# What the fuck is wrong with CNN? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663 "2002-05-24T14:41:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/61 "2002-05-27T10:06:26Z")
**Tuckerfan** , why does any country or people get its panties in a twist over any land/self-determination dispute? In a nutshell, AFAIK, when India was partitioned, the Hindu ruler of the majority Muslim state of Kashmir decided to throw his lot in with Hindu India rather than Muslim Pakistan. All other cock-ups stem from here. [More information here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/default.stm), and a [longer timescale with a political slant here](http://www.kashmir-information.com/chronology.html). ---
**Author:** ![Chupacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chupacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chupacabra)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/62 "2002-05-27T10:51:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > \*\* Stop trying to defend American journalism. It is there to sell papers \*\* Any the foreign press isn’t? I had no idea that the press in other countries isn’t concerned with making a profit. ---
**Author:** ![Chupacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chupacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chupacabra)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/63 "2002-05-27T11:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Will someone please explain to me why these two countries have their panties in a bunch over Kashmir? From what I understand the place is mostly sand and rock, with very few natural resources. \*\* I was wondering the very same thing just the other night while I was drunk on Bourbon Street, so I asked the Pakistani guy who was in charge of one of the gift shops next to Pat O’Brien’s. He said that even though the rift between Muslim and Hindu tends to motivate a lot of it, that water rights also play a large role. Apparently, quite a bit of the fresh water supply for those countries originates in the snow meltoff from the mountains of Kashmir, or so he said. It seemed like a pretty good answer to me, but then again, he’s just a guy who sells beads in New Orleans and I was just a drunk fool wandering the streets. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/64 "2002-05-27T11:04:00Z")
Well, you could make quite a good case for the BBC… ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/65 "2002-05-27T11:05:20Z")
Bugger. Mine was in response to the “all press looking to make a profit” post. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/66 "2002-05-27T11:15:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chupacabra \* > **Any the foreign press isn’t? I had no idea that the press in other countries isn’t concerned with making a profit.** Well to name two, the BBC (UK) and RTE (Ireland) are both state-funded bodies with supposedly no political agenda, and less profit-oriented drive than, say, Sky News. Think NPR with a bigger budget. I have a theory that because Sky News has to compete with the BBC and RTE, it’s not as commercial (= shit) as it could be. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/67 "2002-05-27T11:23:31Z")
I did not mean to imply that Sky News isn’t shit. It’s really shit. Its habit of making a drama out of a non-event is woeful. As was the glitch in the breaking news flag the other day that made it say “ **Remains found: Bush arrives in Germany** ”. Just not as shit as it could have become (think ‘News Bunny’) without independent competition. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/68 "2002-05-27T13:35:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chupacabra \* > \*\*It seemed like a pretty good answer to me, but then again, he’s just a guy who sells beads in New Orleans and I was just a drunk fool wandering the streets. \*\* The guy with the beads pretty much has it right. There’s a lot of irrigation projects going on in that part of the world, and whoever owns Kashmir can pretty well turn the tap off for the other. Pakistan is particularly vulnerable this way. That’s the **real** reason behind it, but of course the authorities of both countries don’t mind stirring up a bit of religious differences and the mess that British post-colonial partitioning left in order to get popular support. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/69 "2002-05-27T19:17:23Z")
Um…who IS this guy who is so loaded he can construct a roller coaster in his backyard? And how big is said backyard? And is he single? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/70 "2002-05-28T12:27:12Z")
All I have to say is that they need to calm the hell down indefinitely, or at least wait until after June 13th (when my boyfriend flies out of India). I’m getting more worried every day. Oh, and to the asshat who suggested “population control”: besides the blatantly obvious fact that taking human life = bad, many, many people in _gasp!_ the US have loved ones in that part of the world right now, and would prefer that it not get blown the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663/71 "2002-05-28T12:31:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tsarina \* > **many people in _gasp!_ the US have loved ones in that part of the world right now** Not to mention all the people from Pakistan and India who have loved ones in that part of the world… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-cnn/110663.md?page=3)