25 Nissan 5781
Day 10 of the Omer
Day 10 of the Omer
I guess it is time to explain my personal ban on using Arutz Sheva as a primary source on this blog.
Twenty years ago, I interviewed a substantial figure in Jerusalem. I wrote an article about it, including quotes from the interview and sent it to my email list at the time. Someone at A7 contacted me and asked to reprint it and I agreed. However, I was shocked and angered when I saw my article on their site and one of the quotes had been changed with the quotation marks intact and no hint to readers that it had instead been paraphrased according to their editorial understanding.
I contacted them immediately to register my complaint and to find out when the rules of journalism had changed to allow words within a direct quote to be changed and still be represented as a direct quote. With no shame, they informed me that they knew what he meant by what he had said, so they made that meaning clearer. In point of fact, they had changed the meaning of what was very clearly articulated, no doubt because they disagreed with it and worried about its impact on their readership.
I never trusted what they reported 100% again and in my pique out of my enduring love for the truth, I swore not to use them as a source ever again. I no longer harbor ill feelings towards them, but I am bound by that oath. Every time I sort of regret it, I get a little reminder. If I see a story there and can't find it repeated elsewhere, it often turns out that it was a mistake. It's not a bad policy to always verify by at least two sources before reporting on anything.
You can agree or disagree, but that's how it is here and now you know.
Here is one notable example of erroneous reporting. Not only was it not corrected, it was not even removed. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge, to date, the Three Gorges Dam in China did not collapse.
Your personal experience sounds frustrating. Over the past year especially, there seems to be a clear agenda on the website - not sure from which angle it's being manipulated (ie, whose agenda is actually being carried out). Stam an example from yesterday:
ReplyDelete"Nissan 24, 5781 , 06/04/21
Car sales hit record numbers
A record number of cars has been sold in Israel since the beginning of 2021, with nearly 103 million more vehicles hitting the road."
That's pretty good for a country of roughly 9 million citizens!
Other "secular" news sites seem so slanted and tumadik - do you have suggestions for "kosher" sources for news, if such a thing isn't an oxymoron and does in fact exist?
There might have been other dam collapses but not the Three Gorges.
ReplyDeleteSorry to go off subject. I just would like to ask you, if I may, how things worked out for your son in Yeshiva? Hope all is well. Your story and the letter you wrote to the Rosh Yeshive really touched me. Brachot rabot for you and all your family.
DeleteAnonymous@1:47PM - Oh my! That works out to a bit more than 10 cars per person. Amazing! Unfortunately, I have no recommendations. In my experience, you just have to do "comparative shopping" and use a sifter.
ReplyDeleteShimshon, the message from Anonymous@4:57PM is for you.
ReplyDeleteA similar thing seems to have happened regarding the new anti-viral nasal spray, Enovid, being sold in New Zealand...or not.
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of writing about it, but it seems that Enovid's parent company, SaNOtize, has been saying it has an agreement to sell to New Zealand, which others have repeated...and the New Zealand health ministry, according to two sources I found, says it's not true. So I'm in a quandary - I feel I have a dog in this fight, so to speak, and the last thing I want to hear is that SaNOtize is lying (Jewish-Israeli CEO...even though it's in CANADA...). Which is what the NZers seem to be saying.
I am really frustrated because I'm looking forward to this remedy/prophylaxis. I know it's being manufactured here in Israel, and as far as I can tell, it'll be sold here starting next month.
Samples of the articles I've been seeing, one from each side, are: No Camels and News Hub NZ.
I'm sitting on it until/if something resolves.
Right. This is a VERY Jewish and Israeli response, well represented by the old joke, about "translations" of Shakespeare into Yiddish. "Verteuscht und verbessert" (meaning: translated [into Yiddish] AND IMPROVED !!!)
ReplyDeleteRight. This is a VERY Jewish and Israeli response, well represented by the old joke, about "translations" of Shakespeare into Yiddish. "Verteuscht und verbessert" (meaning: translated [into Yiddish] AND IMPROVED !!!)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thank you for the good wishes.
ReplyDeleteMy son has still has not received the fake vaccine B"H.
I used to live for many years where his yeshiva is. I returned over Chol Hamoed, and had a wonderful time seeing friends I hadn't seen since before the plandemic.
Why do I mention this? Because, as the time for mincha approached, the first friend I was visiting told me this, and that he would be going to the neighborhood shul I used to frequent. I asked him if I would need a mask to go inside, and he looked at me like I was crazy, so I decided to join him. We get there, and there is no poster at the entrance about a Green Pass. And, as would be expected during Chol Hamoed, the shul was pretty full. That is, crowded. No one kept their distance. There was one man wearing a mask. Numerous old acquaintances approached me to say hello and shake my hand.
It was such a refreshing change from the fear-mongering and compliance where I live now in my dati leumi yishuv. Don't get me wrong. Many charedim have gotten the fake vaccine. The fear mongering has been successful in that regard. But it only goes so far there.
I am very happy to hear that things are well and your son has not been injected with this poison. May Hashem continue to protect you and kol Am Yisroel from every evil. Thank you also for sharing your experience in shul over chol ha'moed. That sounds so refreshing. Sadly, that's not the norm anymore. May we all be zoche to merit the Geula sheleima very soon. Brachot rabot.
DeleteDevash, I realized that Arutz Sheva has gone 'establishment' a long time ago. One cannot trust any of the mainstream news sources anywhere in the world. Shows you, 'trust' is only in Hashem!
ReplyDeleteAlso, those who truly put their trust in H' are the Jews like the ones being written about in comment @6:27 pm!
A7 seems to be backed by some kind of missionary outfit, or at least it behaves as if it is. There are often articles promoting Jewish missionary enablers, Adler, Glick, Gimpel, the xn march on Succot, stuff like that. It also seems to delight in the opening of a new galut in Bahrein, as if it is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAlternative news sources: JewishPress, hidabroot, 0404, kikar. If necessary use google translate. Most of the time, the news repeats itself so you'll soon be well acquainted with the Hebrew.