A right-wing newspaper commentator in Philadelphia has put the neo-con seal of approval on Melvin Rhodes' Good News "journalism." Herb Denenberg is "a former Pennsylvania insurance commissioner and professor at the Wharton School." Denenberg begins by shrieking and tearing his garments over the state of the New York Times and what he sees as "its anti-American, anti-conservative, anti-Republican, anti-military, anti-war-in-Iraq, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slant." Ouch. Then he finds a exemplar of the kind of journalism he approves of... The Good News! He writes:
"What struck me is that this magazine delivers more value, more insight and more honest reporting than The New York Times... Let me tell you a little about that article in a free publication, which puts The Times to shame."
It seems ol' Herb (great name that!) had read Mel's latest article on ""Radical Islam: An Arc of Extremism That Threatens the Globe." Herb was struck with admiration. Here was someone saying all the things he wanted to hear, fondling his political sensibilities and whispering sweet nothings in his ear.
Enough so to provide a free promo for the mag: "If you are interested in Good News and the organization that publishes it, you can go to its Web site, www.gnmagazine.org. or write for a free subscription to Good News, PO BOX 54198, Cincinnati, Ohio 45254-0198."
How sad that Herb should be reduced to praising a British-Israel prophecy-obsessed apocalyptic splinter-sect publication (sorry Scott, nothing personal) in his bilious compulsion to slag off the NYT. I guess there'll be those in the UCG who puff out their chests at this unexpected paeon of praise. Groveling sychophancy obviously brings its own rewards. But as the good book saith, they probably have all the reward they're going to get now. Lap it up while you can Mel.
6 comments:
Oh, Denenberg is probably just an Armstrongist who managed to sneak his thinly-disguised advertisement for The Good News past that newspaper's editors. Sometimes editors will run longer letters to the editor as "special" guest editorials, as I suppose happened here.
Granted, the New York Times is pretty much a joke these days, or at least it's been embarrassing itself a lot the past few years, and its leftist bias is unmistakeable, but it's still a real newspaper, unlike the publications of the Armstrongists.
Never mind. Looks like Denenberg is a regular columnist for that paper. "His column appears daily in The Evening Bulletin." I wonder why they called his GN advert "Special to The Evening Bulletin"? Maybe because it was so long?
I know it's hard considering the bent here - but is it really impossible to imagine that someone in an XCG could produce something credible? The columnist did say that he didn't agree with everything in the article, just that it produced an opinion more useful that the NYT. Even if you disagree with the identity of the Arabs as Ishmael - Rhodes is quoting sources for the reason for the conflict now. The NYT and other outlets are not providing this perspective and they should be.
According to the NY Times, Christians are evil and Muslims just misunderstood; Hamas and Hezbollah suicide bombers blowing up women and children are not terrorists, but brave freedom fighters in the face of Western oppression.
Even a broken cuckoo clock such as the Good News magazine can be right twice a day. Islamic expansionism against the great Satan is on the move, so submit to the will of Allah or face your imminent destruction! Is it going to take some Hiroshima scale nuclear explosions in NYC to force us to wake up to advancing Moslem extremism?
If you attack just about anything, someone will align with you. The US is full of people who would find quite welcome the writings in XCG rags that analyze current events from the usual paranoid, arch-conservative viewpoint. But if these novice advocates scrape a little of the political gloss away and view the depths of these organizations, the advocacy quickly vanishes.
The XCGers, of course, are applause hogs. They want the endorsement of the world because it gives them greater credibility as they try to insinuate themselves into people's pocketbooks. It also makes more attactive the delusional religious product they fiercely but subtley market.
Neo
Denenberg begins by shrieking and tearing his garments over the state of the New York Times and what he sees as "its anti-American, anti-conservative, anti-Republican, anti-military, anti-war-in-Iraq, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slant."
Are we really certain that Mr. Denenberg was talking about The New York Times or about Wade Ewart Cox who recently said that the United States has started World War III by invading Afghanistan and Iraq and that the United States is the Beast of Revelation?
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