TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023
Who is Harris Faulkner? Everyone agrees on the one basic fact:
For whatever reason, Rep. Jamaal Bowman set off a fire alarm on Saturday afternoon.
Rep. Bowman even says that he set off the fire alarm! He says he did so by mistake—in a type of rushed, unthinking accident.
On Fox, they're aggressively saying something different. For us, this has raised a basic anthropological question:
Who the heck is Harris Faulkner? And what explains her conduct?
Just to establish some basic facts, here is Kevin Drum's summary of the hot new dispute:
DRUM (10/1/23): Yesterday Rep. Jamaal Bowman triggered a fire alarm in the Cannon Office Building. He says it was because he was heading out to the Capitol Building to vote on the continuing resolution to keep the government open. The door he used is normally open, but on Saturday it was locked and had a confusing sign posted. He thought he needed to pull the alarm to open the door.
Republicans have a different story. They say Bowman did it because he wanted to trigger an alarm that would delay the vote. Republican House members say this was outrageous behavior and some have called for his resignation.
Did Bowman trigger the fire alarm for that nefarious purpose? As usual, everything is possible! So far, though, there is absolutely zero evidence to that effect. There is zero way for a competent and honest person to conclude that Rep. Bowman actually did that.
(News flash: Especially when we're rushed, we humans do make mistakes.)
On Fox, they're saying that Bowman set off the alarm in an attempt to delay Saturday's "government shutdown" vote. A complex story has been crafted, explaining why some Democrats would have wanted to do that at that particular moment.
On Fox, the hounds have been braying loudly. Yesterday and today, we've been amazed by the extent to which we've seen Harris Faulkner playing it dumb in support of the red tribal line.
Please don't make us detail all the ways in which Faulkner has apparently been playing dumb. In one example, she has been acting as if she's unfamiliar with this set of facts:
The door [Bowman] used is normally open, but on Saturday it was locked.
Also, it had a confusing sign posted.
We've seen Faulkner acting like she isn't aware of those extremely basic (and uncontradicted) facts. In accord with the rules of the modern "cable news" game, no one in several sets of Fox pundit panels has spoken up to clarify such elementary facts.
For ourselves, we believe a major anthropological lesson is taught by way Faulkner, and everyone else on the Fox News Channel, has been pimping the party line concerning this murky affair.
For the record, Faulkner isn't stupid. We find it very, very hard to believe that she's really as ignorant of some basic facts in this matter as she keeps making it seem.
That said, everyone else has been playing along as red tribe viewers get propagandized. It's a stunning lesson in the kinds of things many of us humans will do in order to retain "good jobs at good pay," or simply to enjoy the warmth of accord with a hard party line.
This sort of thing goes on all day. At our nation's major newspapers, it largely goes unreported.
No, you can't run a large modern nation this way. In our view, blame is widespread on many sides, wherever allegiance to the guild or to the tribe is rewarded.
The role of the mainstream press: Drum also raises a very good question in this part of his post:
DRUM: The picture [of Bowman triggering the alarm] was released by Republicans on the House Administration Committee, but the full surveillance video wasn't. This is classic Republican ratfuckery: release some small snippet of evidence that looks suspicious and gets splashed all over the news, but is later found to be benign when the entire context becomes public.
There's no reason to believe anything Republicans say about this unless they release the entire video. If and when they do, I'll lay long odds that it shows Bowman acting a bit confused, then pulling the alarm and leaving the building.
Assuming, of course, that Republicans ever let us see the surveillance video. Which they probably won't.
Why haven't Republicans released the videotape? We've seen no journalists ask. Dearest darlings, use your heads! As a general matter, it simply isn't done!
Somerby asks who Harris Faulkner is, but he doesn't ever tell us explicitly. By the end of the article, we assume she is someone on Fox News, but those of us who don't watch Fox could benefit from him simply stating who she is.
ReplyDeleteI realize access fees for Google searches can be burdensome to those of limited means.
DeleteThe comment is about how to write a coherent essay. Of course anyone can google Faulkner, but a coherent essay wouldn't inconvenience readers like that, especially after raising the question himself, as Somerby does.
Delete"This sort of thing goes on all day. At our nation's major newspapers, it largely goes unreported."
ReplyDeleteReporters are not the news. That is a major tenet of journalism. When a person becomes involved in a news story, they can no longer report on it. This also means that reporting on other people's reporting is not news either, unless the focus is on the facts of the story, and the reporting is not the story. Journalists are taught this in journalism programs. It is part of journalistic ethics not to interfere and shape the news.
Somerby has long been urging journalists to ignore the ethics and practices of their profession and start writing critical reports about other journalists. This is just the latest in a long series of posts Somerby has written where he calls for the news to police itself. But this is not how things work.
There do exist media critics who analyze and call out bad journalistic behavior, or notice patterns, or simply report on what journalists have been doing. These are often professors of journalism, not journalists at competing papers or stations. The blog Media Matters does this. The Columbia Journalism Review does it too (https://www.cjr.org/). So do bloggers at many other sites.
Somerby does it today, with his critique of Harris Faulkner, but not in any serious or systematic way. He mainly blames her for the latest right wing disinformation against Democrats, as if she invented or were responsible for what Fox does. She is female, black, youngish, attended a good but not top school (Univ of CA Santa Barbara), and fits the criteria for Somerby's usual targeting. Usually Somerby focuses on mainstream media, however, but he has made an exception for this black woman, putting the entire weight of Fox's disinformation propaganda efforts on her shoulders, as if a youngish black woman would be the person most likely to rock the boat with her employer, risking her job and career momentum.
Where is Somerby's moral courage? Why is this the first time he has spoken out plainly about what Fox does? Does he think it is cute to point out that a black woman is attacking a black Democratic congressman over a manufactured charge? Does that mean something special in Somerby's racially confused mind? Does he think she doesn't see color, or that she is somehow racially blind? Some might think she is being used by Fox to attack Bowman so vocally and incessantly (as Somerby describes it), so they can claim their attack on him is not racially motivated.
It isn't up to Fox to release the video. It comes from an office building that should be making it available to all media. Are the Republican House members (who are the majority and thus the point of contact with building staff) withholding it from Democrats? Did they only release it to Fox and not other media? Somerby never says. That is something he should perhaps have investigated before blaming everything on Harris Faulkner. This is clearly a coordinated propaganda effort by the Republicans and Fox, not something cooked up by one woman who Somerby singles out for obvious reasons.
Somerby cannot call Faulkner dumb because of racial stereotypes, so he accuses her of playing it dumb. Is that any better?
DeleteHow dumb is Somerby? Very, in my opinion. Drum has things right when he calls out Republicans for their ratfuckery. Somerby blames Fox and Harris. As if Republicans haven't turned over the video because no journalists have asked for it. He doesn't know that. He assumes it -- because his target is journalist careerism not conservative partisan hackery.
Hating corporate propaganda is racist now... Please touch grass
DeleteSomerby doesn't hate corporations.
DeleteSomerby focuses his attack on one of the few Black people Fox News allows on their channel, an obvious demonstration of Fox News engaging in tokenism, a pernicious form of racism; yet Somerby largely puts the blame on the Black person, ignoring the racism Fox News engages in, while coyly introducing a racial component of his own.
DeleteGive Rep. Bowman the benefit of the doubt all day long, however, it’s obvious that Bowman is either too dishonest or too dumb to be in office, not that this has ever been seen as a problem on either side of the aisle.
ReplyDelete"it’s obvious that Bowman is either too dishonest or too dumb to be in office"
DeleteMost likely he's both. Yes, like almost any other politician.
When will non-politicians get to serve? (D Trump anyone?) Why are people allowed to vote for dumb candidates? Why? Why?
DeleteMaybe so, but no one is as dumb as Lauren Boebert.
Deletemh, because you will.
DeleteTrAnonymouse 3:23pm, Boebert doesn’t have the sense God gave a tick.
DeleteNo, it’s called “democracy.”
DeleteLike I said- can and will.
DeleteAt least he didn't try to bring a gun onto the floor of Congress.
DeleteThere’s no indication that Bowman is dishonest, nor does making an innocuous dumb mistake indicate one’s incompetency in any profession. In fact, any building manager will tell you this is not an uncommon mistake.
DeleteThe claim to the otherwise is mere partisan hatefulness, an indication such a person’s heart and soul are cold, turned to stone. To unravel such cynicism, bitterness, and nihilism is too heavy a lift, we must look to root causes to determine viable solutions.
Yes. Also, Obstruction of an Official Proceeding is a really minor crime, hardly ever prosecuted.
DeleteOh, wait...
Wait until after Trump's 1/6 prosecution before you decide an insurrection is the same as delaying a vote.
DeleteThe code in question requires intent, Bowman made clear his intent, which precludes a crime; similarly Jan 6th insurrectionists were not hiding their intent, which includes a crime.
DeleteDuh.
At least he’d never get a year or more in jail if he confessed to doing it on purpose.
ReplyDeleteYes, he wouldn't have been trying to otherthrow a valid election by conducting a break in of the capitol using violence against police.
DeleteThere’s nothing to indicate that he would not receive appropriate sentencing were he to be convicted of a crime; indeed, evidence shows that Black people routinely get more severe punishment for the same crimes versus Whites.
Delete@5:18 PM
DeleteHe might, but only if gets really confused.
Anonymouse 5:18pm, he would still be guilty of breaking the same statute.
DeleteAnonymouse 5:21pm, not for a political crime.
Delete5:23 he would be, although this is an imaginary circumstance (in reality Bowman did not have criminal intent); even so, considering this imaginary circumstance, it’s more likely that he would face a harsher sentence than others committing the same crime that were White.
DeleteObliquely, what you’re doing is pointing out the systemic racism endemic in our justice system. Good on you.
Anonymouse 5:31, no, you’re pleading historic racial injustice because that’s your trick pony. I’m pointing out that red and yellow, black and white, no congress critters would go to jail for this action, even if it were intentional.
DeleteYou don’t know that. They were being fined for not wearing masks on the floor. And for skipping the metal detectors. You are making things up.
DeleteAnonymouse 6:09pm, fined? Oh, my goodness!
DeleteAgain, no congress person would go to jail for intentionally disrupting an official proceeding.
Were a member of congress to commit a crime, it is more likely that they would be prosecuted and sentenced if they were a Dem and Black. This is trivial.
DeleteMembers of congress have been prosecuted and sentenced. This is trivial.
Racial injustice is not a “trick pony” and it is an ongoing concern, instead of hand waving it, your comments, obliquely, point it out.
For pointing out racial injustice, you deserve praise. Good on you.
Anonymous 6:48pm, no racial justice/skin color is certainly your trick pony and you immediately jumped right on your overused little horsie when you countered that Bowman would be MORE likely to be prosecuted for the crime.
DeleteMore likely than what? The people rotting in jail right now?
“ Again, no congress person would go to jail for intentionally disrupting an official proceeding.”
DeleteYou do realize the alarm was in an office building, not the Capitol?
mh, it disrupted the proceeding and delayed the vote, just as Democrats were trying to delay the vote.
DeleteThat’s a crime only for little people.
It’s not a crime without criminal intent, it’s in the code.
DeleteDefending actual criminals while ignoring systemic racism in our justice system is purely partisan ignorance.
To be so wrong yet full of hate spewing about racial injustice is an odd juxtaposition, ultimately your nonsense is irrelevant, as it is incoherent, and, due to your personal issues, you are incapable of rationality.
Cec, you're so pathetic trying to draw some sort of moral equivalence between Bowman inadvertently setting the alarm off and the attack on our nation's Capital launched by your insane former president, Donald J Chickenshit. It's almost amusing if it wasn't so transparently disingenuous.
DeleteAnonymouse 6:24am, this “argument”of yours is no more objective than mine.
DeleteI stated my opinion that congress people of either party or of any race will not/would not face the same sort of scrutiny and reckoning that nobodies incur, and you respond by running a racial trope up the flag pole and demanding that I salute it. You do this because it’s the only skill you possess.
Suddenly, this argument is all about systemic racism and your conjecture about Bowman is irrefutable, while mine about class is not just wrong, but racist.
That’s not “rationality”, mon anonymouse. It’s stone-cold tripe.
Menendez, Cecelia?
DeleteAnonymouse 7:31am, yeah, yeah. My first statement was to give Bowman the benefit of the doubt, but that he wouldn’t be in legal peril if he confessed to intentionally.
DeleteWord.
Anonymouse 7:38am, yes, Menendez shows that three or four scandals is the charm.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt is safe to assume that the republican narrative about this event would be jeopardized by the video they are withholding, as Drum says. Otherwise the entire video would have made the rounds at every opportunity on Fox.
DeleteAs though anything would happen if any one of these guys and gals chanted “nah nah nah” as they pulled the alarm.
DeleteI understand, Cec. You just can't resist the temptation to whine about another grievance of yours. Get back to me when Bowman impales a Capital Police Officer with an American flag pole.
DeleteAnonymouse 1:91pm, you can get back to me with the number of police officers who were murdered with a flagpole.
Deletehahaha, Cec, attacked won't do, it has to be murder, else you have license to whine your crybaby victimhood ass off for those poor cretins rotting in DC prison. you all are a real piece of work
DeleteNo, Anonymouse 2:59pm, my guess is that the authorities coukd and would hand out more than one charge depending upon the actions of the accused, and you acting like it would all fall under obstruction of a government proceeding rap is lame.
DeleteYou're so dishonest, Cec. The delay in the vote was more due to the fact that the CR bill was handed to Dems and they were given only 75 minutes to read the damn thing before they had to vote on it. From the same people who wrote a rule that all bills require a minimum of 72 hours review before voting.
Delete“Just last week, Democrats once again stepped in to rise above the chaos and fulfill our responsibility to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Republicans’ own rules dictate that we have 72 hours to review a bill; we asked for 90 minutes and were met with a refusal. We asked for an hour, and were again refused. In order to give our caucus time to read the bill, our Leader Jeffries stepped up and spoke eloquently on the House Floor about the Democratic commitment to put country over party and people over politics. In the end, 90 Republican members voted against the Continuing Resolution, and without Democratic votes, the government would have shut down on Speaker McCarthy’s watch. Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.
If extending time period to vote on bills constituted criminal disruption of the proceeding then there's gonna be a long line of magats going to jail.
Anonymouse 3:54pm, you’re so •honestly clueless and reflexive that you can’t even address the statements I’ve made.
DeleteI haven’t accused Bowman of stopping any proceedings. He (and anyone else in his place) should get the benefit of the doubt. That would remain the case, even IF an actual infraction took place. Get that? The punishment SHOULD fit the crime, so to speak.
What I ventured was my opinion that if Bowman has done this, or if any other congress critters HAD done it, well then…red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight…Republican or Democrat…that person would NEVER be charged with a crime that could mean jail time.
For that opinion, such as it is, anonymices want to throw everything, sans Descartes.
You’re utterly hysterical— mood-wise as to yourselves— amusement-wise to anyone else.
gotcha, Cec. the people who tried to overturn the election on Jan 6 are the little people. Got it.
DeleteMcCarthy ousted.
ReplyDeleteOof.
Talk about chaos.
His news conference was fun, especially when he broke out the middle school history lesson about Hitler. What a tool. Gaetz got one thing right: he has the integrity of bad used car salesman.
DeleteTelevangelist.
DeleteThe other Kevin:
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Thank you so much, I enjoyed reading your blog.
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Who set off the fire alarm inside the Republican caucus?
ReplyDeleteRepublican voters.
Delete