Media
The 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, among other rights, grants freedom of the press. It specifically states: "... Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press ..." As with the rest of the Constitution, a brilliant political principle without question. With its brilliance though, it does not regulate the quality of the free press and throughout our history we have seen both outstanding journalism and pitiful examples of a free press. In the second decade of the 21st century, there are two strong political ideologies (left & right) controlling the political dialogue in this country. During the 2012 Presidential Election, spin from the left and right are presented as mainstream information and what was formerly mainstream, balanced & unbiased information sources have changed or evolved their format to the point that unbiased reporting is unavailable. In the 2016 Presidential Election, there was no effort at all to cover up the biased reporting of the mainstream media. Today's news sources are targeting specific messages to gain specific ideological audiences, thereby presenting bias. This bias is most times unidentifiable, not completely truthfully nor presented with perspective and context that the reader/viewer/listener requires and expects. Shockingly, sometimes this bias is purposely (NBC) camouflaged (NY Times - 4th paragraph down) from the reader/viewer/listener. In our polarized society, these strong messages on both sides overpower the ability of people with limited time to evaluate issues to find a center, compromise, reasonable or mainstream position. Especially when each side is also saying they offer the center, compromise, reasonable and mainstream position, whether they do or not. There are media watchdog organizations out there, but they also represent an ideological left and right. Much of this website is dedicated to shedding light on the bias in current American journalism. While we long for that great post-WWII journalistic era, where we were served by responsible, professional and largely unbiased journalism, unfortunately, we are no longer so served. That makes it difficult for American citizens to find the truth among the hype, agenda peddling and biased reporting. If you look at the bottom of this page and all pages on this website, you will find major (and some not so major) news organizations listed based on their political leanings, Left or Right. You will immediately notice there are none listed in the center. While there may be the occasional article in any of these news sources which could be a center, balanced and truthful report, by and large the reporting from that news source is defined by its L-R political leanings. The Gray Area is attempting to help its readers by so identifying the biases of the news source from which a report originates to help you identify the spin within the news piece you are reading or watching. We will include an article in the center if we believe it represents the center, a thoughtful, balanced and honest perspective. That way, presented with facts and recognizing the source, you can make up your own mind. In this 'media' section, we comment on the egregiousness of some reporting so that you may see the best and worst of what we must today use as our sources of information. From an analysis of all the sources, THE GRAY AREA HAS CREATED ITS OWN SPECTRUM OF MEDIA BIAS.
Archive Related Items

Hamas has one strategy to victory, and it is working perfectly; maximize civilian casualties, even their own.

4/3/24
from The Gray Area,
4/3/24:
Monday's deadly and unfortunately bombing of the aid convoy for Gaza has energized teh calls for a cease-fire and even war crimes against Israel.  How ridiculous.  Where are the continuing cries for war crimes against Hamas? Israel mistakenly hit this convoy, have stood up quickly and said it was theiremistake and apologized.  That doesn't bring people back to life, I know.  But, anyone who thinks you can be in a war zone, for any reason, without the risk of injury or death is unrealistic, delusional, or both. And, assigning blame to the people who are defending themselves against Hamas barbarism is insane! Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Israeli–Arab conflict, and a professor of international and constitutional law at George Mason University, explains in this interview on EPOCH TV how Biden's policies and the media and western allies acceptance of the Hamas strategy 'are prolonging' the Hamas War. Hamas has one strategy and it is working perfectly; maximize their own civilian casualties. This is an evil tactic that no force has ever actually done to this extent in warfare. ...they’re only winning because the media is letting them win. International law says …you cannot directly target civilians, though collateral casualties are tolerated by the laws of war. Hospitals, places of worship, schools, all enjoy some level of heightened protection. But that is where Hamas locates all of its operations. Every school and every hospital in Gaza was turned into a Hamas base. Why? Because either way they win. Either Israel says, “We shouldn’t attack it because it’s a school and there’s going to be a big controversy,” or Israel does attack it, which is allowed under the law of war. ...they’re only winning because the media is letting them win...instead of holding them accountable for the evil they did and the evil strategy they now employ. Israel has achieved what is actually a miracle by the standards of modern urban warfare...The goal of a law-abiding military is to keep the civilian casualties down to some reasonable amount. When you talk about the people who died in Gaza, it has been at least 50 percent Hamas fighters. That creates one of the best civilian-to-combat casualty rates in modern warfare. That is to say, there has not been any war that has been free of civilian casualties. But typically, when the United States has fought in Afghanistan or in Iraq, civilian casualties have been three times, four times, or five times that of military casualties. In other words, for every enemy soldier, there are three or four enemy civilians that will die. It is even more amazing because Hamas has had a specific strategy of trying to have its own civilians killed. Israel is fighting Iran as well...President Biden just released sanctioned funds to Iran, so Hamas going to have the money from Iran. Hamas' defeat needs to be like the defeat of Nazi Germany, an absolute defeat.
from EPOCH TV,
3/30/24; updated 4/3/24:
“Israel is fighting Iran on every front, so that America doesn’t have to.” In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Israeli–Arab conflict, and a professor of international and constitutional law at George Mason University. We get an update on the situation in Gaza and the current status of the war, and try to separate fact from fiction. The war has been overwhelmingly successful, both from Israel’s military objectives of keeping its civilian population safe from another October 7th, and also from the objective of protecting innocent civilians in Gaza. Let’s talk about what has actually happened since the war started. Israel was invaded by thousands of Hamas members and also random civilians who killed over a thousand Israeli civilians in a country of less than 10 million people. It was on the magnitude of five or six 9-11s. They tortured, mutilated, raped, and took hundreds of hostages captive. That’s how the war started. Since then, Israel has been fighting to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. Even by the account of Hamas, which there’s no particular reason to trust, about 30,000 people have been killed. Perhaps half of them have been Hamas fighters. When you talk about the people who died in Gaza, it has been at least 50 percent Hamas fighters. That creates one of the best civilian-to-combat casualty rates in modern warfare. That is to say, there has not been any war that has been free of civilian casualties. Name whatever war you want to. In World War II, millions of German civilians were killed by the allies as a result of the war. The goal of a law-abiding military is to keep the civilian casualties down to some reasonable amount. But typically, when the United States has fought in Afghanistan or in Iraq, civilian casualties have been three times, four times, or five times that of military casualties. In other words, for every enemy soldier, there are three or four enemy civilians that will die. By having this amazing ratio, Israel has achieved what is actually a miracle by the standards of modern urban warfare. It is even more amazing because Hamas has had a specific strategy of trying to have its own civilians killed. Hamas understands that it cannot defeat Israel militarily. If Israel has the will to fight, which it does, they will beat Hamas. Hamas has one strategy and it is working perfectly; maximize their own civilian casualties. By the way, this is an evil tactic that no force has ever actually done to this extent in warfare. International law says …you cannot directly target civilians, though collateral casualties are tolerated by the laws of war. Hospitals, places of worship, schools, all enjoy some level of heightened protection. But that is where Hamas locates all of its operations. Every school and every hospital in Gaza was turned into a Hamas base. Why? Because either way they win. Either Israel says, “We shouldn’t attack it because it’s a school and there’s going to be a big controversy,” or Israel does attack it, which is allowed under the law of war. The law of war clearly states that placing military objectives in a civilian area, in a protected area, does not protect the military target. You are not going to get immunity. You’re not going to get safety by breaking the law of war. But what it will do is increase the civilian casualties on the side of Hamas. Then you have the international community attacking Israel for the civilian casualties that Hamas has purposefully engineered. There has never been a military that has fought like this, even Nazi Germany, the model for an evil force. They didn’t care about the Jews and they didn’t care about the gypsies, but they did care about their own civilians. When they were fighting on German soil, they were fighting to reduce their civilian casualties, not maximize them. Hamas wants to maximize their civilian casualties and wants to maximize damage to hospitals, because that creates international pressure. That creates a certain kind of response. We hear, “Look at all these civilians dying in Gaza,” which will get the United States and other Western powers to intervene. It creates the media headlines we see in the New York Times that Israel is killing Gaza children. Their only hope of victory is to have Israel’s Western allies step in and hold it back. That strategy is working for them. By the way, they’re only winning because the media is letting them win. Again, by any objective standard, the civilian casualties are extraordinarily low, lower than Afghanistan, lower than Iraq, and lower as a proportion of combatant casualties. Nonetheless, there are some civilian casualties, and that is being weaponized to stop Israel. That is the current situation of the war. Israel has done an amazing job of beating Hamas. Now, Hamas has retreated with many of the Israeli hostages, including women, children, and even babies, to Rafah, which is a city on the Egyptian border, where presumably they have tunnels. They’re hiding out there with the hostages. Israel now needs to take this last stronghold. But the United States says, “Wait, no, that’s it. You can’t do this.” It’s kind of like a cancer treatment where you get rid of most of the cancer, and then for the last few cancer cells, you say, “That would be too much to get rid of them.” Their major ally is Iran. President Biden just released sanctioned funds to Iran, so they’re going to have the money from Iran. They’re going to have vast popular support, because they stood up to Israel and didn’t lose. Top Hamas officials have gone on Arab TV over and over again, saying, “October 7th was a great thing. We want to do it again. We will do it again.” They think it was a victory for them. In a sense, they are right. Who was talking about a Palestinian state before October 7th? Nobody. They have raised the profile of their issue by murdering their own civilians. Why? Because the international media and the Western powers are rewarding them. Every time President Biden says, “We should have a Palestinian state,” he is teaching Hamas and other Islamic terrorists the way to get what you want is to murder babies. On the first day, people will say, “It’s bad what you did.” On the second day, they will say, “But now, what can we give you?” More From EPOCH TV:


365 Days Page
Archive Related Items
Comment ( 0 )