Have you noticed that there has been a rash of either fired or suspended news media reporters? From Juan Williams to now Keith Olbermann the rash of suspensions has been interesting and rather sad. There have been others fired or suspended but these are the most recent two. In fact, it has been open season for firings for nearly a year now.
Fox News has been quick to hire Juan Williams, which I suspect will cause them some interesting turmoil in the future. Of course, conservative bloggers have been quick to claim that this is proof of a “collectivist” stance by the news media. By the way, one blog I read actually did use that word. It seems that for a very right-wing conservative, anyone who does anything different than their beliefs is, by definition, a marxist. Hm, which means that anyone who violates their “collectivist” beliefs actually does not have freedom of speech either because they are quickly denounced and cast from their fold. Do you remember the term RINO–Republican In Name Only? And, do you remember that “those” people were denounced and openly not supported? Very right-wing conservatives manage to miss that little irony, do they not?
There is little doubt that there is a faction within the liberals, just like there is a faction within the conservatives, which does not truly believe in free speech. That is, they mouth the words, but quickly exclude those who would disagree with them. But, on both the left and the right, there are those who truly do believe in free speech. For instance, the video above, even before the Keith Olbermann suspension, shows a clearly liberal program taking issue with NPR over the Juan Williams firing.
The sad reality is that there are, indeed, collectivists on both sides of the political spectrum, just like there are defenders of the Bill of Rights on both sides of the political spectrum. From the 1910’s to the 1930’s, the collectivists on both sides of the spectrum gained power in their respective countries and the result was horrendous, from the fascists of Italy, Spain, and Germany to the marxists of Soviet Russia to the military collectivists of Japan, they cut a swath of destruction across the world that killed millions of people.
Sadly, the polarization that is all too frequently being pushed on this country is tending to pull us towards one extreme camp or the other. As Jon Stewart commented, the “news” media gets more readership and viewership from reporting extremism than from reporting reasonableness. Political ads during this past campaign season were more noticed if they slandered than if they spoke in reasonable balanced disagreement with the opponent. And so, the great push is that extremism sells and extremism wins campaigns.
And, little by little our country is paying the piper, in divided Congresses filled with people who cannot reach compromises, and a country that is little by little digging itself into a hole from which it may be hard to escape.
Well, as we all know dog bites man is not a story unless ti is a pit bull and someone ended up in the hospital or the morgue….or in the infamous words of somebody or other….if it bleeds, it leads…..I make it a point not to vote for folks who do nasty ads and not to spend my money on newspapers who sensationalize everything. I vote with my feet and my pocketbook in those cases. I do find our current president or those he has put in certain places of authority or maybe those who have energetically supported his agenda–a little less than tolerant of those who do not agree with him (I mean–really–if I who have a daughter who is as mixed race as is the president butt to some if I do not agree with him 100% down the line, that means I am a racist???? I think NOT!!), but there are plenty of pundits on the other side of the aisle who are less than tolerant as well.
As a moderate of a more libertarian bent, the big government stance is troubling and the “agree with me-all or nothing” stance from radicals of any stripe makes me positively angry (so I pray for all of them). I wonder sometimes if a genuine patriot who works for a living, salutes the flag, pays his taxes, loves God and his neighbor no matter what race, color, creed, religion or sexual orientation (or at least attempts to), helps the poor, gives a tithe to his church and money to charity, tries to get along lovingly with even those who disagree with him and honors those who have given “the last full measure of devotion” has a place anymore in this country–and if not here–where? Maybe another solar system–it seems like moderates are being xed out and whackoes on both sides are ruling the heap. God have mercy on us all.
Alix