The Path to 9/11

To the person who posted the rather silly comment about the ABC's "The Path to 9/11" with the following quotation:

"The ABC network has rejected criticism, saying the film was not a documentary..."

I'd like to say: This isn't a blog. It may look like a blog. It may act like a blog. Everyone might think it's a blog. But it's not. It's a Ferrari. You just don't know it.

Anyway, the point is, ABC's claims that it's "not a documentary" are belied by several critical pieces of information:

1. They pass it off as based on Fact. Every single advertisement includes the phrase, "Based on the 9/11 Commission Report." That claim is like me having a headline on the top of this Ferrari that states, "Based on a the curriculum of Webster's Graduate School London," because my opinions are marginally influenced by what I learned in my master's program, even though most of what I write is based on my own thoughts and readings and has little relation to what my professors taught me.

Doesn't sound bad enough for you?

2. ABC sent letters to 100,000 school teachers urging them to show the video (free, of course) to their students so that they could have a meaningful and accurate understanding of what caused 9/11. Fictionalized Bullshit shouldn't be paraded out in front of America's school children as fact.

Ouch. That's gotta hurt that smarmy attitude, huh?

3. All across the nation, today, there were newspaper advertisements sporting the following text: "The years that led up to it. Everything that might have prevented it." If that's not a DIRECT message marketing the movie as completely accurate (coupled with the "based on the 9/11 commission report), then what the hell is it?

4. IT'S 9/11 STUPID! Is it so difficult to comprehend that a fictionalized account about an extremely tragic event in very recent history that puts all of the blame on President Clinton and the Democrats is little more than partisan warfare two months before a critical election? The GOP message for 5 years has been that the Democrats are weak on terror. The President has been hammering this message (to little avail) in the last two weeks. The STRATEGY for the midterm elections is that the Democrats are weak on terror. And now comes a glamorized account of what happened passed off as the truth? Please. I'm sure my 4 year old niece could see through this (although she's awfully bright!).

5. If this narrative was even remotely accurate or unbiased wouldn't it have at least shown how Bush failed to respond AT ALL to the August 2001 briefing warning of an Al Queda plot to crash commercial jet liners into buildings in the United States? Instead, we have a farcical portrayal of our President stoicly listening to the news and demanding swift action. NEVER HAPPENED. Bush might have listened stoicly, but he did just about as much in August as he did for the first 7 minutes of the 9/11 crisis - stare blankly into space.

6. Don't take my word for it. Take the word of trusty Fox News commentator Chris Wallace. Even a right wing hack for the channel of right wing hackery calls the mockumentary "slanderous" and "defamatory".

One last tidbit before I spank you back into oblivion.

7. If ABC was releasing a "documentary" entitled, "Stealing an Election" with the slogan, "How President Bush rigged not one, but two elections," and "Based on an independent, non-partisan media evaluation of hanging chads, missing votes, electronic voting fraud, and other attempts to defraud the American people," would you be satisfied with the statement: "This film is based on actual events but at times has been dramatized to enhance the cinematic effect." Anyone who answers yes to the above question needs to answer this one:

Really now, what is the difference between the United States and the Soviet Union if right wing (or left wing) propaganda can be spun out as "mostly factual" in order to influence the hearts and minds of the American people?

So to whomever posted that lovely comment, I appreciate it, but before you write on my Ferrari again, I'd ask that you boost up your critical thinking skills, check that smarmy attitude at the door, and think about the words you're about to speak.