What don't we know?
I began this Blog with a philosophical-logical-political point, just because that was what got me off my duff to start it. It has now become philosophical-logical-political-historical.
The original simple point was:
-philosophical- ............we are all ignorant
-logical- ........................learning changes our minds.
-political- .....................Bush is dangerous.
Not really out of stupidity or evil intent. It is because he knows he is not ignorant, rather infinitely wise through prayer, refusal to change his mind being proof of wisdom. By backwards logic he seems confident that refusing to change his mind actually makes his ignorance turn into knowledge. Intransigence alters reality. His wisdom and power consists in a refusal to change his mind.
So many things he has done so far have been awful. Yet if we try to understand him and anticipate what he will do, we shall fail, because the harder we think, the further we shall depart from the way he functions.
--- --- --- ---
I had not planned to return to these topics, as they are so widely covered, but there seems to be a very strange stifling of information taking place all of a sudden, especially on CNN. Dan Rather and the CBS news team get slammed for bad journalistic practice, and all of a sudden there is a clamming up of news. What is happening? In the CBS affair, for all the bad things done (about which I am no judge) little mention is made of one tiny detail. The investigating panel was not able to determine whether the documents CBS used about Bush’s apparent easy ride in the National Guard were forgeries or genuine documents. I have no reason to suppose they were genuine, nor that they were fakes either. In all the shame poured on CBS, the moral pontificators and the formal inquirers have not been able to say that the story was untrue. Personally, I would rather know if it is true than if the niceties of journalistic standards were obeyed. I think it matters.
But now if you watch CNN in the evening, on the day when the White House admits the search for WMDs has ended and there were none, on the day when the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that totally changes sentencing procedures in criminal cases, Aaron Brown spends the whole hour of Newsnight introducing Human Interest stories about how people feel in bad weather. Anderson Cooper is also asking people how they feel. This is not news, it is not information, and it is not interesting. It is a muzzle. The hallmark of bankrupt reporting is the question "How does that make you feel?" It reminds me of the short periods of time I spent in communist countries when you knew the ‘news’ was a blank wall behind which real, hate-filled life was occurring. John Stewart said it best: “George Bush is living in The Truman Show.” Remember those TV broadcasts of young people happily celebrating Saddam Hussein’s birthday?
Will someone in the media, a prominent frontman with some degree of credibility left, with enough money to survive a year or too, tell us, straight to the camera, why there is no content to the programs? Eventually this becomes more important than keeping a job, acting out of fear. Sometimes you have to quit on principle, if your job is to represent standards before the public. To do otherwise is to betray the people who trust and admire you.
At least there was one great stirring up of the pond sediment recently when Jon Stewart appeared on CNN’s crossfire last October. Crossfire has been cancelled now. But it begins to look as if that was not because Jon Stewart’s point was taken, rather part of a revenge against the honesty he stands for.
Here is a video of the Jon Stewart Appearance. Brave man, But it should not take bravery to speak the truth. It points to the fourth component added to my opening gambit. It has become philosophical-logical-political-historical: and the historical component is the suppression of actual truthful information. Truth must be suppressed because the Bush stance relies on refusal to change, which is a refusal of truth, which evolves into dependence upon lies. This is no less dangerous now than in those earlier periods of history that we like to contemplate with a feeling of luxurious superiority. That’s how I feel.
©2005 AJM
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The original simple point was:
-philosophical- ............we are all ignorant
-logical- ........................learning changes our minds.
-political- .....................Bush is dangerous.
Not really out of stupidity or evil intent. It is because he knows he is not ignorant, rather infinitely wise through prayer, refusal to change his mind being proof of wisdom. By backwards logic he seems confident that refusing to change his mind actually makes his ignorance turn into knowledge. Intransigence alters reality. His wisdom and power consists in a refusal to change his mind.
So many things he has done so far have been awful. Yet if we try to understand him and anticipate what he will do, we shall fail, because the harder we think, the further we shall depart from the way he functions.
--- --- --- ---
I had not planned to return to these topics, as they are so widely covered, but there seems to be a very strange stifling of information taking place all of a sudden, especially on CNN. Dan Rather and the CBS news team get slammed for bad journalistic practice, and all of a sudden there is a clamming up of news. What is happening? In the CBS affair, for all the bad things done (about which I am no judge) little mention is made of one tiny detail. The investigating panel was not able to determine whether the documents CBS used about Bush’s apparent easy ride in the National Guard were forgeries or genuine documents. I have no reason to suppose they were genuine, nor that they were fakes either. In all the shame poured on CBS, the moral pontificators and the formal inquirers have not been able to say that the story was untrue. Personally, I would rather know if it is true than if the niceties of journalistic standards were obeyed. I think it matters.
But now if you watch CNN in the evening, on the day when the White House admits the search for WMDs has ended and there were none, on the day when the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that totally changes sentencing procedures in criminal cases, Aaron Brown spends the whole hour of Newsnight introducing Human Interest stories about how people feel in bad weather. Anderson Cooper is also asking people how they feel. This is not news, it is not information, and it is not interesting. It is a muzzle. The hallmark of bankrupt reporting is the question "How does that make you feel?" It reminds me of the short periods of time I spent in communist countries when you knew the ‘news’ was a blank wall behind which real, hate-filled life was occurring. John Stewart said it best: “George Bush is living in The Truman Show.” Remember those TV broadcasts of young people happily celebrating Saddam Hussein’s birthday?
Will someone in the media, a prominent frontman with some degree of credibility left, with enough money to survive a year or too, tell us, straight to the camera, why there is no content to the programs? Eventually this becomes more important than keeping a job, acting out of fear. Sometimes you have to quit on principle, if your job is to represent standards before the public. To do otherwise is to betray the people who trust and admire you.
At least there was one great stirring up of the pond sediment recently when Jon Stewart appeared on CNN’s crossfire last October. Crossfire has been cancelled now. But it begins to look as if that was not because Jon Stewart’s point was taken, rather part of a revenge against the honesty he stands for.
Here is a video of the Jon Stewart Appearance. Brave man, But it should not take bravery to speak the truth. It points to the fourth component added to my opening gambit. It has become philosophical-logical-political-historical: and the historical component is the suppression of actual truthful information. Truth must be suppressed because the Bush stance relies on refusal to change, which is a refusal of truth, which evolves into dependence upon lies. This is no less dangerous now than in those earlier periods of history that we like to contemplate with a feeling of luxurious superiority. That’s how I feel.
©2005 AJM
posted by Andrew Massey | Thursday, January 13, 2005
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