CNN's"Scream Bloody Murder" Revisited

In "Scream Bloody murder," a 90-minute CNN documentary, Chief International Correspondent, Ms. Christiane Amanpour, adroitly served the Armenian genocide victims a slice of history that had more holes in it than Swiss-cheese -- no substance -- nor acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century.

There is no doubt in my mind, after watching the program for a 2nd time, that the mere 45 fleeting seconds given to the Armenians was out of pure necessity to get her story airborne to levels of genocide relevancy. She knew that the skeletal remains of the Armenian holocaust victims was the only runway suited to handle heavy loads of post-Armenian-genocide calamities. As she taxied her proverbial plane masterfully for 45-seconds past dead bodies of the first genocide victims of the century, she quickly navigated away from the Anatolian killing fields without a call nor a whisper of bloody murder.

From the outset, Ms. Amanpour knew full well that she could not have painted her 'Scream Bloody Murder' tableau effectively without dipping her dry brush in Armenian-genocide-victims' blood first. Despite of this, not a single person (except unpunished perpetrators) would have objected had Ms. Amanpour once screamed bloody murder on behalf of the Armenian victims as she did volubly and admirably for the other six.

Incidentally, December 9 marked the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Genocides. Thanks to Raphael Lemkin, who spent a chunk of time inordinately larger than 45 seconds (Ms. Amanpour's ration) agonizing over the slaughtering of the Armenians ( just before the Jewish holocaust) when he eventually coined the word "genocide" from the Greek and Latin root words "genos-cide," meaning "tribe, race" and" kill" respectively.

In her report, Ms. Amanpour says: for the better part of the past year I have been interviewing people who found themselves witnessing history that made them scream bloody murder. I truly appreciate her worthy efforts and she needs to be applauded for her great work.

Now, here is my question to you Ms. Amanpour: Did you, by any chance, look for any Armenian genocide witnesses at any time? Better yet, did you look for any Armenian genocide survivors? By the way, there are still few left and they would have hurried to you in their wheelchairs to "Scream bloody Murder" if you had only given them a chance. So, frankly, did the idea of listening to Armenian survivors' accounts ever cross your mind, Ms. Amanpor? If it did, who and what made you change your mind? You see, some of those centigenarian survivors endured long grueling flights to Washington DC last year to witness the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopt the resolution, which calls on U.S. Foreign policy to properly reflect the genocide of over 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923 in Ottoman Turkey -- You see, they do come if asked. But you regrettably ignored them.

Ms. Amanpour, I pray to God, that someday you muster the moral fortitude to seek out these Armenian survivors and, then, make an unabridged documentary -- please listen attentively to their feeble voices as they have much to tell.

You also said in your report: will we ever learn? or will I or my children or my successors be reporting on this same kind of atrocity and inhumanity for years and years to come? The answer is: A resounding YES -- Genocides will be reported by you and others for years to come if they continue to be told in duplicitous versions.

If This Song Can't Move You Neither Could a Crane

I was fortunate to stumble upon this doleful melody of ethereal beauty and wanted to share it with my guests along with my thoughts and feelings -- You may not have a pulse, if this song, "Andouni," by Isabel Bayrakdarian, does not transport you beyond all normal sensory channels of emotions you presumed didn't own; You may not have a spirit, if it does not outstretch your raw feelings to breaking point through its high-strung vibes of harmonic pain you didn't know existed; and you may not have a soul, if it does not shatter your hardened mind to smithereens with its impassioned tug at your heartstrings and, still, refuse to acknowledge it.

ENJOY!

CNN's "Scream Bloody Murder" is "Bloody Shame Whisper"

Last night I watched CNN's powerful broadcast documentary entitled "Scream Bloody Murder," by the highly talented reporter, Christiane Amanpour who delivered a very compelling look at Genocides throughout "history," except her recollection of genocidal accounts of history was on a tad shorter temporal leash than the victims of the Armenian genocide would have liked to see.

Amanpour commands my utmost respect, though, for shining megawatt-rich spotlight on the spine-chilling events of the Jewish Holocaust, and all subsequent genocides of Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. But, unfortunately, she failed to generate a mere milliwatt of fleeting light on the first genocide of the century: The Armenian genocide.

Nonetheless, the indefatigable CNN reporter did some good -- though, not quite enough -- by informing the general public about the roles of those courageous heroes who saw and understood evil -- and 'screamed bloody murder' to the deaf ears of international leaders to heed their call for action.

Amanpour, by the power of her camera and microphone, breathed life to the screaming voices of the forgotten activists, and deservedly amplified the "bloody murder" calls of the moral few, such as: Eli Wiesel, Father Francois Ponchaud, Peter Galbraith, Richard Holbrook, Romeo Dallaire and other unsung heroes, but Amanpour chose dead silence instead to the screams of Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time of the Armenian Genocide -- Morgenthau too, 'screamed bloody murder.' Give that honorable man some credit and the 1.5 million Armenian victims some respect.

You see, Amanpour's failure to mention the "screams" of Henry Morgenthau and others is an unfortunate continuum of a political play. Even worse, when a reputable reporter such as Amanpour chooses to silence the calls of equally deserving fine men, then it does create the ultimate hypocritical human-rights rat's nest that no one could ever get out of unscathed. The timing of this matter is specially significant and doubly important as the reporter tries to bring attention to genocides on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of UN Convention of Genocide and Human Rights, which, by the way, was authored by Raphael Lemkin who coined the word "genocide."

Amanpour's approach to subtractive journalism in her "Scream Bloody Murder" is flawed and it is a little disrespectful to the legacy of Raphael Lemkin who gave us the word "genocide." Hello, the man was describing the systematic slaughter of the Armenians, repeat, the slaughter of the Armenians, not some imaginary people nor a hypothetical race when he coined the word "genocide."

So, if the death of 1.5 million Armenian victims could have given birth to a word named "genocide," just as Lemkin did to legally define holocaust. Then, how could they not apply that "word" back to its source where it belongs? just as Lemkin had done and intended. Amanpour's report, unfortunately, could have, just as easily, been titled "Bloody Shame Whisper" without missing a beat.

Hypocrisy and muddy moral standards in matters of genocide-justice has never worked (as demonstrated by their frequency) -- brace yourselves, as there is an ongoing genocide in Darfur as we speak and I'm sure many more are likely to happen soon.