Thin-skinned bob

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Last updated on August 9th, 2017 at 07:34 am

Fisking Central notes the following item in Private Eye:

Interviewing John Malkovich in the Observer two months ago, Lynn Barber asked about his alleged hatred of Robert Fisk, the Indie’s Middle East correspondent.

“No one has thinner skins than journalists, in my experience, and I come from a family of them,” he replied. “They can dish it out, but they can’t take it. But the reason I don’t like the topic, why I don’t really say anything about a whiner like Fisk, is it gives them more oxygen.”

Prescient words: Fisk’s lawyers fired off a letter threatening to sue. The Observer has now been forced to apologise and to remove all Malkovich’s comments about the Indie hack from its online archive – thus giving him even less oxygen.

Fisk, naturally, is yet to apologise for his recent claim that “Israeli missiles had pierced the very centre of the red cross painted on the roof” of two Red Cross ambulances. Speaking of which, wouldn’t that ambulance story make an excellent MythBusters episode? Fisk could play the role of the driver, protected from missile blast by the sturdy driver’s canopy.

UPDATE. Dan Lewis:

Regular viewers of Mythbusters know that where they attempt to recreate a scenario according to the urban myth and can’t (busting the myth) they then try to recreate it using various additional props and technology.

In this case, it would be a crappy episode. They couldn’t recreate the ambulance missile strike as reported, for it’s absolutely impossible to recreate what Fisk, Chulov and others reported.

Posted by Tim B. on 10/01/2006 at 12:36 AM
    1. ”…protected from missile blast by the sturdy driver’s canopy.”

      If the canopy itself is sturdy enough, then the driver doesn’t need to be. That’s important if a perilously thin-skinned journalist like Fisk is the driver—then don’t stint on the canopy!

      Posted by ForNow on 2006 10 01 at 12:52 AM • permalink

 

    1. Tongue-twister, try to say it three times fast. Teach it to the children:

      “Thin-skinned Fisk is a missile risk.”

      Posted by ForNow on 2006 10 01 at 01:19 AM • permalink

 

    1. wouldn’t that ambulance story make an excellent MythBusters episode

      No.

      Regular viewers of Mythbusters know that where they attempt to recreate a scenario according to the urban myth and can’t (busting the myth) they then try to recreate it using various additional props and technology.

      In this case, it would be a crappy episode. They couldn’t recreate the ambulance missile strike as reported, for it’s absolutely impossible to recreate what Fisk, Chulov and others reported.

      I think the whole story would be more suited to Penn and Teller’s show Bullshit on Channel Nine.

      Posted by Dan Lewis on 2006 10 01 at 01:33 AM • permalink

 

    1. I agree with #3. The episode would go something like: Adam and Jaimie track down an ambulance. Then, reproducing the myth, they have a missile fired from an Israeli aircraft (which is actually a few pounds of dynamite placed on a I-beam that is suspended on a quick-release above the vehicle) detonate inside the ambulence, thus destroying the ambulence completely as well as the myth. With the most spectacular portion of the myth out of the way, the remaining 45 minutes consists of Adam and Jaimie tracking down another ambulence and wailing on it with random hand-held tools to recreate the effects of the myth, which would be boring.

      Plus, Penn and Teller can say “Fuck you” to Reuters and not be bleeped.

      Posted by JSchuler on 2006 10 01 at 01:43 AM • permalink

 

    1. Hhhmm, first find a ‘bloodless model victim’ to have a leg sheered off and cauterised at he same time, then find a secret Israeli ‘very localised blast’ missile to hit the leg but not explode [except for a loud bang and a flash of light], then disappear without trace, then show how ‘rockets’ can also explode around the ambulance without causing any damage to its sides, then investigate ‘instant rust’ issues and strange-looking external roof holes done by ‘small arms fire from a drone’, then show how possibly septic wounds heal overnight, then….

      Are you talking about a whole new SERIES?

      Posted by Barrie on 2006 10 01 at 02:36 AM • permalink

 

    1. Surprisingly the ambulance missile strike hasn’t yet made it onto http://snopes.com/snopes.asp

      Posted by JAFA on 2006 10 01 at 03:15 AM • permalink

 

    1. #6
      That’s because they are called “Urban Legends”, not fucking bald-faced lies.

      Posted by kae on 2006 10 01 at 05:21 AM • permalink

 

    1. Difficult to understand what’s libellous about that.

      Posted by phoenix55 on 2006 10 01 at 06:49 AM • permalink

 

    1. John Malkovich is one brilliant man.  I greatly respect this person, before because of his excellent acting, and now because his lucid and insightful takes on current events.

      Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 01 at 07:51 AM • permalink

 

    1. #4
      But the part where they recreate the myth with a real Israeli hellfire missile would be brilliant, especially with FIsk in the driver’s seat.

      Posted by Rachel Corrie’s Flatmate on 2006 10 01 at 07:58 AM • permalink

 

    1. I always thought John Malkovich was kind of creepy (mostly because of all the creepy villains he’s played), but he has certainly risen in my estimation.  He turns out to be a highly intelligent man with some insight.  Good to know not every in Hollywood is a moron.

      Robert Fisk, on the other hand…

      Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 10 01 at 09:54 AM • permalink

 

    1. Fisk takes offense to being called thin skinned and then proves the point by calling out the lawyers……he is an unbelievabley unpleasant person altogether.

      Posted by debi L. on 2006 10 01 at 11:27 AM • permalink

 

    1. Debi,
      Makes him a good match for his militant Muslim pals who, incensed at the comment that Islam preaches violence, want to kill innocent people in the name of Islam to prove the opposite.

      I become more convinced every day that both by the letties and by the Muzzie militants, logic is never even tried.

      Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 10 01 at 09:21 PM • permalink

 

    1. I see that Fisk is an upcoming guest on BBC’s Desert Island Disks .

      I wonder whether his eight discs will include any of the following ditties: “Lyin’ Eyes” by the Eagles; “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)” by the Crystals; or “Would I Lie to You?” by the Eurythmics.

      Posted by procrustes on 2006 10 02 at 03:38 AM • permalink

 

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