Counterbias: Hannity, Just Answer the Question

Hannity, Just Answer the Question

April 10 2006
Counterbias.com
by Rosemarie Jackowski

The April 6th Hannity and Colmes program on Fox News was announced as a debate between Ward Churchill and David Horowitz. According to the Fox News web site it was really a debate between Churchill and Horowitz as well as Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes. Anyone who has studied the works of Churchill knows that he could take on a hundred Hannities, so the fact that this debate placed Churchill against 3 opponents is not important. Nor is it important that no normal rules of debate or discourse were followed. I have never seen Hannity debate anyone. His normal method is to interrogate rather than converse with anyone that holds a view that is different from his. His style of interrogation is designed to prevent any view other than his own from being expressed. He is a master of ad hominem attacks.

In the April 6th program Hannity reached a new low, as he questioned the "soul" of Churchill. The implication of course was that anyone who does not agree with Hannity on the war must have a deficiency of their "soul". In spite of the Hannity tirade Churchill made some important points. Part of Churchill's argument was that the families of the dead Iraqi civilians should be shown some compassion. Churchill challenged Hannity with this point. The point that Churchill made is still hanging out in the airways and waiting for an answer from Hannity or anyone else at FOX. The quote below is taken from the Fox News web site.

"...CHURCHILL: Have I heard an apology from anyone offended with what it was that I had to say, which was to try to establish that a fundamental reality is they were no less valuable, no less human, no less immiserated than anyone on 9/11? The only real distinction in that regard is there's a whole lot more of them..."

Churchill was again making the same point that he has made hundreds of times before in his speaking and in his writings. That point is that the Iraqis we refer to as "collateral damage" are also human beings. Also human are the 500,000 dead Iraqi children that Madeline Albright referred to when she said their deaths were worth it to advance U.S. policies.

Many in the US who share Hannity's views prefer to think of the slaughtered Iraqi civilians as some lesser form of humanity. Churchill challenges that view at every opportunity. So do I, and so do millions around the world. The idea that there are lesser forms of humanity has been offensive to most on the planet since 1940 Germany. That is one era in history from which we should have learned.

It is normal for Hannity to throw a trick question at his guest. When the guest tries to answer in some detail, Hannity prevents discussion by shouting, "Just answer the question."

Now I will reverse that process and ask Hannity to "Just answer the question". Just answer the question that Churchill asked while on the program -- he asked Hannity whether he would apologize to the families of the slaughtered Iraqis.

"...CHURCHILL: Right after your apology to the Iraqis who have lost loved ones, Sean. And that predates what it is you're talking about. I'm still waiting for your apology...." (Fox News)

I do not expect Hannity to offer an apology to the people of Iraq. History has shown that those who believe in a superior race do not often apologize for their atrocities.

Rosemarie Jackowski (dissent@sover.net) is an advocacy journalist living in Vermont.