Just because I want people to recognize, again and again and again and again, just how much of contemporary journalism is actually left-wing / “progressive” political activism — and is in many ways more responsible for the harm done our country, its people, and the Constitution than the politicians it supports.
It is the propaganda arm of the New Left. And because it was long granted the ludicrous cover of “objectivity” and “neutrality” while protending to be a bulwark against the powerful, it has cynically poisoned the cultural information stream and helped dumb down an electorate that is, in a constitutional republic, required to carefully examine its potential political servants.
Which is why it is beginning to fail.
(h/t American Thinker)
2010 was the earthquake. On Nov 6, 2012 the ensuing tsunami will arrive. Those journos are like the poor fools who venture out to pick up the fish flopping on the shore. It ain’t gonna be pretty, for them. You’d think after the Scott Walker victory they would have picked up a clue, but you’d be wrong. Just like the Scott Brown victory foreshadowed the 2010 election, so the Walker victory portends bad things for the Democraps in 2012.
There’s a guy in Maryland who understands.
Maryland, for crissakes!
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects what never was and never will be … The people cannot be safe without information. Where the press is free, and every man is able (and willing) to read, all is safe.”
Jefferson said that.
Everything is better with Yakety Sax. Even Dem mouthpieces.
Another video, an accompaniment to these, so to speak, from Tim Groseclose.
Here is why I so despise “journalists” and those who claim it’s some sort of noble profession: I compare it to my own profession (programming), and for all the failures we experience, as a profession we’re dedicated to improving our performance.
First month on my first job, I was handed a book to read — it was about how software was always delivered late, over budget, wasn’t reliable, and didn’t do what the customer wanted. The book was already 20 years old when I read it. I’ve probably read 100-200 books on the same subject since then.
And damn if the entire software industry doesn’t spend a hefty amount of time asking itself “what can we do to fix this?” Not ever idea is successful (or even good), but some are — and they stick. They become “best practices” and then become “minimum baseline”. Now, much of the “software problem” comes from the reality that we’re working with human problems and imperfect knowledge — but once that was realized, well, there have been wave after wave of ideas on how to deal with it.
Has anyone seen anything like that from “journalists”? I see them doubling down on their attitude that their profession is above us lowly peasants. I see them digging deeper into the delusion that they’re “independent” and “truth-tellers”. I see them getting more and more shrill about “partisanship” while they’re being paid off to be more partisan.
Yeah, certainly there are people out there trying to do their jobs properly. But they cannot seem to give up the illusion that they’re members of a “noble profession”. They cannot understand that doing the same job as a pack of whores makes you look just like another whore, even if you really are a seamstress taking in a bit of sewing.
Crawford,
I am a reporter. I have a job. No one will pay to have sex with me nor am I very good at sewing but I have given any number of truly crummy people headaches. It is, as they say, a living.
Crawford, that book wouldn’t be “The Mythical Man Month” by Brooks, would it?
When “journalists” hold each other to standards half as stringent as they hold Joe Public Citizen, then I’ll think there’s a chance the “profession” has value.
o Why did it take amateurs to catch Rather’s lies?
o Why did it take amateurs to catch the purposeful mis-editing of the Zimmerman 9-11 call?
o When a channel or paper screws up, why are other channels and papers so damned reluctant to make a point of that? Fer crissake, when a restaurant chain has an e. coli problem, all the other chains start talking about their standards and quality, but I’ve never heard a journalist try to compete in terms of quality.
o When journalists have their ignorance on so many matters exposed every day, why don’t they every try to correct that ignorance? Hands up everyone who’s seen a reporter refer to “clips” or “assault weapons” or “gun-show loophole” recently.
o Why did supposedly ethical journalists report the contents of “Joe the Plumber’s” confidential files? Why didn’t supposedly ethical journalists follow the investigation and prosecution of the thug who released his files?
o Why do supposedly ethical journalists tolerate the members of their profession who just repackage press releases?
o Why do supposedly ethical journalists tolerate members of their profession who cycle in and out of government jobs — so long as the jobs are for Democrat pols?
One of the most important fucking jobs in the country, and it’s a testament to the adage that power corrupts.
SDN — it wasn’t, though I’ve read that since. I can’t remember what the title was, or the author off-hand, but the break-through techniques he introduced for design were data-flow diagrams and functional decomposition diagrams.
Crawford,
I don’t. Look at my twitter feed @BoydRoddy.
I cannot deny that many of your points are valid.