I’ll get to the “Elephant in Room” news in a moment, but I want to arrive there by a slightly roundabout route, hopefully to elucidate some other notable developments which don’t flow directly from Samuel Alito’s jurisprudence. Earlier this month, a fleeting but funny media controversy erupted: Felicia Sonmez, the
Here is the problem, they have already been screaming since 2016 about how those dirty right wingers are literally the worst people in human history. How do you even ramp it up from there? Also getting a bit off track, but how the hell do you bitch on and on about women's' bodies when you can no longer even define what a woman is?
Imagine being that person who said that government-mandated injections under threat of losing one's livelihood and segregation was totally legitimate and the morally right thing to do is now the same person coming out in fierce and proud public defense of "bodily autonomy."
I can't think of anything richer.
And yet people like that are everywhere lol.
I always think back to that Jordan Peterson bit where he talks about the Nazi concentration camp guards, and how the main factor in determining who would be a Nazi concentration camp guard was the ability for self-deception.
Those most likely to be the guards were those who had the greatest ability to lie to themselves.
These "people" are creating real conservatives by the minute. Not the "Rush Limbaugh listening, George Will reading, Weekly Standard subscribing, pound that Budweiser after work, flag waving losers who got dunked on all day and night by the real power, the Liberal Progressive Beast" fake conservatives, but the people who are not ok with the "my mask won't work unless you wear YOUR MASK by force!!" types.
For me, the turning point in journalism was marked by Jim Rutenberg's article, "Trump Is Testing the Norms of Objectivity in Journalism." Not only had leftist journalists abandoned all pretense of being an objective observer/reporter, they now felt positively righteous in their blatant bias. The entire country is sick to the point of dying but journalism has been dead and rotting for more than a decade.
To many of us for to long have been unwilling or afraid to voice our views. No more. My beliefs and opinions, derived from a long history of Judeo-Christian philosophy and long time accepted norms of Western Civilization are certainly reasonable and defensible. I will defend them.
Weigel was “asked to leave” by Reason for too brazenly endorsing the Hope-n-Change fad sweeping the nation; If you write for Reason you’re allowed to say you’re voting for the Democrat as long as you say 10 Our Franklins and 20 Hail Madisons first. This is only relevant since he really wasn’t a Somnez-style freebooter and wrote plenty of party-line stuff too, like critiques against Obama on warmongering (which have aged well). Back then you couldn’t have destructive people on the staff, it looked bad in front of the subscription-paying/ad-consuming readership. There was a trade-off in that you still had to put up with partisan fluff like hymning whoever was your side’s latest doofus or doofette in dulcet Peggy Noonanish tones. So I am not sure it’s bad that we lost that form of media. Well before Substack were bete noire operations that true journolists disdained, e.g. Breitbart and the Gawker sites. There were also basically glorified zines like The Baffler (Jacobin is the current rehash of this) which were online yet not read by any IP address outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The over educated idiots at the Washington post didn’t know enough to fire Felecia Sonmez when she sued them! Can you imagine that in the real world, say at an Amazon warehouse, some grunt suing for hurt feelings. The morons at WaPo really have no understanding of the outside world: they have no insight into their own privilege.
I’ve always thought of liberals as people educated unto stupidity and now progressives have bullied these erstwhile liberals into a state of cowardly acquiescence to woke insanity.
Michael asked us a question: will pro-life be equated with conservatives and MAGA? Hell ya! The liberals will thoroughly enjoy that, that is their pleasure, their superiority demands an enemy and pro-life fits the bill perfectly. These people are religious zealots , they hate very deeply.
This is the reason I subscribe to MT on Substack. If you told me 5 years ago I would no longer subscribe to the Times and WAPO, I would have doubted it for sure. Not any more. There is so much better journalism than the Times and the WAPO.
"Colleagues who might have been previously paralyzed into “silence” started to cautiously vocalize their aggravation with Felicia, whom they probably always privately thought of as nuts." People like Felicia are all over the place now and are destructive to organizations. Truly destructive. Felicia, I hear they are looking for freedom fighters in Ukraine.
Michael - always a very colorful and informative perspective. Thank you!
Me thinks we shall see an explosion in the use of verbal litmus tests imposed by those who claim a high regard for traditional liberal democracy, but really think that any one possessing a thought or idea that doesn’t wholly align with their own isn’t entitled to any rights…in their view that’s the only way our hard fought “democracy” can be saved…
Rough weather ahead…. We are about to encounter the “leftist” version of Puritanical rule all screaming “burn those MAGA witches!”
Is there a new media ethos? I don't think so. People pleased with the overthrow of Roe vs Wade will be compared to Hitler/Fascism/Nazism and all other atrocities, as usual.
Probably the most clarifying piece on this subject of what is and isn't acceptable anymore. Here's my own tiny two bits: As a former journalist of many years I find myself recoiling at nearly every use of the word "lie" in major media to characterize what someone has said. I don't believe such usage would ever have passed muster at any level of editing at any publication that I ever worked for.
Here is the problem, they have already been screaming since 2016 about how those dirty right wingers are literally the worst people in human history. How do you even ramp it up from there? Also getting a bit off track, but how the hell do you bitch on and on about women's' bodies when you can no longer even define what a woman is?
Imagine being that person who said that government-mandated injections under threat of losing one's livelihood and segregation was totally legitimate and the morally right thing to do is now the same person coming out in fierce and proud public defense of "bodily autonomy."
I can't think of anything richer.
And yet people like that are everywhere lol.
I always think back to that Jordan Peterson bit where he talks about the Nazi concentration camp guards, and how the main factor in determining who would be a Nazi concentration camp guard was the ability for self-deception.
Those most likely to be the guards were those who had the greatest ability to lie to themselves.
The human mind is a fascinating thing.
OK. I'll say it.
These "people" are creating real conservatives by the minute. Not the "Rush Limbaugh listening, George Will reading, Weekly Standard subscribing, pound that Budweiser after work, flag waving losers who got dunked on all day and night by the real power, the Liberal Progressive Beast" fake conservatives, but the people who are not ok with the "my mask won't work unless you wear YOUR MASK by force!!" types.
My body my choice. Get outta my face.
https://education-ny.blogspot.com/2022/06/one-way-to-create-real-conservative.html
For me, the turning point in journalism was marked by Jim Rutenberg's article, "Trump Is Testing the Norms of Objectivity in Journalism." Not only had leftist journalists abandoned all pretense of being an objective observer/reporter, they now felt positively righteous in their blatant bias. The entire country is sick to the point of dying but journalism has been dead and rotting for more than a decade.
To many of us for to long have been unwilling or afraid to voice our views. No more. My beliefs and opinions, derived from a long history of Judeo-Christian philosophy and long time accepted norms of Western Civilization are certainly reasonable and defensible. I will defend them.
I honestly do not know or care who Dave Weigel is. It's been years since I read the Washington Post (or any other newspaper.)
Weigel was “asked to leave” by Reason for too brazenly endorsing the Hope-n-Change fad sweeping the nation; If you write for Reason you’re allowed to say you’re voting for the Democrat as long as you say 10 Our Franklins and 20 Hail Madisons first. This is only relevant since he really wasn’t a Somnez-style freebooter and wrote plenty of party-line stuff too, like critiques against Obama on warmongering (which have aged well). Back then you couldn’t have destructive people on the staff, it looked bad in front of the subscription-paying/ad-consuming readership. There was a trade-off in that you still had to put up with partisan fluff like hymning whoever was your side’s latest doofus or doofette in dulcet Peggy Noonanish tones. So I am not sure it’s bad that we lost that form of media. Well before Substack were bete noire operations that true journolists disdained, e.g. Breitbart and the Gawker sites. There were also basically glorified zines like The Baffler (Jacobin is the current rehash of this) which were online yet not read by any IP address outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The over educated idiots at the Washington post didn’t know enough to fire Felecia Sonmez when she sued them! Can you imagine that in the real world, say at an Amazon warehouse, some grunt suing for hurt feelings. The morons at WaPo really have no understanding of the outside world: they have no insight into their own privilege.
I’ve always thought of liberals as people educated unto stupidity and now progressives have bullied these erstwhile liberals into a state of cowardly acquiescence to woke insanity.
Michael asked us a question: will pro-life be equated with conservatives and MAGA? Hell ya! The liberals will thoroughly enjoy that, that is their pleasure, their superiority demands an enemy and pro-life fits the bill perfectly. These people are religious zealots , they hate very deeply.
This is the reason I subscribe to MT on Substack. If you told me 5 years ago I would no longer subscribe to the Times and WAPO, I would have doubted it for sure. Not any more. There is so much better journalism than the Times and the WAPO.
"Colleagues who might have been previously paralyzed into “silence” started to cautiously vocalize their aggravation with Felicia, whom they probably always privately thought of as nuts." People like Felicia are all over the place now and are destructive to organizations. Truly destructive. Felicia, I hear they are looking for freedom fighters in Ukraine.
If only Jonathan Swift were here to write a new Gulliver’s Travels. So much material.
Were we always this mad, only we just didn’t notice? Or this a genuinely new thing?
I would give anything for a news outlet that said "This is what happened. Here are are links to the opinions. Knock yourselves out."
It is nice to see you publish something. I was starting to worry you'd been forced underground after going against the Ukraine narrative.
Michael - always a very colorful and informative perspective. Thank you!
Me thinks we shall see an explosion in the use of verbal litmus tests imposed by those who claim a high regard for traditional liberal democracy, but really think that any one possessing a thought or idea that doesn’t wholly align with their own isn’t entitled to any rights…in their view that’s the only way our hard fought “democracy” can be saved…
Rough weather ahead…. We are about to encounter the “leftist” version of Puritanical rule all screaming “burn those MAGA witches!”
Where you been YO?
Is there a new media ethos? I don't think so. People pleased with the overthrow of Roe vs Wade will be compared to Hitler/Fascism/Nazism and all other atrocities, as usual.
"Join me in bellowing with laughter...." I spent a good deal of my time doing that while reading this. Thanks for a day-brightener.
Probably the most clarifying piece on this subject of what is and isn't acceptable anymore. Here's my own tiny two bits: As a former journalist of many years I find myself recoiling at nearly every use of the word "lie" in major media to characterize what someone has said. I don't believe such usage would ever have passed muster at any level of editing at any publication that I ever worked for.