News Hour's Rosenblatt fails sling/slingshot distinction

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Oh my God! I was listening to NPR yesterday and they were broadcasting the News Hour and there was a Roger Rosenblatt essay about that photo of the Palestinian with the sling I blogged about yesterday and he called the weapon a slingshot:
Remove the background, replace it, say, with a playground, and his act of war turns innocent. One sees a kid with a slingshot behaving like a kid.
Die Mr. Rosenblatt, die!! You have failed the most basic test of not annoying me!!! OK, you don't have to die, that was hyperbolic overreaction. But you must learn, lest you spread your ignorance far and wide and create even more annoying people who don't know the difference! In lieu of death, I will accept a public correction of your heinous error.

And to think that my post had been up for a few hours before the show, giving Mr. Rosenblatt plenty of time to read Internal Monologue and correct his horrendous error! At any rate, I have gone to the News Hour feedback page and let them know the error of their ways. I urge all my readers to do so as well. (OK, it's probably not as important as ending our occupation of Iraq or stopping global warming or genocide in Darfur.) The sad thing is that while I was on that page I read this, from another viewer:
Your essay on the Getty photo in The Times was interesting by deconstructing the color and composition and its allusions to the situation in Israel/Palestine. But I'm curious as to why you chose not to speak at all about the slingshot and it's implicit association with the story of David and Goliath?
Aaaaaagghhh!!!! See how fast the ignorance spreads!?!?! Do I dare do a Google search for "David Goliath slingshot"? GAAHHH!! The error is here and here (though some images are correct) and ... argh! Too many...the flood of ignorance...it's hopeless!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Another reason to not like Roger Rosenblatt. His editorials always left me with a nagging feeling of, "Wha...duh...of what import or insight was that I just heard?"

Maria
3:14 AM, March 15, 2007
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