Our pundits love a stampede: This weekend we had, not the naming of parts, but the killing of pigs.
The children of the mainstream press like no other pastime so much. Everyone gets to attack the same target, and they all get to say the same things!
In Saturday's Washington Post, Monica Hesse wrote an essay on the killing of pigs which was dazzling in its serial lack of logic. But then, she had plenty of company in that morning's Washington Post.
The next day, Donna Edwards chimed in. This morning, up jumped Fred Hiatt.
We'll be looking at some of these essays over the next few days. As always, all the children all agreed that all the pigs had to go. This is the way they've played it for decades:
In accord with Hard Pundit Law, they all agree that the pig must go. Their only assignment is to keep ratcheting up the language. We'll be looking at some of these essays, and at the work of a couple of people who broke every rule in the book, offering words of dissent. (Is McWhorter allowed to say this?)
All in all, the children were sure, over the weekend, that the new racist pigs had to go. Then the Post took a survey of black Virginians, and black Virginians seemed to say, by a margin of 21 points, that they wanted the pigs to stay!
(Given the small sample of black respondents, the margin of error was ten percent. Not that anyone in the press corps could explain margin of error!)
Tomorrow, we'll start to sift this batch of essays. For today, we recommend one short letter which appeared in Saturday's Post.
The letter writer skipped the stampede. Instead, she pushed alternate facts:
LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON POST (2/9/19): I think the Feb. 7 editorial was mistaken to ask for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) resignation. Mr. Northam worked to expand Medicaid and to make abortion accessible to more women, thus helping poor women escape poverty. He won by a wide margin. A few far-right fanatics should not be allowed to overturn an election.The writer makes a common mistake. She assumes that the attacks on Northam are coming from "the far right." Thanks to propaganda and codes of silence, we liberals do this every time!
B— D—, McLean, Va.
That said, the writer cites Northam's actions, while in office, on Medicaid and abortion rights. How often have you seen our "journalists" consider the adult behavior of the people currently being pursued—the adult conduct in which they engaged while they were serving in office?
We'll guess you haven't seen that much! Our journalists like discussing behavior at parties when people were 19 years old. Our journalists have good health care themselves and, dating back to Mary McGrory's astounding column about the weird clothing of Candidate Gore, they don't seem to give a flying felafel if other people don't.
"Man [sic] is the rational animal," Aristotle is said to have said. In his portrait of the Arkansas lynch mob, Twain painted a somewhat different portrait of our self-impressed kind.
Our upscale pundits have been running in packs for quite a few decades now. They're mainly concerned with teenage behavior at costume parties and with the question of who [BLEEP]ed whom, though only once, back in 2006.
They also enjoy inventing quotes and disappearing facts.
In fairness to Aristotle, he'd never seen "cable news." Nor had he read the Washington Post. He hadn't observed the clownishly post-rational conduct to which we're all exposed.
Tomorrow: Whatever your judgment about the pols may be, the Post should be embarrassed
“The writer makes a common mistake. She assumes that the attacks on Northam are coming from "the far right." Thanks to propaganda and codes of silence, we liberals do this every time!”
ReplyDeleteThis is a misreading of “B D”’s letter. Everyone is aware that many Democrats were quickly calling for Northam’s resignation, including many Democrats in Virginia. Her letter says “A few far-right fanatics should not be allowed to overturn an election.” Note the passive voice.
This letter takes up the complaint voiced in a previous letter which stated “the right employs its usual methods of scraping up clickbait, hoping to destroy its opponents’ reputations. The right always fights these kinds of accusations; the left always folds.”
BD is chastising the Democrats (and the pundits) for overreacting to the stuff dug up by right-wing fanatics to discredit Northam.
My point is, while it is plausible to argue that many Democrats rushed to judgment, it is also true that: 1) there are some liberals who believe the allegation is discrediting, and 2) there are also liberals like BD who are pushing back against this. It represents an arguably healthy debate within the political left, about an important topic. And it should be noted that this debate is non-existent on the right.
What does “post-rational conduct” mean? It implies a previous time when conduct was rational. But that goes against Somerby’s critique of Aristotle.
ReplyDelete"Thanks to propaganda and codes of silence, we liberals do this every time!"
ReplyDeletePropaganda is what your globalist zombie cult does, Bob. Zombifying people, to advance your leaders' globalist agenda. And that's all they do.
And, incidentally, it's perfectly rational...
Leftism depends on convincing people not to notice the truth. Bankrupt, but works on dumb people.
DeleteThat must be why Republicans lie all the time.
DeleteThe GOP tax-cut propaganda (hey! I took home $8 more per paycheck!) is leading to an awakening of the zombie rubes who bought into the “populism” of Trump and the “working-class” heroes of the GOP (hey! Where’s my damn refund??).
ReplyDeleteThe fantasy of Trump losing support over tax refunds is like the fantasy of Trump going to prison. It's not going to happen. 52% baby, and exposing the Democrat racistm and antisemitism is just starting.
Delete$8 more in the paycheck is $8 more, dembot.
DeleteIt sure beats getting $8 less, not to mention giving it to your zombie cult for de-industrializing the country and bringing foreign underclass to suppress your wages.
Not a fantasy. My Trump voting brother is livid after filling out his tax returns.
DeleteHe isn’t going to forget this.
Oh, and that 8$? It ain’t permanent. Unlike the corporate cuts.
And, 3:48 and 3:42, your breathless responses indicate less assurance than you pretend.
Trump would like a word about hiring foreign underclass.
DeleteYes, that was mostly a corporate tax cut, dembot. With the purpose to attract investors. That wasn't a secret, dembot.
DeleteBut you sound like you want another one - for the federal income tax? I'm sure it can be done too.
@4:29:
DeleteI don’t, dumbass. My Trump voting brother does. I’d much rather see tax increases to pay for universal healthcare. That doesn’t pay for itself you know.
Why, in my almost 100% GOP led state, they just got through cutting income taxes, and now are shifting around looking for other sources of revenue because, as it turns out, the GOP actually doesn’t believe its own propaganda about government being bad. They now need to find things they unfunded with their tax cut (going mostly to the wealthy). Aren’t the GOP special?
Martha Stewart went to prison.
DeleteIf you want universal healthcare, dumbass, then get it first, and then talk about taxes. And until we get it, a tax cut is exactly what the doctor ordered.
DeleteAnd, in a similar vein, let’s get the Wall first, then worry about paying for it. It’s so brilliant, even Trump hasn’t thought of it.
Delete“…a tax cut is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
DeleteDo you mean your hero, Trump, is the doctor? Jesus Christ, did he try to remove a tumor, and instead snip out your entire frontal lobe?
Mao, my dear, are you one of those trickle-down enthusiasts? How else to explain such a statement? If you’re not, please explain dear. I’m thinking that you must be a one-percenter. But then one must ask: Why are you commenting here?
Oops, I forgot. You’re such a fucking troll that no one else will tolerate you. Which is kind of sad, in a way. Idiocy should always be exposed, no matter the source. And you have so, so much to expose. Shouldn’t you be providing commentary next to greasy reptiles like Mnuchin, Kudlow et. al.?
It’s gotta pay more than your commentary here.
Oh dear. You sound like your brain had trickled down onto the ground loooong time ago, dembot. See 3:42 pm, it's all there.
Deletegimme a break, Mao's comments are nothing more than performance art. I happen to know the guy, he's a progressive happily living off government welfare.
DeleteIt's spelled pwogwessive, my dear.
DeleteNortham should not resign, and this liberal has said this from day one!
ReplyDeleteIn Politico today:
ReplyDelete“Klobuchar's opening pitch sidetracked by staff horror stories
The senator is positioning herself as a Midwestern antidote to Trump in 2020, but her treatment of staff has become an obstacle.”
This cries out for some media criticism.
This is what a real media critic sounds like:
Deletehttp://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-2020-presidential-election-will-be.html
If a visible figure does not comment on some issue, people start asking why not. It is better for them to get ahead of things and make a statement. Before people start asking "What does Kamala Harris think about blackface?" etc. So it looks like piling on but it is actually an attempt to avoid negative press by saying nothing. No one cares about the pig.
ReplyDeleteWhy does Somerby use the same lying defenses as conservatives do?
ReplyDeleteHe says: "They're mainly concerned with teenage behavior at costume parties and with the question of who [BLEEP]ed whom, though only once, back in 2006."
Northam was not a teenager (assuming it was him in that picture). He was in medical school, which follows four years of college. The normative college grad is 21-22. Someone who completes med school is in his mid to late 20s. That isn't a teenager.
Then there is the reference again to Stormy Daniels. He again misses the fact that her case wasn't about the consensual sex in 2006 but about the threats to herself and her daughter, the payoff and NDA Trump extorted, and his failure to sign the agreement despite silencing her. All of that was long after the sex, ongoing and part of the wrongdoing during the 2016 election.
The media is correct to focus on these things. Somerby is wrong to trivialize them, as if Stormy Daniels has no rights and Northam (and Kavanaugh and Moore) can behave like clueless teens well into adulthood because boys will be boys and Dems need to lighten up.
Plus Somerby blows past the Stormy-related campaign finance violations committed by Trump and Cohen (and Pecker) during the 2016 campaign.
DeleteFocusing on actual performance in office, rather than some long-ago embarrassing behavior, is a courtesy extended only to Democrats. You didn't see mainstream journalists argue that Dr. Ford's accusations were less important than Kavenaugh's impeccable performance as an appellate judge.
ReplyDeleteCan you say “Whitewater?”
DeleteDavid,
DeleteI once thought you actually had a problem with sexual predation, but made an exception for Trump, because he was giving you the misogyny you craved.
Boy was I ever wrong. Your support for Brett Kavanaugh shows you actually dig the sexual predation too.
Whoa, that was one strong confession, dembot.
DeleteAnd completely unnecessary. We don't need to know about your sexual predation problems. Keep them to yourself, please.
Mao,
DeleteThat was completely unnecessary. Everyone already knows Conservatives are ok with sexual predation and misogyny. They've been telling us so, since the Reagan Administration.
I'm looking forward to Trump's "I meant to do that" speech, after Pelosi totally owned him on the wall funding.
DeleteIt will pair well with Mao's "I know you are, but what am I?" replies as the Right-wing brings back "The Greatest Hits of Third-grade Recess".
Your endless confessions are getting tiresome, dembot. Keep your perversions to yourself.
Delete"Keep your perversions to yourself."
DeleteYes, be careful. Mao triggers easily, ever since Trump grabbed him by the pussy.
Ah, dembot's sexual fantasies...
DeleteIs it now time for dembots' confessions again?
Mao,
DeleteCome back with better schtick. You're shit is boring.
Ah, good, dembot. And now more sexual fantasies, please.
Delete(yawn)
DeleteNo pigs were harmed in the writing of this comment.
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