Mass Media and Class Media

The New York Times published a one page article titled “Clinton Caves In” on the top left hand side of the newspaper, written by Bob Herbert, criticizing former President Bill Clinton for not keeping his promise on allowing all citizens to serve openly in the military, regardless of their sexual orientation. The opening sentence got straight to the point, “He didn’t fight, he caved”, implying that he “caved” after his concept of policy introduced as a compromise measure in 1993 was rejected by Congress. Herbert described Clinton supporters as being “deceived” and “disillusioned” for his broken promise of lifting the ban on forbidding gays from serving openly in the military while campaigning for the Presidency. Thomas B. Stoddard, director of the Campaign for Military Service, which doesn’t support the ban on gays in the military said commented on Clinton’s action and said “He raised this issue as a matter of principle. You can’t simply split the difference on matters or p
rinciple.” Herbert furthers Stoddard’s argument and said “Not only does Bill Clinton think he can split the difference, he’s apparently quite comfortable dispensing with principle altogether. In this case the President has signed off on an absurd policy that has been dubbed ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”
    The writer gives two scenarios on why he feels the “silly” term, “don’t ask, don’t tell” is appropriate. Imagine soldiers and sailors going to a gay bar and not getting kicked out , however, if they were to acknowledge that they went to the gay bar because they were gay, you bet they would be thrown off. The second scenario describes a heterosexual   person engaging in a casual conversation and if asked about his sexuality, he could respond in all honesty, but if one asked a gay soldier, he wouldn’t be able to respond or tell the truth. Herbert then analyzes the situation and states, “In other words, we are implementing a national policy which requires individuals who are doing nothing wrong to...