NATO disbanded by the NYT
For the eagle-eyed observers of bad journalism (and out of work sub-editors. Ed.), page A8 of the New York Times on Friday 3rd April was a facepalming classic, given that getting proper names correct is something that should be hammered into journalists during their training.
Yes, you did read that correctly. With one flourish of fingers across the keyboard, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been transformed into the North American Treaty Organization by a New York Times ‘journalist’ seemingly unaware of a relatively common fact-checking tool commonly known to humanity as 5 minutes’ Googling*.
However, to be fair to the NYT, it did post an apology the same day of X, the alleged social media platform that used to be known as Twitter.
According to Wikipedia, NATO “serves as a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any outside party. This is enshrined in Article 5** of the treaty, which states that an armed attack against one member shall be considered an attack against them all“.
Just like the British/English, the inhabitants of the 50 federal states comprising the USA have a well-developed sense of exceptionalism, i.e. the idea that a person, country or political system can be allowed to be different from, and perhaps better than, others. This is perhaps best embodied by John Gast’s 1872 painting, American Progress, which depicts buffalo and the original indigenous inhabitants fleeing before the relentless advance of the railway, the telegraph (with the figure of Columbia stringing the wire, possibly as a precursor to Glenn Campbell’s 1968 Wichita Lineman. Ed.), so-called settlers and the stage coach.
* = Other search engines are available that do not invade your privacy and sell your data to advertisers. 😀
** = Article 5 of the NATO Treaty dealing with mutual defence has only been invoked on one occasion; and that was by, erm, the United States.