Wednesday, February 1, 2017

The media who cried 'despotism'

washingtonexaminer.com ^ 

Once upon a time there was a large media class in a great republic. It contained reporters, pundits, and opinion formers of various types, who had once been respected. While the populace of that republic was busy raising families and working, this media class was sent out to watch over a swamp which, since the republic's founding, had been regarded as a possible source of tyranny. Its job was to chatter loudly and warn the populace of the approach of despotism.
Sometimes, out in the swamp, the media got sleepy and, in one period of eight years, most members dozed off even though undemocratic dangers loped past them in the form of an illegal war, a blatant lie and other abuses of power. These threats stole in among the populace and feasted, unremarked by the sleeping chatterers.
After this long nap of two sleep cycles, the media awoke and remembered they had a duty. But they were groggy and couldn't remember precisely what it was. So it determined to make as much noise as possible and to point out despotic dangers even where there were none.
Many new creatures were moving through the swamp. The media found them ugly, and didn't like them at all. Their response was mostly a mixture of snobbery and fear for their jobs. They decided to raise the alarm even though their job was to do so only at the approach of genuine threats to liberty and self-governance. Like young children thinking every noise at night is a witch or a goblin, the swamp guardians thought they detected abuse of power in every shadow.
Over there! That strange shape, half seen and entirely misperceived, looked like fascism. They just knew the wolves were coming. So they let out a scream.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...

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