Assume Newsweek Doesn't HATE America

[Annie]

based on one flawed story. Easy enough to assume. Now what about this? Pictures and links at site:

http://ridingsun.blogspot.com Newsweek's false, retracted story about American guards flushing the Koran down a toilet at Guantanamo doesn't necessarily mean the magazine's staff hates America or Bush, or wants us to lose in Iraq. To be charitable, let's just chalk that one up to sloppy journalism.

But I'm at a loss to explain this, from the February 2 issue of Newsweek's Japanese edition:
As you can see, the cover story shows an American flag, dirtied and tossed in a trash can, its staff snapped in two. The large white text reads, "Amerika ga shinda hi", which translates to "The day America died."

The equivalent international edition of Newsweek, the January 31 issue, featured a picture of Bush on the cover, with the caption "America Leads ...But is Anyone Following?":
Both of the above editions featured a cover-story article by Andrew Moravcsik, titled "Dream on, America". (This was translated into Japanese as "Yume no kuni Amerika ga kuchihateru toki", which is even harsher; it means, roughly, "America, the dream country, is rotting away".) According to Newsweek itself, the article described "the world's rejection of the American way of life."

Moravcsik's article did not run in the American edition of that same issue. The cover was also a bit different. It featured Hilary Swank, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx, with the title "Oscar Confidential":

If you look carefully, you'll see that one of the articles from the other two editions is mentioned in a small blurb at the top: Fareed Zakaria's "High Hopes, Hard Facts" — here billed as "A reality check on Bush & 'Freedom'". Sure, they put scare quotes around "Freedom", but pretty tame stuff, all things considered.

It's one thing for Newsweek to actively promote the notion that America is a "dead", "rotting" country overseas. But it's quite another thing indeed to hide those efforts from its American readers. If Newsweek really thinks America is dead, and our flag belongs in the trash, why won't it tell us?

If I were to offer Newsweek a suggestion, it would be this: Any story or cover you're ashamed to run in America probably shouldn't be used in other countries, either.

/2005/05/newsweek-america-is-dead.html

 

[musicman]

"They love our milk and honey

And then they preach about some other way of livin'

But when they're runnin' down our country, man

They're walkin' on the fightin' side of me!"

Merle Haggard