So Labor Day is about what exactly?

This is not exactly a crime or criminal justice story, but we did just have Labor Day. And I was curious that so many of my students had no idea what the holiday was (that we had one at all) or why (what it was about).

So I challenged to them to "google it." Learn a bit about the day, I encouraged them. Since, hey, you have the whole day off and all.

Here is what is in the news about Labor Day:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=labor+day&oq=labor+day&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j0j43i400.2060.6427.0.6715.19.5.5.9.12.0.33.159.5.5.0...0.0...1ac.obZKr50hxQ8

You'll notice that mainstream news organizations such as ABC News devoted stories to the day. Here is some of what they had to say:

Parades, picnics and politicians celebrated the American worker on Labor Day, with President Barack Obama seeking votes from Ohio union members and rivals for Senate seats marching in Massachusetts and Virginia.

But for many, Monday's holiday was a last chance to enjoy a final summer cookout, roller coaster ride or day at the beach. Or perhaps even a stroll from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to its Lower Peninsula — along the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

Politics was a big part of Labor Day, the time when much of the public usually starts to pay attention to the campaigns.

Incredible, no? Not a word about what the day means, or even what it has to do with the political debate in the country about labor and labor rights and big business.

This is a great example of a lack of context in the news, a major argument of the book.

An acontextual story about al-Qaeda in Iraq

Here we go again, another example of the mainstream media not providing important context for a story.

This time it is the Associated Press, via Yahoo News, reporting that al-Qaeda's number two man, al-Zawahri, receives a pledge of support from the terrorist group, "al-Qaida in Iraq."

That's all well and good. But what does it mean? And why does it matter?

Further, who are "al-Qaida in Iraq" and where did they come from?

In reality, this is a group that was created by the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, a group that did not exist under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Hussein was a brutal dictator, but a secular one, and thus religious extremists posed a major threat to his regime. This is why he so ruthlessly eradicated them from his country, or at least the areas of it he controlled (US officials publicly claimed that an al-Qaeda affiliated group existed in the Northern part of Iraq, but this was in a no-fly zone patrolled by the US and thus out of the control of Saddam Hussein. This group was located by journalists who interviewed its leader who told them he hated Saddam and wanted to overthrow the Hussein regime).

Recall the claims about Iraq and Saddam Hussein made by the Bush Administration in the lead up to the war:

* Saddam Hussein was a "grave and gathering threat" to the US and its allies
* Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that it would likely give to extremist groups bent on hurting America
* Saddam Hussein had known ties to the al-Qaeda network

None of this was true. In fact, every single bit of it was false.

But you won't find it in this story about "al-Qaida in Iraq." Nor will you find any reference to why we citizens should be concerned about this group or how we should best respond as a nation to a group that we are responsible for creating. This is what is meant by stories being "acontextual" or not providing important context for the reader.

One could argue that stories like these make Americans more afraid of or more concerned with terrorism and thus more likely to support US military intervention in places like Iraq. Isn't that thus ironic, given that such intervention is what helps sustain and spread al-Qaeda?

Instead, what you do find in the story is this: "Al-Zawahri has been critical of Obama, even releasing a message that referred to Obama as a 'house Negro,' a slur for a black subservient to whites."

Obama the house negro? And that made it into an AP story about al-Qaeda in Iraq? Wow.  


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110509/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_al_qaida