Only now he's Joe the Journalist. (Well, he wasn't really a plumber, either.) As Sarah Pulliam reports, Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber" of campaign fame, told a local Ohio TV station that he plans to report from the Middle East for www.pjtv.com, a conservative Christian Web site, for 10 days. Money quotes:
"Being a Christian I'm pretty well protected by God I believe," Wurzelbacher said. "That's not saying he's going to stop a mortar for me, but you gotta take the chance...I get to go over there and let their 'Average Joes' share their story, what they think, how they feel, especially with world opinion, maybe get a real story out there," Wurzelbacher said.
Well, that should give us a clear picture of the situation.
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I read an interview in which the guy could scarcely construct a coherent sentence. But he's more qualified than the "biased journalists" who have studied and lived in the area for years.
Pathetic.
A quote from "Joe the War Correspondent" in the Jerusalem Post:
"I'll be honest with you. I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for 'em. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer, ah, down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers.
I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, "Well look at this atrocity," well you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it."
When will this guy's 15 minutes be up and he goes back to snaking drains?
It looks like "Joe" has gotten under David Gibson's skin.
Why else would Gibson devote a post to this?
The truth is David Gibson probably can't do plumbing ... but anyone can do journalism.
Joe the mangler of English wants us to simply accept the propaganda that our respective countries put out for consumption. Sorry Joe, but the citizenry in a democracy has a right and a responsibility to engage in the debate over war, and yes that can be a major downer. It is, however, what responsible adults do in a democracy: They involve themselves in the affairs of state because the state is elected by them and acts on their behalf. I really want to know that my government is doing, to re-elect them when they deserve it, and to hold them accountable for their actions. (e.g. If my government engages is torture and opts out of provisions of the Geneva convention, I really want to know that.)
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