The Ant Can't...

Congratulations are in order. Cuban bloggers in the United States have finally breached the great media wall of propaganda. Through the efforts of George at The Real Cuba, among others, and the courage of Dr. Darsi Ferrer the truth about Cuban health care has been seen nationally, not once but twice, first on ABC, then last night on Fox News. Read all about it on Babalublog, if you haven't already.

Watching the interview last night, I had a moment of epiphany. As I watched both Hannity and Colmes try to co-opt the Cuban truth by enmeshing it in the debate over nationalized health care, I was incredibly proud of George's dignity in staking out his own territory. He made it abundantly clear that his sole concern was to expose the truth about the Cuban healthcare system. On ABC, Stossel had also used the Cuban angle as a means of questioning Moore's whole thesis. Then at some point, it hit me. The plight of Cubans was irrelevant, except in so far as it could be used to fight over domestic policies. They just don't care.

So why am I optimistic? In a word: exposure. For too long now, it is the regime that has controlled the discussion, but maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of change. No longer can the MSM count on their bogus claims and shoddy reporting going unchallenged. And every time they are challenged, the discussion is slowly, tortuously being reframed and the consciousness of the American public raised. And while NBC has garnered criticism, rightfully so, for not using the footage Dr. Ferrer risked so much to get, it was the first network to question the healthcare shibboleth. Where are CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC? Well, if we look at the trajectory, it was Sanjay Gupta who first took on Sicko. Then Stossel picked it up with the teaser. Last night Fox presented a more complete report. Can they be that far behind? At what point does the pain of being scooped overcome the desperate need to not upset the apple cart? Only time will tell. And we'll be watching.