Imperialist American Aggressors Attack Poland?

The headline:

• "U.S. Ship Fires On Poland"
  Reuters, via WKRG (October 30, 2009)

The lead paragraphs:

"Shots were fired form the destroyer USS Ramage as it was leaving the Polish port of Gdynia on Wednesday (October 28), Polish media reported.

"A witness working in a port warehouse told news channel TVN24 he heard rounds hitting a wall and video shot on Thursday (October 29) shows marks on the building's exterior...."
(Reuters)

The rest of the story:

A crew member on the USS Ramage was cleaning a machine gun. It was loaded. Three rounds were fired. The Polish military police boarded the Rampage. The Rampage's crew cooperated fully, according to American Navy authorities.

Nobody, thank God, was killed - or, apparently, injured.

The Lesson

I think this is a good reminder

• Don't stop reading at the headline
  • Or the lead paragraphs
• See if other news outlets give the same story
• Remember generic words like
  • To fire on
  • Shell
  • Mark

A "shell," for example, could be anything from something coming out of a 22 caliber deer rifle, to something weighing more than a Cadillac. In the context of that news article, a "mark" could be anything from a square inch of chipped brick to a gaping hole.

That Reuters story wasn't inaccurate: but it can be seen as misleading. I'd be willing to write off a single instance of this sort of reporting, if there weren't a pattern.

Back when I was in college (one of the times: I'm a repeater), someone pointed out how unfair it was that, for a while, anyone with an eastern European accent was the bad guy in films.

I doubt that this dramatic shorthand was quite as universal as it was made out to be, any more than the 'bad guys always wear black hats in westerns' stereotype. But after reading that assertion, I paid attention to films of a particular period, and sure enough: A whole lot of people from eastern Europe were bad guys: more than you'd expect.

The point is that 'eastern European accent = evil intent' was so solidly planted a cultural assumption, that filmmakers could use the association.

These days, most people - I hope - realize that quite a few people from eastern Europe aren't deranged assassins, sinister spies, or mad scientists.

And some day - I hope - most people will realize that America is not the source of most of what's wrong in the world. But I'm not holding my breath.

Related posts:

• "Iran Leaders Request Investigation of Supereme Leader: An Iranian My Lai? Maybe, Maybe Not"
  (August 14, 2009)
• "The New York Times, Insularity, and Assumptions"
  (October 21, 2008)
  
• "Haditha, Iraq; My Lai, Vietnam: This Isn't the Good Old Days"
  (July 13, 2008)
• "A Marine, A Puppy, and Serious Abuse: 'It Must be Real: I Saw it on YouTube!' "
  (March 4, 2008)
  Particularly
  • After Word: My Lai and Abu Ghraib, Perception and Reality
• "Westward Venture: American Ship Fires on (Iranian?) Fast Boats"
  (April 25, 2008)
• "Genocide! Racism! Down With Columbus Day!! "
  (April 8, 2009)
• "Global Patriot Reporting: Anti-American Bias? Could Be"
  (March 25, 2008)
• "U.S. Warship Kills Innocent Egyptian!! No Wonder Everybody Hates America!!!"
  (March 24, 2008)

In the news:

• "Navy ship accidentally fires on Polish port"
  CNN (October 30, 2009)
• "U.S. Ship Fires On Poland"
  Reuters, via WKRG (October 30, 2009)

Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.