Sat 13 Aug 2005
I found dealing with the press yesterday very depressing. Not one person from the press was interested in finding out why the defendants in the Help the Needy case continue to be tainted with the charge of terrorism, and yet were denied the right to defend themselves against this charge at trial. What seems to me to be a key issue in this case was an irrelevance to the reporter from channel 10. He refused to listen to my question or my suggestion that he ask the government the same question about terrorism that he had asked Osameh Al Wahaidy. How can a democracy flourish, or even survive, in such a climate from the press?
I found consolation in the words of the artist Kurt Vonnegut:
“Still and all, why bother? Here’s my answer: Many people need desperately to receive this message. ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things that you care about, although most people don’t care about them. You are not alone.'”