Word: sham
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Generals' Shame Your cover photo paints a tellingly bleak picture of Burma's suffering [May 19]. It is ludicrous that amid such a catastrophe the military junta asked people to vote on a constitutional referendum to enable their sham "discipline-flourishing democracy." It is even more reprehensible that, while people are starving and dying in the cyclone's wake, the military is hampering the efforts of relief workers. Too bad Burma's resources are not as coveted as those of the Middle East. If they were, surely the U.S. and a coalition of other willing allies would have forced more...
...junta's disregard for its citizens proved itself again on May 10, when the government decided to continue with a constitutional referendum that international observers say is designed to cement its hold on power. Although the sham plebiscite was postponed for two weeks in some of the worst storm-affected areas, other devastated regions were forced to hold the vote. Thousands of soldiers were mobilized to guard polling stations; hundreds of trucks mounted with loudspeakers fanned the nation, urging citizens to vote. Critics wondered how many lives might have been saved if some of those resources had been redeployed instead...
...representatives from Burma's repressive military junta descended on the village. Were they coming to bring badly needed food, water and building materials to the people of Too Chaung? Hardly. Instead, the government men forced villagers to participate in a constitutional referendum that critics have labeled a sham dedicated to legitimizing the military's grip on power. Two days earlier, Min Soe shook his head when I asked whether the plebiscite, which Burma experts believe will be rigged if the results aren't to the ruling generals' liking, would go ahead in Too Chaung. "No, they cannot...
...poorest and most backward countries. Yet the efficiency with which the military has shepherded people to polling stations proves that the junta has plenty of organizational capacity. But for Burma's junta, saving the lives of cyclone Nargis' victims isn't as big a priority as conducting a sham vote. The heartlessness is staggering...
...Modern political journalism is based on the bogus concept of neutrality (that people can be steeped in campaigns yet not care who wins) and the legitimate ideal of fairness (that people can place intellectual integrity and rigor over their rooting interests). Voting and disclosing would expose the sham of neutrality-which few believe anyway-and compel opinion and news writers alike to prove, story by story, that fairness is possible anyway. Partisans, bloggers and media critics are toxically obsessed with ferreting out reporters' preferences; treating them as shameful secrets only makes matters worse...