Tuesday, December 16, 2014

HuffPost: Who's more evil - the Australian jihadist, the CIA, Cheney or the U.S. military?

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Huffington Post changed the headline of a source article, discussing the savage Australian jihadi murderer, to focus only on the contention that he comes from "a troubled past."  This stands in sharp contrast to its consistent practice of writing editorialized headlines that incite hate against those who combat jihadists, while eliciting sympathy for jihadis - despite its repeated claims that it is a nonpartisan, professional news organization.  As the world's #1 most-read online "newspaper," one can only speculate on the impact that HuffPost's bias and incitement is having on the public's perception and understanding of vital issues. 
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A quick briefer on Man Haron Monis, the jihadist preacher who perpetrated the murder and terror at the Lindt Chocolate in Sydney, Australia,  courtesy of the Sydney Morning-Herald:
  • He was suspected in brutal murder of his ex-wife (stabbed 17 times and burned to death).
  • He was recently arrested, and charged with perpetrating "22 counts of aggravated sexual assault, 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault, one count of aggravated act of indecency, one count of sexual assault and two counts of assault with act of indecency. The women were visiting him at Wentworthville where he was offering services as a 'spiritual healer'."
  • He was convicted of using the Australian mail service to terrorize and harass the surviving family members of Australian soldiers who died while fighting his fellow jihadists, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
  • He openly preached murder against non-Muslims.
To normal, rational people and organizations, Monis represents the epitome of raw evil.

To the Huffington Post, however, Monis was merely a "troubled" individual, who deserved every one of its notorious editorial manipulations to shield him from being held to public account for his motives, actions and background - the exact opposite of what it routinely does to the CIA, the US military, and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
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HuffPost rewrites the headline of its AP source story, in order to elicit sympathy for the jihadist -- but not his victims

On December 16, the day after Monis murder two hostages, and was killed in a shootout with the police, the AP wrote a detailed article about him and the matter, which it entitled "Horror over a deadly siege morphed into anger."  The opening sentence, from the Daily Mail (UK):
(AP) Horror over a deadly siege morphed into anger Tuesday as leaders of a grieving nation demanded to know how a man with a violent criminal history slipped through the cracks and ended up in the downtown Sydney cafe where he took 17 people hostage.
That, however, is not the headline that HuffPost chose to run atop its version of the AP story.  Instead, HuffPost rewrote the AP headline in a way that could only serve to elicit sympathy for this monster:
"Gunman In Sydney Siege Had Troubled Past"
Does HuffPost always do these kind of moral somersaults and ethical gymnastics to protect those accused of perpetrating atrocities?  The answer is yes, and no.  Yes, when it is Muslims, and particularly Islamists, who are the accused.  A few examples:
When the accused is the CIA, the U.S. military, Dick Cheney, conservatives, or its perpetual enemy, Israel, however, HuffPost does the exact opposite: it holds nothing back to incite hatred against them, even when it knows that the basis of its "news" stories is completely bogus.
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Examples of HuffPost's relentless efforts to craft inflammatory headlines to smear those who are dedicated to protecting people from jihadists, and their Islamist enablers

A few examples - starting with the headline HuffPost published a few days ago, regarding CIA Director John Brennan.  While HuffPost whitewashed the Austrlian jihadist as merely "troubled," it claimed Brennan presided over a reign of "depravity and incompetence," in the context of the hyper-partisan Democratic report on CIA interrogation tactics:

To punctuate this theme, on December 9, the same day that the Senate Democrats released their report, HuffPost depicted those who wear America's uniforms to sadists, who took personal delight in inflicting pain on innocent victims:

HuffPost published no defenses of the CIA --- such as the scathing article by former Democratic Senator and combat veteran Bob Kerrey.  Instead, on December 16, HuffPost decided that the latest vulgar personal attack by Jonathan Liebowitz (Jon Stewart) against former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense of the CIA was worth a front-page headline:

That incendiary headline must have somehow slipped past Arianna Huffington's absolute prohibition on personal attacks and incivility at HuffPost: "If you're looking for the usual flame-throwing, name-calling, and simplistic attack dog rhetoric, don't bother coming to the Huffington Post."

This is a continuation of HuffPost's pattern of using the most inflammatory language possible, against those who wear America's uniforms.  For example, when the U.S. military was falsely accused, several years ago, of having fired on a group of Iraqis who had just fired at them several minutes before, HuffPost (falsely) accused American soldiers of having committed "collateral murder":


That apparently also somehow slipped through Arianna's absolute prohibition on "inflammatory claims and conspiracy theories"... presumably, especially when it turns out they're based on lies.

A few more random examples of HuffPost editorializing its headlines to whip up hatred against those who seek to defeat jihadists:

Another lie:

And another lie - in which the "journalist" who wrote the story admitted that he had "no idea, no clue" if the allegation was true or not (it wasn't):

But HuffPost's willingness to write inflammatory smear headlines to incite hate against people isn't limited only to counter-jihadis; it even extends to athletes it doesn't like - such as one whom it labeled (in a "news" headline) as "a terrible human being":

And yet, in regards to a self-identified militant Islamist who perpetrated dozens of sexual attacks on women, and murdered and maimed in the name of jihad, HuffPost decided to manipulate a headline to indicate only that he comes from a "troubled past."   




How does this all compare to Arianna's claims that HuffPost is a professional "newspaper," and better than its competitors?
"If you're going to produce great journalism, you have to build a team of people who are working together and driving toward the same goals editorially.”
– Arianna Huffington, April 7, 2011 --- two months after being put in control of all of AOL's "news" and "content"
"AOL's acquisition of HuffPost has allowed us... to continue to change the culture here."
--- Tim Armstrong, Chairman, AOL, the genius who bought HuffPost and put Arianna in charge of all "news" and "content" --- May 14, 2011
“[T]oo many reporters have forgotten that the highest calling of journalists is to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned.”
- Arianna Huffington, July 29, 2008
“We are aiming to go beyond just facts, to create a narrative... [W]e think bringing journalism to a new level is exactly what people are looking for.”
- Arianna Huffington, October 20, 2009





ACTION ITEMS

If you believe HuffPost should stop whitewashing and protecting jihadis and their radical Islamist supporters, while inciting hatred against counter-jihadis, we urge you to do three things:

(1) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management here.

(2) Consider writing or calling one or more of HuffPost's top advertisers, to let them know your thoughts on what their ad dollars are enabling.
An easy way to approach this is to scan our easy-to-use directory and find one or two corporations that you are a customer of, or in which you own stock. Your concerns will automatically be given considerably more weight. Also, request a follow-up after they've had a chance to review the evidence; don't let them off the hook, or sweep this under the rug. 
(3) Forward the link to this story along to others who support freedom and responsible reporting --- particularly journalists!!!  



 



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