a look at this picture and tell me what you see. Looks like a cow to me. Your problem b is that you just don’t watch enough TV. People are passive and powerless. (They are not really powerless, but using what little brain they have left, they think they are powerless.)
TV Delirium in Twenty-First Century America
I can’t speak for other parts of the globe, but around here, the newsprint is comparable to TV News, and of course, Faux News is the favorite for TV. And for radio, Rush Windbag is tops.

Posted by: Rick | Nov 12 2007 12:40 utc | 10

PS many good comment below the article in the above post.
This excerpt from Tony:
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers” – Thomas Jefferson

Posted by: Rick | Nov 12 2007 12:44 utc | 11