Twelve years ago, NBC nightly news anchor, Brian Williams claimed that he was in a Chinook helicopter that took a hit and had to make a crash landing from the attack, saying,
“I guess I do say to myself and to others — ‘I’ve got this’ — and I don’t know where that unbridled confidence comes from.”
Now we find out it was all a lie.
Walter Cronkite, anchor icon of the 60’s, was called “The most trusted man in America.”
Why?
Because during that time in this country’s history, whether deserving or not, the Press garnered respect. They kept us updated on world events, informed us on our political leaders’ doings, let us in on the vicissitudes Washington _____. The Press was in fact so important that even our Framers deemed it worthy, necessitating its inclusion into our Founding Documents.
So when one of the members of that honored guild is proven to be a liar for nothing more than self-aggrandizing gain at the expense journalistic integrity, it bears scrutiny.
Now, I’m not naive. I realize that today’s journalism is a far cry from a trusted fealty to the truth. Polls have shown that journalists fall even lower on the scale of reliability than car salesmen.
Nothing against car salesmen.
But for a news organization and its representative to enhance their reporting to the point of sensationalistic fiction, it would seem that Brian Williams would do better working for the Lifetime Network.
But perhaps I’m mis-inferring the case.
According to Mr. Williams, his lying through his tele-prompting teeth was all done with the best of intentions. His fictionalizing his own stolid and stalwart bravery in the face of missile fire and near miss massacre was for the purposes of buoying up our men in the military. According to him,
“I just set out to call attention to and honor a 23 year returning army veteran with three bronze stars and all who sever with him and are still in uniform.”
One interview, in a voice ringing with crystalized clarity, Williams claimed that the falsehoods detailing his own courageous and heroic mettle were not for his own good, but rather for “The professionals” as he called them. He said,
“This is about honoring the people I saw over there . . .”
So I suppose that when we hear him say, ‘I’m up there, in the helicopter, missiles are flying fifteen hundred feet below me’ that we would naturally think, Oh wow, what brave soldiers our armed forces have.
And we might’ve thought that if it were not for the fact that it was a complete fabrication.
Speaking to his lying, Williams seemed to be saying that such false claims would come from anyone who was in the situation in which he found himself.
“I did what an untrained civilian would do.”
Ahhhh, I see. So, if one is “untrained” in military tactics, then one would of course lie about what happened to them.
Sounds reasonable.
I mean, once when I was at a friend’s house, I watched as he was taken by ambulance to the hospital for having chest pains. And you know, Williams was right. I told everyone he was shot in the shoulder.
Duh!
Regarding the events in question, in a bold and unabashed defense of his whole-cloth highlights, the NBC News anchor said,
“I’m going to have a far different recollection than the professionals.”
I would agree with that . . . if you’re a liar. If you are not, then you would have the same damned story that “the professionals” have. They might be more ballistically accurate about them taking a hit, but I doubt they would have a better idea of where Brian Williams was located when they and not Brian Williams took a hit. After all, he was a half an hour away from the helicopter that was fired upon.
Hey Bob, where am I?
Uh, well Jack, you’re at Charlie’s Diner having breakfast, although I might be wrong since I’m at the dentist’s office having my teeth cleaned.
Oh okay, well, thanks Bob, for clearing that up for me.
Sure Jack.
Point is, I don’t need to be a professional airline pilot to know what flight I’m on. Oh sure, the actual airline captain and crew are professionals and I’m not, but if you want to know where I am, might oughtta ask me that question and not the captain sitting in the cockpit.
Speaking of the lie Williams told millions of people out there in TV land, he declared with an air of the obvious,
“I would not have chosen to make this mistake.”
The only mistake you made was getting caught. People don’t mistake being shot at when they were thirty minutes behind the helo that was shot at. People don’t make the mistake of thinking they’ve crashed to the ground in helicopter when they haven’t. One would think such fabrications as those Brian Williams put out would be beyond contemplation, if not because of integrity, then at least because of exposure. With the internet, ubiquitous news coverage, twitter, facebook, and all the other media outlets, only an idiot would think he could get away with such a yarn. Either that, or they have a very low opinion of their followers.
In Williams’ case, I think the latter.
All this comes as no surprise to Conservatives. We’ve known about the Main Stream Media’s false reporting and deplorable ethical standards for a long time.
This isn’t NBC’s first trip to the rodeo.
Just like all liberal leftist news networks, they’ve had problems before and there’s a whole ocean of flotsam and jetsam left in their wake.
Will Brian Williams lose his job over this? Why should he? Presidents abuse young female interns in the White House, Secretarys of State lie about embassy attacks, Senators and Congressmen uphold legislation that murders babies, so why shouldn’t news anchors make up stories about their experiences? That’s life in America.
It’s a Brave New World.
