Letters to the Editor
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Wabanatta_3
How about: Götterdämmerung
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@nabalzbbfr
While I'm troll-hunting I have to say something about nabalzbbfr (whom I hope is still reading).
His comment about "fetishizing the Constitution" is remarkable, in that it's the "slip that gives the game away."
Nabalzbbfr has probably recited the pledge of allegiance; he has watched Presidents get sworn in and "solemnly swear to preserve, protect and defend the constitution"; he has been to school and learned something about Enlightenment philosopy and the Magna Carta and the rule of law.
But, as nabalzbbfr has revealed, for today's conservatives that all goes out the window when they're sufficiently scared of the "ragheads." It turns out that "our freedoms" are only important when convenient. When it's time for daddy to punish the bad guys, the constitution is inconvenient, so never mind our vaunted ideals and our statues in Washington and our laws and our entire form of law-based government.
Nabalzbbfr, thanks for giving the game away.
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MSM 2
As Glenn has pointed out in the past, the MSM still provides some investigative functions that blogs cannot yet handle (due to budget?). Even this discussion thread start with a link to a report produced by MSM. How does this report, and the other reports about torture, spying, hospital conditions, private contracting, etc compare to the reporting of Watergate? Are transgressions that are being reported in this time frame not yet at the level of Watergate? If they are, what is different this time around?
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Fantastic, actually...
How about: Götterdämmerung
-- OliverA
To save others the google serach, from Wiki:
The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the gods which brings about the end of the world. However, as with the rest of the Ring, Wagner's account of this apocalypse diverges significantly from his Old Norse sources.
The term Götterdämmerung is occasionally used in English, referring to a disastrous conclusion of events.
but all youse smart guyz knew that I'm sure. ;^)
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isn't it more that the press doesn't know how to present the dissenters?
i agree that the excuse of a press stunned by an extremeist white house is unsustainable.
but i believe the press doesn't have a rule book for handling the dissenters. news agencies seem susceptable to the same pressures that used to be reserved for politicians: will our coverage be interpreted as soft? shouldn't we give equal time to the absurd arguments for legal authoritarianism? if we present dissenting voices, will it be understood as a way for us to dissent?
cindy sheehan, howard dean, jack murtha, dissenting soldiers, all sorts of dissenters are immediately shamed and made into cartoon characters. after a 24 hour news cycle the dissenter's ideas can be shrunk and characterised in easily discounted ways.
the press has no role for the dissenter in their narratives.
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the end of american moral authority
Dear Glenn,
I think it's important to understand the extent to which the US has lost standing in the world. The rest of the world may not talk about it, but you can bet that everyone noticed how ludicrous it was, last week, for George Bush to stand up in the UN and condemn the dictators of Myanmar/Burma when he is responsible for the worst ongoing humanitarian disaster in the world. Similarly, it is ludicrous for American government representatives to criticize anyone else for the abuse of human rights when torture is a US state policy. The problem is that the rot in the American system is universal. The failure of the media - indeed, its complicity in Bush's excesses - is on full display, undermining any argument about the need for "freedom of the press". Similarly, the appeal of the American political system has long been in crisis but is especially so today when the Congress is not only incapable of restraining the President and acting as a check on his power, but is actually facilitating his illegal activities. There is simply no such thing as an American model any longer that any other part of the world can regard as a desirable example of how to organize a state.
Sincerely,
Shaun Narine
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Frustration!!
I do what I can do and I have concluded that my efforts are completely ineffectual.
I email my congressman, Hoyer, continuously about how I feel about his ineffectual performance. It stinks! I have requested responses over the last couple of years and have never received one. I am viewed, I am sure, as a gnat, trying to just be annoying. Best to ignore him, his staff must say.
I email Senator Mikulski, especially relative to her support for the condemnation of moveon and Petraeus. And then her support for Kyl-Lieberman. Sometimes I get a form-letter response.
I stopped using Verizon because they wouldn't accept NARAL as a customer and also AT&T because of their censorship of Pearl Jam.
I write to all the editors of the NY Times about the bias towards the administration in the writings of Bumiller, Gordon, and Healy.
I continuously write Brooks and Friedman asking them to discuss their support of the Iraq war during 2002 and to defend it. Never a response.
I stopped protesting after getting stomped on by the DC police in 2002. And I am a coward.
I contribute generously to Obama, moveon, Amnesty International and the ACLU. I would contribute to others if I could hope that they would make a difference.
I am acutely aware of the national data bases for dissenters and am repeatedly being threatened. Many people have called the FBI and CIA to report me as a possible terrorist because I talk about dissenting with the policies of this administration.
Unless something changes radically in the USA we are all screwed except for the neocons and the wealthy and the corporations.
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It's my turn
Although not a day goes by that someone doesn't declare one of Glenn's posts as the "best" or "most important" ever, this column, to me, says pretty much all that needs to be said. In a manner of speaking, Glenn has thrown down the gauntlet with this piece.
But as I peruse the comments, despite the anger and pessimism, I'm still struck by my sense that the American public, at least as represented by the erudite letter-writers that hang around these parts, remain "overwhelmed" in pretty much the same way that Jay Rosen describes the press/media as being "overwhelmed" (and as quoted in Glenn's column).