Afghanistanism (1955)

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Wed Jun 15 07:17:08 UTC 2005


AFGHANISTANISM
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Village Voice, June 15-21, 2005, Press Clips by Sydney H. Schanberg, pg. 30, col. 3:
In American journalism, the phenomenon of not covering your own backyard too aggressively is sardonically called "Afghanistanism."
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It's often said that Anthony Lukas coined this in 1974, but that's way off.
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http://www.umich.edu/~newsbias/geography.html

In 1974, the term "Afghanistanism" was given its current meaning by Anthony Lukas, a reporter for the New York Times. By this term, Lukas meant that writers felt that news about something happening far away was less important, and that as such the media coverage was likely to be more biased of such articles.
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(OED)
Afghanistanism
Preoccupation (esp. of journalists) with events far distant, as a diversion from controversial issues at home (see quots.).

1961 H. B. JACKSON Mass Communications Dict. 6 Afghanistanism, a criticism leveled against newspaper editors for avoiding community causes and issues and for advocating causes and issues far enough away to remain unchallenged by unoriented readers. 1971 Observer 12 Sept. 7/4 The ?radical chic? find indignation easier about injustices in far-away America or Russia than those in our own midst: I believe this syndrome is called Afghanistanism. 1976 Maclean's Mag. 28 June 52 Afghanistanism..is a malady that encourages pontification on problems far distant while conveniently ignoring the home front. 1980 National Jrnl. (U.S.) XII. IV. 153 In 1980,..with events in Afghanistan applying with deadly relevance to vital U.S. interests, President Carter has successfully contrived to give the practice of ?Afghanistanism? a totally opposite meaning. 1982 Business Week 14 June 15/1 Critics once scoffed that certain segments of the U.S. press suffered from ?Afghanistanism?... The malady..now deserves another name.
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(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Light in the Ivory Tower
The Washington Post and Times Herald (1954-1959). Washington, D.C.: Oct 13, 1955. p. 14 (1 page) :
The editorial writers meeting here will not confine themselves to self-critcism; they will make a brief study of the Supreme Court and hear discussions on foreign policy and atomic warfare. But their knives will be especially whetted to dissect such editorial sins as Afghanistanism (in which the writer finds it safer to lambaste a foreign despot than to tackle a controversial issue);...
(National Conference of Editorial Writers--ed.)
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MISC.
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GREATEST THING SINCE...
"Finally I find irritating the tone of dismissal used when referring to our Manhattanville residents and the obvious delight at Columbia plans as if they were the greatest thing since dry socks."--Village Voice, pg. 9, col. 1.
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MANZANA PRINCIPAL
"Manzana Principal" seems to have suddenly crept into the Wikipedia page for "the Big Apple." I'm now on a number of Wikipedia pages, including a new page for "TAD" Dorgan. My pay is zilch. I don't contribute to Wikipedia to work for free, but maybe someone can tell them that "Manzana Principal" has not a single historical citation to its credit.
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AMAZON & REVIEWS
I wrote the first Amazon review for the Encyclopedia of New York State. I've done this before, and they really hate it when the first review is negative, or ANY review is negative. In the past, they've tried to withhold my review, or to run a fake favorable review right alongside it specifically to counter what I've said. They've also clicked on the "Was this review helpful--NO" button immediately, and that happened again. Six people read the review and said it was not helpful, within, like, one hour? Well, Amazon is there to sell books, not to get the facts straight in them.



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