You have to laugh and shake you head at the mainstream media. They will swallow a story hook line and sinker when it fits their world view, but they'll never stop to dig a little deeper into the story, to see what actually may lay just below the surface. And you know what, that just might be a good thing.
Take this story for example. The media, while stopping to call Afghan leader Hamid Karzai a U.S. puppet, jump all over the fact that Karzai is being mildly critical of the U.S. right. Karzai has made a statement looking for more control over the actions of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the release of all Afghan prisoners to Afghanistan. But how serious is Karzai?
He is probably at least a little serious, and we will probably make at least some concessions to him. But is all what it seems? Did anyone in the mainstream media stop to think about the recent Newsweek Koran-flushing controversy which lead to riots in Afghanistan? Politically, Karzai had to do something to condemn the U.S. while all the while not alienating the U.S. So he makes a statement that mildly rebukes the U.S., allows us some room to make concessions, and he is able to politically maneuver in way that allows him to maintain support at home. But I don't see anyone reflecting on this possibility. Instead, the sources I've read so far clap their hands together like a little child who just received something it wanted. "Yay! We got what we wanted. Karzai condemns U.S. Yay!" No deep analyses. And our wonderful mainstream media wonder why their readers and viewers are dwindling.
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