Why the American media are so pathologically anti-Russian

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
I think he has to mean anti-French. Americans are fairly united on our hatred of France, I haven't ever heard of anyone but politicians having anything against Russia.

Some individual groups of Americans may have nothing against Russia. But we are talking about your media, which is a different story.

[monkspider]

The truth is that bloated Russian plutocrats own the media in this country. They corrupt our children with immoral programs. It's time we Americans freed ourselves from the tentacles of the Rooskie noise machine.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by Tripledoc
There is absolutely nothing concrete and substantial in that article. It is inconcrete, speculative and sidestepping the issue.

But you would agree that the issue does exist?


I don't see the article as a complete treatment of the issue. But it is remarkable that even a limited and incomplete set of postulates is already suffucient to expose certain essential points.

[The Vagabond]

Please note that th author is not even pro-Russian. On the contrary, the author most certainly shares most of the western criticisms of Russia. What he (she) argues against is an overall indiscriminate villification approach adopted by the media. For example, the following excerpt:

This is not a matter of whether one thinks that Russia is right or wrong in particular matters. Rather, it is a matter of assumptions that in most cases exclude awareness of the very possibility that a Russian activity beyond its borders is ever benign or that a Russian interest is ever legitimate. Serious criticism of Russia requires greater discrimination; otherwise there is no reason for it to be paid any attention by Russia, nor by Western governments since they accurately perceive that it's important for their interests to get cooperation from Russia.

Criticism of the media's anti-Russian assumptions is also logically unrelated to whether one considers the media to be on the right or wrong side on a particular issue. On Ukraine it seems Milanovic and I both think Russia was on the wrong side and the media on the right side; yet I find the Western media's "campaign" on this subject to have been wrong in approach -- indeed, more similar to the Yanukovych campaign with its polarizing two-camp spirit than to Yushchenko's. Why did the media misrepresent its own proclaimed cause within Ukraine? We can add this question to the ones Milanovic posed.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar
Russophobia in the west is always my favourite subject to bring up, because every time those who try to say it doesn't exist end up proving that it is a rampant problem in the west.
They fail so miserably that it is indeed quite humorous

Yeah, that's the core of every good conspiracy theory: assert something, and when people disagree with it sell this as proof for the assertion.

Edit: You also should add "Ha! There you have it!" or "Didn't I say so!" that would convince even more people....

[Saras]

Russophobia

[BeBMan]

You could at least try to be funny

[Spiffor]

I have noticed an anti-Russian bias in my media (true, pretty much every problem concerning Russia is blamed on its government until proven otherwise), but to a small extent. In general, our media cares very little about Russia. The bias against Russia is something like 100 times weaker than the bias against the US.

[BeBMan]

You failed miserably there, too

[BeBMan]

Probably. So take heart

[Spiffor]

Tass:

As for Russia's EU membership, we "hate" you guys exactly as much as we "hate" Turkey. To have a country as big as yours (or Turkey) in Europe asks the delicate question of when the EU does end.

And we give Turkey the same hints that we "hate" them than we give Russia. Now ask yourself the question: do the Euros hate the Turks as much as they hate Russia? Is it true, or is it a false conception due to self-centring and the ignorance of the debate within the EU?

[BeBMan]

[Spiffor]

BTW, Tass, I hereby require you to reply to me in this thread. Prove that the Russians can do something right

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar
Because, what, Russia isn't European?

There's that little Siberia thing, which doesn't exactl correspond to the idea of Europe over here. Y'know, Europe as being the western part of the Eurasia, not as having most of its landmass in Asia, and bordering the Pacific, China and Korea.

And I don't remember the EU ever saying Russia will never ever be allowed to be a member. However, it's true it's more difficult to integrate one as big and as geographically excentred as Russia, than, say Switzerland or Croatia. This is why the EU would accept Switzerland in a heartbeat, and Croatia once they become richer, but the questions wrt Russia's adhesion are the same as with Turkey's, or Morocco's (Morocco applied for EU membership). The main reason why Turkey has a good shot is because the question has been on the agenda for decades, at the American initiative.

No, I'm willing to bet that you hate Russia far more than you do Turkey, especially with the recent addition of nations such as Lithuania and Poland which like to blame everything from Mozambique rejecting diplomatic overtures to rain in Vilnius on those evil Russians!!!1

Poland and Lithuania may well hate Russia, but it doesn't mean the EU as a whole hates Russia.

Here's a story: the new negociations with Turkey and Croatia wrt joining the EU now say "there's no certainty that a EU membership will occur at the end of the negociations". That's completely new: in the past, when formal negociations started, the outcome (actual membership in the EU) was already known.
The reason why we have changed the rules is because the EU has been very disappointed with the performance of some now-members (and Latvia's terrible performance wrt the Russophone minority is one of the most prominent of these issues). In particular, Latvia loosening its terrible minority policies is only due to EU pressure. Yeah, we guys hate you. Just like we hate them Gypsies: after all, we allowed Hungary to join despite its inadequate treatment of that minority

[BeBMan]

Just curious, when did Teh Putin say that he's interested in an EU member status for Russia?