JS enclosed this into a wine bottle UPC bar code using his stegographic skills.

Dear the The Czar,

Have you seen the news articles about the poor female reporter who was assaulted during the celebrations in Cairo? I was reading about this and it made me think of the ties between machismo and misogyny. I know that, for instance, Italy is a fairly macho country, and one where American girls can expect to be hit on 24/7 (unless they have a guy with them to scare off the locals). I have heard it is even worse in Middle Eastern Arabic countries (i.e. not Israel), where an American girl can expect to be verbally harassed or assaulted on a daily basis and physically assaulted at some point during her visit. It seems like these places have a real problem (in Italy it’s mostly because they’ve heard that Americans are easy, and in Arab countries it’s because they know all Americans are easy). I also think Islam and Arabic interpretations of Islam are also to blame in the Middle East.

What think ye?

God Bless,

JS

Eeesh. The Czar was afraid someone would ask about this. For the record, what happened to the CBS reporter was horrific and reprehensible, and thank God the military came to her rescue. We cannot fathom the extent of her injuries, and frankly, the Czar hopes she recovers fully and promptly from this horror and that we don’t learn of the particulars, which must be thoroughly nauseating. May her comeback be full and swift, and that she can dismiss this as some bad dream not worth thinking about.

That said, some of the Czar’s personal thoughts are dangerously critical, and he hopes that no one misunderstands them as misogynistic. He dreads some of his colleagues here at the Castle may find some of these thoughts overly critical. But the Czar cannot escape certain thoughts, so here they are.

The mainstream news organizations were horribly naive about what was going on. Certainly, they failed to understand what was happening in Egypt, despite numerous warnings from multiple sources here and abroad about the ugly seriousness of the situation. Instead, the college kids who run profressional news these days thought this was their Berlin 1989 moment, and that they were witnessing history turning an ugly page. Let’s get people on the ground, in the streets, and get the cameras rolling as part of the celebration. It’ll be as fun as the Olympics!

What these kids should have appreciated, had they showed up to Sociology 101 that day, was that mob action is never benign. Ever. Ever. Positive consequences can sometimes result from mobs, but mobs by definition are an unthinking force. They do what they do. Often, good people instantly become monsters in a mob.

The media’s first warning that this wasn’t another Obama rally was when Anderson Cooper was attacked…not once, but at least three times within a 24-hour period. The news organizations got a clear (and thankfully mild, by comparison) warning that you need to get these people out of there. You need to use the same security, local protection, and protocols as covering a firefight in Afghanistan. Instead, waves of celebrities eagerly trying to establish this gravitas street cred as embedded journalists. It happens time and again—look at Bob Woodruff, who by all stretch of the imagination was experienced in combat journalism. He would now approach these situations very differently.

So the Czar is compelled to wonder…what the hell was Ms. Logan doing in the middle of a riot—one so bad that she became separated from her crew? What director is reponsible for telling her to stay in there, and that everything would work out? We saw reports about how Egyptians were barricading themselves in their homes and covering the doors with weapons due to the hooliganism going outside?

Sorry, but as much as we want to wring our hands, this type of attack should have been completely forseeable. Now, JS asks about local culture. And maybe that was a contributing factor—yes, in some places, Americans are perceived as needing to be taught a lesson for the immorality (possibly including the White House). But that makes no difference: the horrible reality is that this could have occurred just about anywhere in the world a mob gathers.

And for CBS News (as well as many other organizations) to have ignored this reality makes them culpable for what followed. Thank God she lived, and again, let us hope her recovery is brief and complete. But now would be a good time for CBS News to meet with their legal department and decide how they will cover these events in the future. Maybe fewer celebrities hoping for a mild scar on the wrist. Maybe more experienced teams with the skills to recognize danger, protect themselves, and escape. Maybe with less theme music and you-are-there! reporting.

Of course, there is another danger that, like what is happening in the Ivory Coast and elsewhere, they will be too scared to cover it at all.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.