This is low-stakes intra-Beltway sniping, so I'm not sure why it bothers me so much, but Tom Shales is now just straight-up lying about Christiane Amanpour's "In Memoriam" segment on last Sunday's edition of ABC's This Week:
Tom Shales: Hello and why did I do what? Oh, imply that Amanpour was excluding Americans from her tribute to fallen heroes ... But I didn't say, or at least mean to say, that she excluded anybody. This portion of the program had traditionally included the names of U.S. servicemen and women who had given their lives for their country. Now suddenly Amanpour decided it should be a tribute to all those who died in any wars -- and presumably that would include those who died fighting AGAINST the United States as well as for it -- which I think is taking pacifism or magnanimity too far. If this were 1943, we would hardly think it appropriate to mourn Nazi casualties.
This is ludicrous. The segment exclusively showed the names of American military dead; it didn't even contain a tacit acknowledgment of anyone else beyond the phrase "all those who died in war," which is completely ambiguous. She did not suggest "mourning" enemy casualties. You can watch it here for yourself.
Next, Shales offers up a Holocaust analogy:
Burke, Va.: Great column on Amanpour. Could not agree with you more. I was shocked at the venom directed towards you on the Post's message board. Do you find it scary that so many Americans including liberals are so angry and quick to judge you just for stating your honest opinion?
Tom Shales: In a word:
Y E S . Not all "honest opinions" are created equal however. It is apparently the "honest opinion" of some people that the Holocaust never occurred. The
"honesty" of that opinion merits no respect. I don't think I ventured into territory anything like that............
Where's Abraham Foxman when you need him! Oh wait, never mind. The live chat then turns to utter farce toward the end:
Falls Church, Va.: So people who object to your insinuation that Amanpour is a Taliban-sympathizer are on the same level as Holocaust deniers?
Tom Shales: OH FOR HEAVEN SAKE stop this insane twisting of words. This is the big contribution the internet has made to American discourse -- encouraging people to rip words from their context or intent and warp the meaning all out of proportion. No, I did NOT mean what you so ridiculously implied......
This is a comical level of self-absorption. Shales, having just accused Amanpour of paying tribute to the Taliban war dead, is so exasperated over people's "insane twisting of words" in order to "rip words from their context or intent and warp the meaning all out of proportion" that he can't keep his finger off his caps lock. But he can't, for the life of him, figure out why anyone would object to what he said about Amanpour. This, by the way, is the contribution the Internet has made to American discourse -- because a TV critic for a newspaper like Shales would never do such a thing.
