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October 26, 2004

Open Letter to the Star/Tribune

Dear Editors:

The Star/Tribune prides itself on its ostensible cultural literacy, when it comes to little, trivial, anal-retentive things like football team names.

Pity you drop the ball on the cultural literacy that really matters.

Yesterday, your headline read:

Rebels Kill 51 Iraqi Soldiers
In the US, "Rebels" has a positive connotation; it was a "rebellion" that launched our war of independence; Luke Skywalker led the "Rebel Alliance"; "Johnny Reb" is a revered figure in much of the country; "Rebel Rebel" is a kickin' song. To most Americans, "Rebel"=good.

So while "rebel" might be the term your thesaurus (if not your deeply-held ideology) suggests, may I humbly ask you to think of some more, er, appropriate terms?

I suggest:

  • Saddamite holdouts
  • Pro-fascism partisans
  • Pro-Islamofascist guerrillas
  • Armed apologists for a regime that systematically murdered hundreds of thousands...(well, that's a mouthful, isn't it?)
Thanks. I know that together we can make a better newspaper.

Posted by Mitch at October 26, 2004 09:34 AM | TrackBack
Comments

* Well Organized Murderers

Posted by: calebcharles at October 26, 2004 11:32 AM

Good point, Mitch.
And why stop there?
"kill" is also a word with positive connotations, as in, "Rebel, Rebel is a killer song."

The Strib headline should read, "Islamo-fascists slaughter 51 Iraqi soldiers".

Posted by: pinkmonkeybird at October 26, 2004 12:43 PM

See, this is why after the Backfence and the weather, I don't waste any more time on the stupid strib.

Posted by: mlp at October 26, 2004 01:52 PM

I like to refer to them as "the military wing of the American Left."

Posted by: ccwbass at October 26, 2004 03:05 PM

Call them Democrats since they're all behind Kerry, at least until he wins.

Posted by: AST at October 27, 2004 12:35 AM
hi