Reckless American Media/Website

The following post was made on one of the forums I belong to about Prince Harry’s having to return home from Afghanistan. The subtitle said the it was due to “reckless Americans” breaking the news blackout. His post had a bit of an anti-american flavor to it which did get me worked up some. Here is the text of his post:

My response was:

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Turns out that, for the last ten weeks, Prince Harry has, as he always insisted he wanted to, been fighting on the front line with British troops in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately for him, he’s having to be pulled out immediately as, despite a news blackout, the story has been splashed across a number of American websites contrary to the wishes of their supposed allies – no doubt the Americans are hungry for gossip now that Britney isn’t getting her twat out so much lately.

I’ve personally never been in favour of our involvement in these US oil wars, but at least the lad has been prepared to go and fight for gran and country when he clearly had no need to.

No doubt he’s been tripping over the numerous sons and daughters of US senators and congressmen while he’s been there.

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I posted this response (there were several in between):

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Out of respect and fair play to us Americans, how about re-wording the sub title of this thread. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, and can easily be verified by a little looking, it was not the Americans, reckless or otherwise, who leaked this story to the world. Allowing that sub title to remain simply fuels the anti American sentiment which exists on this board (and others).

Personally I commend Prince Harry for doing what he has done. IMHO, his actions have earned him a very large portion of respect.

As to the OP, his remarks have removed any shred of respect I may have had for him, not because he was making strongly negative and insulting comments about my country, but because he was, as is so often the case with many, doing so without making even the minimal effort to check his facts before spouting off.

This is … not a political forum, so why bring it up here in the first place? From the way the OP was written, it appears to me that the OP’s purpose was far more to insult Americans than to discuss the impropriety of some news organizations breaking the news blackout on Prince Harry’s deployment.

Rick

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The basic facts as I believe them so far, is that an Austrailian and a German media outlet first reported the news, which was then picked up on the Drudge website, an american blog of whole slew of news feeds. I have not yet read the actual article because it had not yet been archived when I last looked. I will look again later today, and try to follow that thread, see the dates of the various reports, and see how that all fits together. I will also attempt to find out just which new organizations were informed of the news blackout, that could be a major challenge, but will give it a shot.

As to that particular thread on that forum, it went on for awhile, he did reword the subtitle to “News Blackout Lifted Due To Reckless American Wesbite,” and there was some more BS, but nothing of substance. The last post to that thread was on 2/29, the same day I posted, the day after it was opened, so it is a dead issue.

There’s my first issue, I am off to try to get some facts.

Rick

Getting Started

Life has been an adventure for me since I moved to Thailand more than 8 months ago, and this blog, my first, is certainly part of the adventure. 

One thing I have noticed, it doesn’t take extra keen powers of observation, is that here in Thailand, the internet is grossly underutilized, in fact, it is often feared.  Yeah, makes no sense to me either, but that is the way it is here.  I have decided that I want to play a little part in changing that. 

I live in Pattaya, a major resort area with a rather, shall we say spicey reputation.  Pattaya is one of the top ‘party’ places on the planet.  Pattaya is like a pre-Katrina New Orleans on steroids, but with prices for everything reduced to fire (hurricane?) sale levels.  The good news is that it brings in the tourists in droves, but that good news, is also bad news.  Tourist money always tends to attract some number of unscrupulous characters willing to use rather creative means to get thier hands into the tourist’s wallet, and Pattaya is no exception.  We have some extremely creative people here. 

Having said that, I must say that there are also quite a few fine people here, and quite a few businesses where the ethical standards are high.  These people and businesses are the targets of my efforts.  What can I do for them?  Excellent question, it is one I ask myself many times daily.  Considering the power of the net, and the minimal role it currently plays, the options are limited only by imagination.  My website, www.onlyfromasia.com, is being built now (and will, of course, have a link to this blog).  It will give a more detailed description of the services I am offering. 

That is about all for now, do stop back from time to time and see what I have been up to. 

Rick