by Tommy Batboy I want to know what sort of bizzaro world I find myself living in when I have to tip my hat to the European press for doing the right thing, while I am utterly and totally disgusted with our press at home. Sadly, that is the exact situation I find myself in since Matt Drudge has opened his pie hole and done what even the tabloid rags across the pond wouldn’t do – sell out a soldier in combat. By letting the world know about Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan, Drudge was directly responsible for increasing the risk to every British serviceman in Afghanistan, while simultaneously forcing a promising young officer off the field of battle just because he was born into a certain family. Does this make sense to anyone else? While the rest of the twenty-something heiresses and heirs-apparent were arguing over who has done more body shots off of Paris Hilton and generally acting like self-entitled spoiled brats, Harry had been lobbying the British Military command and the section of his family that demand to be called “your royal highness” to let him do his job. Even the anti-war rhetoric that caused the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, and the general opinion of everyone around that he was too important for such duty would not dissuade him. He fought onto the objective, completed the mission, and finally landed in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, Sir. And in an even more amazing Christmas miracle everyone in the British press and all the major news agencies with serious interests in our pint hoisting brethren agreed not to go public with the news until he got back. Imagine CNN; Fox News, the New York Times, and all the tabloids in the United States agreeing to sit on a story for four months. That’s basically what happened in the UK when Prince Harry deployed. What an unbelievable feeling of unity – of patriotism – of sacrificing the almighty dollar, or in this case pound sterling, for a cause bigger than one’s own interests. I believe we refer to such acts as selfless. Enter Matt Drudge. With a click of his mouse the story so many of Harry’s countryman thought could be told after the fact was blasted out to an estimated 600 million people across the world. Did Drudge even take a minute to call the British Government to get a comment or find out more about the story? Perhaps find out why they didn’t want the information released? Did he at least ask his colleagues in the Euro press what was going on? Nah, he just posted. By flapping his gums he put the Prince and his men, true friends and allies in the fight against terror, in more danger. His trademark, “we have a right to know” argument is ludicrous, and tremendously self-serving. It makes me want kick down his door, bundle him up and throw him out the back of a Black Hawk in the middle of the Afghani desert with a sign written in Pashtu, Tajik, and Arabic saying “I’m a booze swilling, pork eating, Allah hating douche.” You aren’t serving a higher calling. You didn’t provide the public with anything they needed to or deserved to know. You didn’t make the world a better place. You gambled with the lives of men far better than you and pissed off a good chunk of the world because it suited your need, made you some money, and gave you another fifteen minutes. And you get to do all of this, because better men – men like Harry - are willing to go to places like Afghanistan and fight on your behalf. I’m embarrassed for you. Welcome to Douchebagistan. They’ve been needing a press secretary. Copyright of Tommy |
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