Krista: Most people probably know that I'm cautious about posting since I've made two mistakes now. So before weighing in on Dominick's commentaries, I wanted to speak to my professors. I'm taking a course in history that's domestic but my prof teaches world civ and other history courses. I spoke to her and I brought it up to my international relations professor. (That's my 1st my poli sci class and I'm treading water but not much more than that.)
I printed up Dominick's commentaries and took them to my history professor who read over them and said Dominick is correct that "inflating this into an international incident" and attacks from outside Ireland will drive a "significant amount towards sympathies for the IRA."
In international relations all week we've each had to bring in commentaries or coverage a specific county. I took Dominick's in this afternoon.
We had a loud and lively debate. At the end of it, the professor spoke for about five minutes. The basic points he made is that the press has been irresponsible. He stated that the acts of individuals are being used to represent a group. (He thought Dominick's friend or family member who mentioned the crimes of celebrities in our country was funny and "pointedly true.") "This should not be a vote to the credibility of the IRA. These are the actions of individuals. By turning into a referrendum on the IRA the press is being irresponsible and inaccurate and they're throwing a match on a powder keg."
He made a point of noting that the adminstration has been hostil to Sinn Fein for some time and that they denied a woman a visa into this country though she was an elected official and had traveled here frequently. He offered that the press coverage was reflective of the attitude of the State Department towards Ireland "and it's only gotten more insistent as Rice has replaced Powell."
This is "bullying" and it will not work from the outside. It will drive many into "support or sympathy for the IRA" and "the administration has refused diplomacy and seen it as a weakness. The press is not being an independt agent, they are taking the green light the administration has given and rushing to inflate a crime of individuals into an international incident." He noted that historically when the Irish Catholics have been bullied or felt they were being bullied, they didn't say, "Tell me what to do." Instead they closed ranks and came back hitting. He repeated this is a powder keg and the press is being irresponsible because the "strife" that was a "key characteristic" to so much of "recent history" in Ireland remains and has not "abated" so "irresponsible journalism risks inflaming tensions still present but as yet cooling and beneath the surface."
[I'm glad Krista's continuing to share. She also noted a woman for Women's History Month yesterday. But I will point out, she made one "mistake." Getting someone's name wrong. And
I should have caught that when I posted it. It was a slight error on her part. It was a big mistake on mine. There haven't been "two mistakes." One small error and that's it. I'm sure my list of mistakes are in the thousands by now -- possibly higher.]
