Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008, Page 67
challenges the official version of events, is he or she siding with the enemy? The truth is
that war is very ugly—how much of that reality does one need to report, or can one report
something that offends the purpose of the administration? Fassihi cites actual cases to
illustrate these dilemmas. She concludes that journalists, following Orwell‘s rules, need to
be as truthful as possible.
Michael Massing is a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review and the author
of Now They tell Us, about the American press in Iraq. In ―Our Own Thought Police,‖ he
notes how both the mass media and the public ―filter‖ what they want to hear and see about
the war, thus sanitizing the most gruesome aspects and behaviors of soldiers. Although
Massing does not mention this, I was reminded of what T.S. Elliot wrote: Human kind
cannot stand very much reality. Although American soldiers have reached out to Iraqis in
outstanding acts of charity, Massing mentions a number of books and articles by soldiers
that give a truly ―un-sanitized‖ look at the horror of the Iraq war.
The Epilogue is by George Soros, who offers his thoughts on an ―Open Society
Reconsidered.‖ Soros is no friend of current ―conservative‖ administration, but he does
argue that ―both Democrats and Republicans engage in deliberate deception‖ even if the
radical right has more money to spend and is therefore more effective at it.
I have not done justice to this collection in my brief sketches. Whether I agreed with a
writer or not, upon a second reading I found the anthology even more worthwhile. Orwell
struck a deep chord for good, honest journalism that he believed was necessary for human
freedom. Times have changed but the need for good journalism has not.
Joseph P. Szimhart
challenges the official version of events, is he or she siding with the enemy? The truth is
that war is very ugly—how much of that reality does one need to report, or can one report
something that offends the purpose of the administration? Fassihi cites actual cases to
illustrate these dilemmas. She concludes that journalists, following Orwell‘s rules, need to
be as truthful as possible.
Michael Massing is a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review and the author
of Now They tell Us, about the American press in Iraq. In ―Our Own Thought Police,‖ he
notes how both the mass media and the public ―filter‖ what they want to hear and see about
the war, thus sanitizing the most gruesome aspects and behaviors of soldiers. Although
Massing does not mention this, I was reminded of what T.S. Elliot wrote: Human kind
cannot stand very much reality. Although American soldiers have reached out to Iraqis in
outstanding acts of charity, Massing mentions a number of books and articles by soldiers
that give a truly ―un-sanitized‖ look at the horror of the Iraq war.
The Epilogue is by George Soros, who offers his thoughts on an ―Open Society
Reconsidered.‖ Soros is no friend of current ―conservative‖ administration, but he does
argue that ―both Democrats and Republicans engage in deliberate deception‖ even if the
radical right has more money to spend and is therefore more effective at it.
I have not done justice to this collection in my brief sketches. Whether I agreed with a
writer or not, upon a second reading I found the anthology even more worthwhile. Orwell
struck a deep chord for good, honest journalism that he believed was necessary for human
freedom. Times have changed but the need for good journalism has not.
Joseph P. Szimhart
