3leftsdoo
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As liberal and conservative alike rushed to sanctify - if not deify - perky plutocrat spokesmodel Cokie Roberts after her passing, I was immediately reminded of who this woman really was, and her true legacy.
In an infamous Nightline interview, Roberts attacked missionary Sister Dianna Ortiz, a woman who survived rape and torture at the hands of US-backed Guatemalan death squads, repeatedly accusing her of lying.
But as shocking to the conscience as WHAT fortunate daughter Roberts did is, the WHY is even more disturbing; this explanation from the original Wikipedia entry on Roberts, modified/whitewashed after her passing:
While working in Guatemala, Sister Dianna Ortiz, a Catholic nun from New Mexico, was raped and tortured by members of a death squad until a US supervisor recognized that she was from the US.[13] Although there was no doubt of Ortiz's torture and ample evidence to corroborate her claims of an American supervisor, Roberts insisted that Ortiz was lying in a 1996 interview with Ortiz on the TV show "Nightline." Roberts' brother, Tom Boggs, working for the law firm of "Patton, Boggs, & Blow," was paid by the Guatemalan military to promote a more positive image of the death squads and the military dictatorship in Guatemala.[14]
Like her sister misogynist Hillary Clinton, Cokie Roberts made her bones with the plutocracy by attacking women victimized by sexual violence, and in the case of Sister Ortiz, extreme sexual violence and torture.
Women like Roberts stand not on the shoulders of their sisters before them, but (like drunken murderer Ted Kennedy frantically attempting to escape a sinking car) stand on the faces of female victims.
To see how a truly admirable feminist and journalist handled Sister Ortiz's ordeal, Amy Goodman's coverage of the heroic missionary's story is included below for comparison:
Sister Dianna Ortiz Details Her Abduction and Torture by U.S.-Backed Guatemalan Military | Democracy Now!
In an infamous Nightline interview, Roberts attacked missionary Sister Dianna Ortiz, a woman who survived rape and torture at the hands of US-backed Guatemalan death squads, repeatedly accusing her of lying.
But as shocking to the conscience as WHAT fortunate daughter Roberts did is, the WHY is even more disturbing; this explanation from the original Wikipedia entry on Roberts, modified/whitewashed after her passing:
While working in Guatemala, Sister Dianna Ortiz, a Catholic nun from New Mexico, was raped and tortured by members of a death squad until a US supervisor recognized that she was from the US.[13] Although there was no doubt of Ortiz's torture and ample evidence to corroborate her claims of an American supervisor, Roberts insisted that Ortiz was lying in a 1996 interview with Ortiz on the TV show "Nightline." Roberts' brother, Tom Boggs, working for the law firm of "Patton, Boggs, & Blow," was paid by the Guatemalan military to promote a more positive image of the death squads and the military dictatorship in Guatemala.[14]
Like her sister misogynist Hillary Clinton, Cokie Roberts made her bones with the plutocracy by attacking women victimized by sexual violence, and in the case of Sister Ortiz, extreme sexual violence and torture.
Women like Roberts stand not on the shoulders of their sisters before them, but (like drunken murderer Ted Kennedy frantically attempting to escape a sinking car) stand on the faces of female victims.
To see how a truly admirable feminist and journalist handled Sister Ortiz's ordeal, Amy Goodman's coverage of the heroic missionary's story is included below for comparison:
Sister Dianna Ortiz Details Her Abduction and Torture by U.S.-Backed Guatemalan Military | Democracy Now!
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