Shot in the Dark

The Real Victims

SCENE: Mitch BERG is leaving a guitar shop on Selby Avenue after dropping off an instrument for some repairs, when MyLyssa SILBERMAN, reporter for National Public Radio’s Saint Paul bureau, covering the “Fake News” and “Diversity” beats, steps out of a chi-chi coffee shop.

SILBERMAN: Merg.

BERG: Oh, hey, MyLyssa…

SILBERMAN: Terrible, what’s going on in Gaza.

BERG: Yep. 1,300 Israelis massacred, thousands of Gazan human shields dead, hundreds of Israeli soldiers killed…

SILBERMAN: Dozens of journalists killed in Gaza by Israeli forces. It’s terribly dangerous for journalists.

BERG: er, yeah. I suppose that’s a problem too. But, as in World War II, if you’re where the action is, there are dangers.

SILBERMAN: World War II killed dozens of journalists.

BERG: Right. And between 30 and 50 million other combatants and civilians.

SILBERMAN: And dozens of journalists.

BERG: And during the New York Draft Riots of 1863, which killed thousands, especially black and immigrant New Yorkers…

SILBERMAN: Rioters besieged the New York Times building and killed several journalists.

BERG: When the Titanic sank, it was a tragedy that…

SILBERMAN: …two journalists died.

BERG: But it’s not like they were singled out. I mean, they were on a ship…

SILBERMAN: Aren’t you listening? Journalists died.

BERG: Right. So – Rwanda…

SILBERMAN: Journalists were murdered!

BERG: Hmmm. And during the Minneapolis riots, the biggest outrage was…

SILBERMAN: Journalists getting pepper-sprayed and shot with rubber bullets. And some government officials didn’t respond to our requests for interviews.

BERG: And the destruction of East Lake Street and University Avenue, the Third Precinct, and much of civil order…

SILBERMAN: (Yawns broadly). Sorry. I really have to get to the Society of Professional Journalists meeting

BERG: No doubt.

(And SCENE).

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Comments

7 responses to “The Real Victims”

  1. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Since when have employees of The Ministry of Truth been called “journalists”?

    Jesse Ventura labeled them “jackals”, but that was oh, so Trumpian, a better term would be “parrots”.

  2. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    One has to wonder what portion of the journalists killed in Gaza is because Hamas was using them as human shields. I’m guessing it’s pretty high.

    Not that “war correspondent” is a particularly safe job–my great uncle was wounded at Anzio, and of course you’ve got Ernie Pyle–but when the media are trying to cover a terrorist group that hides behind women, children, and journalists (in increasing level of vulnerability and helplessness, apparently), the safety factor will go out the door.

  3. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    bikebubba,

    You have a point there, however logically, Hamas and anyone covering them in Gaza who encounters the IDF is by definition in a free-fire zone and stands a pretty good chance of being shot.

    When you are where you are not supposed to be – anything can happen.

    Also journalists who hang out with Hamas are a begging for a bomb to be dropped on their heads. So….you get what you beg for.

  4. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Well, free fire zone on the Hamas side, but Israel is trying to restrict it to “plausible targets”, I believe. So I’m guessing that many of the journalists who were injured or killed didn’t even know they were human shields until it was too late.

    Well, they should have known, but judging by their work, they’re a bit slow on the uptake.

  5. John "Bigman" Jones Avatar
    John “Bigman” Jones

    Hey Mitch, next time you see MyLssa, ask how we know the dead were legitimate “journalists” and not scruffy bloggers like Andy Ngo or Michael Yon or some random stringers providing propaganda pieces for their paymasters?

    Did they have journalist licenses issued by the appropriate government officials? Because otherwise they might have been engaged in disinformation so their deaths, while personally tragic, served the greater good of Protecting Our Precious Democracy from Too Much Information.

  6. SmithStCrx Avatar
    SmithStCrx

    I’ll admit that I haven’t been following Gaza too closely over the last month. Listening to Hamas self proclaim that their goal is the eradication of Israel and Americans shout “From the River to the Sea” all the while “journalists” spout off about context and the real oppression tends to just piss me off.
    Have any AP stringers been killed by the IDF? Perhaps some of those “journalists” that just so happened to tag along and document October 7th? I can see why the AP and the NYT would get upset with the loss of a source within the “oppressed” ranks of Hamas.

  7. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    bike,
    You have some good points on actual journalists. Though technically not a journalist, John Ford was wounded by shrapnel while filming the attack on Midway, from the top of a tower. Again, he was a naval officer, but he had already directed some films.

    So, I didn’t witness this, but the story was relayed by some reliable sources. During the Vietnam war, despite being told not to, two journalists allegedly took off down a trail toward the sounds of gunfire. Unfortunately, they ran into a NVA unit and their bodies were recovered about two hours later.

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