Malice
Member
I am taking a special studies class at my university called Historical Perspectives on Political Terrorism. It is my favorite class. The teacher is brilliant, with tons of real-world experience, Armed Sercives Committee staffer for Sen. John Warner, she still works for DHS as an advisor on issue of terrorism.
Anyway, I am doing 2 papers for it right now. One is a book review, one is a profile of a terrorist organization. I picked Hezbollah, so I read a book about Hezbollah to do my review on. Two birds with one stone, right?
So I bought and read Lightning out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil. I read the book, and kind of liked it. It is very interesting, about how a sleeper cell in North Carolina smuggled cigarettes to Michigan, and made tens of millions of dollars to send back to Hezbollah. They got caught, prosecuted, etc. It was VERY informative.
However, for a political science book, it was very sensationalized. Lots of over-sexed imagery, exagerations, etc. Also, I noticed a lot of wierd stuff about guns. Anytime a gun was mentioned, it was hyped and read like somthing from the Bradys. There was also a couple pages about how one of the guys bought AK parts to ship to Lebanon. Why would they need to ship AK parts to Lebanon? I assume they have lots.
Anyway, I start my review. I wanted to look up the credentials of the authors before I started. The book was by Tom Diaz and Barbara Newman. So first I turn to the About the Authors page.
"Tom Diaz is the authos of Making a Killing: The Busniess of Guns in America..."
I literaly dropped the book. THAT TOM DIAZ? It all fell into place. The sensationalized crap, the exagerations, the AWB-style gun imagery... THAT TOM DIAZ?
I can't believe I supported this guy! I gave him MY money! Arrhggggg...
So I decided to exact a small bit of revenge. Here is an excerpt from my review.
However, the devil is in the details, and the devil is in this case Tom Diaz. Diaz is a farcical excuse for a journalist, thoroughly discredited in circles of serious discussion. He is known to make up absurd facts to advance the agenda of the Violence Policy Center, an anti-gun interest group of which he is the director. His specialty is in sensationalizing an issue to the point of absurdity. Diaz is a political hack, and it shows. The reader can tell the parts that he wrote; they are sensationalized, over-the-top scare-tactics, and unnecessary background noise in the invigorating and pertinent story of how Hezbollah terrorist sleeper cells operated under the radar for years in the very center of America’s heartland.
Ugh!
How do I redeem myself. Donate to the NRA? Purchase my next years membership in advance? Sign up for their credit card? Buy some pro-gun books?
Help!
Anyway, I am doing 2 papers for it right now. One is a book review, one is a profile of a terrorist organization. I picked Hezbollah, so I read a book about Hezbollah to do my review on. Two birds with one stone, right?
So I bought and read Lightning out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil. I read the book, and kind of liked it. It is very interesting, about how a sleeper cell in North Carolina smuggled cigarettes to Michigan, and made tens of millions of dollars to send back to Hezbollah. They got caught, prosecuted, etc. It was VERY informative.
However, for a political science book, it was very sensationalized. Lots of over-sexed imagery, exagerations, etc. Also, I noticed a lot of wierd stuff about guns. Anytime a gun was mentioned, it was hyped and read like somthing from the Bradys. There was also a couple pages about how one of the guys bought AK parts to ship to Lebanon. Why would they need to ship AK parts to Lebanon? I assume they have lots.
Anyway, I start my review. I wanted to look up the credentials of the authors before I started. The book was by Tom Diaz and Barbara Newman. So first I turn to the About the Authors page.
"Tom Diaz is the authos of Making a Killing: The Busniess of Guns in America..."
I literaly dropped the book. THAT TOM DIAZ? It all fell into place. The sensationalized crap, the exagerations, the AWB-style gun imagery... THAT TOM DIAZ?
I can't believe I supported this guy! I gave him MY money! Arrhggggg...
So I decided to exact a small bit of revenge. Here is an excerpt from my review.
However, the devil is in the details, and the devil is in this case Tom Diaz. Diaz is a farcical excuse for a journalist, thoroughly discredited in circles of serious discussion. He is known to make up absurd facts to advance the agenda of the Violence Policy Center, an anti-gun interest group of which he is the director. His specialty is in sensationalizing an issue to the point of absurdity. Diaz is a political hack, and it shows. The reader can tell the parts that he wrote; they are sensationalized, over-the-top scare-tactics, and unnecessary background noise in the invigorating and pertinent story of how Hezbollah terrorist sleeper cells operated under the radar for years in the very center of America’s heartland.
Ugh!
How do I redeem myself. Donate to the NRA? Purchase my next years membership in advance? Sign up for their credit card? Buy some pro-gun books?
Help!
