Sunday, February 05, 2006

Venezuelan Hyberbole

According to the Reuters news agency, Venezuelan "President" Hugo Chavez has now made the claim that US President George Bush (who, unlike Chavez, has actually won fair elections, thus the necessary quotes around Chavez's title. Only Jimmy Carter has approved Chavez's elections, and we all know how much we should trust a Carter asssessment by now.) is worse than Adolf Hitler. Needless to state, Reurters breathlessly put this bit of hyperbole as a lead article, never even reminding its audience how over the top this sort of oratory actually is.

But then, to do that would mean that reporters (who mostly appear to agree with Chavez) actually perform professionally. When was the last time that a US official's assessment or statement that country X constitutes a potential threat was treated as though it was truthful. US statements are almost always framed as 'claims' by the national and international media and treated with suspicion. No such objectivity is given to Chavez's demonstrably false and overwrought claims.

Remind me again about the 'un-biased' press?

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