News in the Age of MAGA

Many of you who read this blog regularly will remember the name Walter Cronkite. He was the anchor for the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, and was known through that time as "The Most Trusted Man in America." His honors included two Peabody Awards*, a George Polk Award**, an Emmy Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom***. 

I can remember the deep, calm voice of Walter Cronkite announcing the news of the day with clarity and gravitas, ending his broadcasts with his signature sign-off, "And that's the way it is for (date)." His was the voice that reported on many of the biggest events of the 20th century: Watergate; the Iran Hostage Crisis; the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr.; and the American space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. 

Contrast Walter Cronkite's news with today's news, which is a national embarrassment.

A fractured media landscape allows us to pick only the "news" outlets that report what we want to hear, and some major outlets - like Fox "News," Newsmax, and OANN - are aggressively and proudly partisan, stoking outrage while ignoring facts that contradict their narrative. "Reporters" fail to push back against obviously untrue statements, fail to demand proof of the most outrageous allegations, and allow their interviewees to present utter balderdash without effective questioning.

As one example, on a CNN program yesterday, conservative commentator Scott Jennings thundered in outrage at great length on what he saw as the violent "liberal" language and aims of the Charlie Kirk murderer, while refusing to acknowledge similar violent language common to right-wing advocates (and, indeed, Der Furor) ... and the moderator did not force the issue, instead only limply acknowledging the "anger" of the right.

The First Amendment to the Constitution forbids the government from "... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...," and yet mainstream news organizations have largely failed to push back against threats coming from Der Furor and his wholly-coopted Department of Justice to do just that. The so-called defenders of freedom of speech and the press have backed down in the face of threats from Der Furor, instead of holding the line of press freedom and an informed public.

Our treasured freedoms are under attack as never before. A GOP-dominated Congress goes along, as does a cabinet and Supreme Court stacked with Der Furor's incompetent and kowtowing appointees. In the words of the old Joni Mitchell song, "... you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." 

And, at the rate we're going, it'll be gone all too soon.

Have a good day. Speak up for your freedoms, even if those we depend upon won't. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Which honor "the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in all of television, radio, and online media."

** Which honors "the intrepid, bold, and influential work of the reporters themselves, placing a premium on investigative work that is original, resourceful, and thought-provoking."

*** Which honors individuals for "... a lifetime of significant achievements in the arts, public service, science, or other fields." It has been somewhat cheapened during Der Furor's administrations by being presented as a reward to such outspoken and divisive conservative political figures as Rush Limbaugh, Rudy Giuliani, and Charlie Kirk.

The Gish Gallop

I don’t usually post twice in a day, but this one needs to go out while it’s fresh.

I learned a new term this morning in the wake of the appalling spectacle of last night’s presidential debate: the Gish Gallop. 

The Gish Gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a debater attempts to overwhelm his or her opponent with a blizzard of arguments without regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments, prioritizing quantity of verbiage over quality of argument. The term was coined in 1994 by anthropologist Eugenie Scott, who named it after American creationist Duane Gish and argued that Gish used the technique frequently when challenging the scientific fact of evolution.

The format of last night’s “debate” allowed Der Furor - unburdened by real-time fact checking and hammering at lightning speed at an opponent with a known stutter - to, in the immortal words of Steve Bannon, “flood the zone with shit” in the knowledge that he could not be effectively challenged. Sadly, all too many people will ignore … or even celebrate ,,, this shameless and ugly display of rhetorical cowardice, or forget it by the time the election rolls around.

Don’t be one of them. Don’t allow yourself to be trampled by the Gish Gallop.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming. 

Bilbo

Freedom of Speech Then, Freedom of Speech Now

A major topic of discussion lately is freedom of speech, a fundamental American freedom less valued than the right to pack iron, but nevertheless generally considered to be relatively important.

When most of us think of freedom of speech, we have a mental image of the famous Norman Rockwell painting of an everyman standing up to have his say while his neighbors listen respectfully ...

Nowadays, though, the image called to mind by freedom of speech is more likely to be Der Furor whining noisily about the injustice of being called out by a judge for his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric ...

or American nazis and crazy racists of all sorts exercising their freedom of speech to demonstrate their ignorance of history, denial of reality, embrace of hatred, and utter lack of empathy, and to deny the same freedom of speech to others ...

It's a reminder that while we have freedom of speech, not all of that free speech is worth listening to.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow when we name the Right Cheek Ass Clown for November. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

What Der Furor Wants

It's long been common knowledge that Der Furor does exactly what he wants, regardless of any advice to the contrary. Facts don't matter, truth doesn't matter, the decorum and gravitas we expect of our leaders don't matter ... he'll do exactly what he wants.

The latest example of his gleefully immature and self-destructive behavior came less than 24 hours after the judge in his latest indictment warned him against witness intimidation and jury tampering ... ignoring the judge's admonition, Der Furor sent the following message (in all caps, of course) on his "Truth Social" digital megaphone:

"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!"

Now, most rational people would view this as a blatant threat, and the Department of Justice has asked the judge to lower the boom on Der Furor for his action.

But this may well be just what he wants.

I read an interesting thread on Twitter (I refuse to call it "X") over the weekend, in which the writer suggested that Der Furor is actually trying to get the judge to jail him for ignoring her orders. As I think about it, it makes perfect sense ... Der Furor is always trying to play the victim, relentlessly stoking outrage among his gullible supporters in search of support and - especially - "campaign donations*."

In this case, though, he may be crazy as a fox. At the risk of being accused of the logical fallacy of Reductio ad Hitlerum, one could argue that Der Furor is playing a bad hand well, as Adolf Hitler did when he turned his imprisonment after the disastrous Beer Hall Putsch to his advantage. Sentenced to five years of "fortress confinement" (of which he served a mere eight months in relatively comfortable conditions), he used the time to write "Mein Kampf" and plan for his subsequent political career. He later turned his arrest, trial, and imprisonment to his advantage, demonstrating to his followers how he had willingly suffered for the sake of the Nazi movement. 

This is exactly what Der Furor appears to be trying to do. He is daring the judge to impose a gag order or (at best, in his fevered political mind) put him in jail. Dishonestly playing the "free speech" card for actions that would have had you or I in jail in a heartbeat plays to his crowds of deluded followers - and the Republican members of Congress who blindly support him out of fear of those crowds - who can't see his actions for what they are.

I absolutely believe Der Furor deserves to go to jail for what he has done to the nation and the world. But he doesn't deserve the ratings boost he would get from a threat his lawyers and enablers will earnestly spin as "protected free political speech." He's guilty of a lot worse.

Have a good day. Don't take the bait.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* It would be uncharacteristically honest of him to admit he's milking the sheep for money to pay his lawyers. Or not, if history is any judge.