But journalists have been destroying that backstage for everyone else for decades. Why should they be permitted to keep one, when no one else is?
No doubt publishing these never-intended-for-publication remarks is, at some level, unfair: The list members were just venting to their friends. But, of course, so were lots of other people whose off-the-cuff remarks have been blown up into national stories by journalists over the years. And efforts to covertly shape the news, hurt competitors, and influence elections (JournoList members referred to themselves as the "unofficial Obama campaign") aren't the sort of thing that journalist think deserve privacy the rest of the time when they're done by people who aren't journalists.
August 1, 2010
"[E]very functioning society needs a 'backstage' where people can let their hair down and speak without observing social proprieties."
Writes Glenn Reynolds in an op-ed about the Journolist:
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19 comments:
The Lefties have always believed in scorched earth, even before Uncle Saul. Now they're starting to get it back.
You'll be able to hear the whining about the incivility and unfairness and meanness of it all on Mars.
The digital information age has no boundaries. The age of deception has also become the age of exposed deceivers. How much longer will the internet be allowed to remain out of the government's control? That First amendment is going wild. The Government of control will "protect us" from it soon. The Journolist guys even suggested that empowering private libel suits should be the new method of censorship like it is done in The Kingdom of England.
I thought the Journolist was about coordinating the "narrative?"
And efforts to covertly shape the news, hurt competitors, and influence elections (JournoList members referred to themselves as the "unofficial Obama campaign") aren't the sort of thing that journalist think deserve privacy the rest of the time when they're done by people who aren't journalists.
Here's the problem. The kids were taught by their far left professors that their enemies (Republicans, the bigots) were evil personified. Thus, as far as the kids were concerned, all rules were dropped and anything was allowable to defeat the evil Republicans and bigots.
My daughters went through this in college in the 90s. The feminist girls were terrorizing the boys on campus, and enjoying themselves doing it. One of the favorite ploys. Posting male students pictures around campus (often in men's toilets) with the caption: "This could be a rapist."
The kids entered into the workforce thinking that they could carry this behavior with them.
I worked for a woman manager who graduated from Michigan with a full load of this bullshit in her brain. She went on a crusade against sexual harassment. Trouble was, she was the worst sexual harasser I've ever met. She sat on a top of a desk every time she met with a male subordinate and made certain to shoot the poor bastard a beaver and show him her tits.
Her attitude was: "Eat shit. I can piss on you and you can't piss back on me."
The kids were taught that they were fighting the evil bigots, and they believed it. Thus, all tactics are fair, even the ones they would condemn if used upon them. J-School was a particularly awful environment. The kids were taught that they were heros for throwing the rules out the window in order to destroy the bigots.
It is my hope that Daily Caller and Tucker Carlson will get a Pulitzer Prize for exposing this bad democrats. They are bad. They are so bad that I feel like puking.
Ezra K., Matt, Y., Eric, A., David W.,...Forget you (with respect to Alec Baldwin in Glenngarry Glenn Ross).
If there is any justice, this episode will help to clean my party - The Democratic Party - of these bad/false/fake/pseudo-intellectuals for ever and ever.
Politico:
I have to ask. . how can you still be a democrat? How can you cast a vote for the party as it is without feeling dirty afterwards? Every single vote youcast for a democrat is supporting those pseudo intellectuals, because, right now, they ARE the democratic party and own it lock stock and two smoking barrels.
Arssanguinus:
I have predicted that Obama/Biden will be here till Jan. 2016. The GOP has no leadership, vision, etc. (N.B.: Palin, Gingrich, Romney, Barbour - do not make me laugh - they are not going anywhere.) We, the Democratic Party, can do just fine w/o Ezra K. and Matt Y. pseudo-intellectual bad behavior in Journolist. To win, one must have class. They have none. I do not want them in my party.
I prefer Goffman's Merry Go Round to his Backstage as the analogy.
"No doubt publishing these never-intended-for-publication remarks is, at some level, unfair: The list members were just venting to their friends. But, of course, so were lots of other people whose off-the-cuff remarks have been blown up into national stories by journalists over the years."
Somewhere, Trent Lott is laughing, or crying, or Trenting - a Lott.
AP,
"The GOP has no leadership, vision, etc. (N.B.: Palin, Gingrich, Romney, Barbour - do not make me laugh - they are not going anywhere.)"
You seem to miss the point: the vision is of what we already have - not of anything "new" - and those listed above have that in spades, especially Palin.
edutcher,
"The Lefties have always believed in scorched earth, even before Uncle Saul. Now they're starting to get it back.
You'll be able to hear the whining about the incivility and unfairness and meanness of it all on Mars."
As you can see from AP's comments, we need to finish the job here and now - scortched earth all the way - with no let up for special pleading. They don't get it and we shouldn't bother ourselves with either convincing them or waiting for them to come around. As anyone who's familiar with me knows, I'm done playing "Mr. Nice Guy" with these people, in hopes they'll be reasonable in return or notice I'm trying: they merely take it as weakness. So, Obama/Biden until 2016?
Over my - or their - dead body.
The kids entered into the workforce thinking that they could carry this behavior with them.
It's cute that someone things being the WaPo's "house liberal blogger" is work.
Crack, you get no argument from me.
I love the Professor's (the "other" law professor) final comment/warning:
Let this be a warning to those who forget that in today's digital world, the only way to have a private thought is not to write it down
I wonder if his sponsor, Mr. Breitbart, encouraged him to put that disclaimer in.
The Crack Emcee: This is great that you support Obama/Biden till Jan. 2016. Your opposition to Journolist is also appreciated. Thanks!
I have predicted that Obama/Biden will be here till Jan. 2016
Not possible.
If Obama/Biden are around that long, their ain't gonna be any "here" here.
America's Politico said...
Arssanguinus:
I have predicted that Obama/Biden will be here till Jan. 2016. The GOP has no leadership, vision, etc.
I doubt I'm the only person who isn't looking for a leader. I don't need to be led and political vision just makes thing worse. I want the governemt to leave me the hell alone and quick messing up the country. That isn't too much to ask. Your comment reminded me of the guy who asked a question during one of the Bush (41) Clinton debates about how they should treat us citizens as their children. I'm not a child and any adult who wants government to treat them as a child is a moron.
As for your repeated references to Obama and Biden being in office until January, 2016, I guess you're expecting them to be removed from office a year early. That term of office ends a year later (Jan 20, 2017).
Its funny the young, hipster, doofus's, that populated this list never considered one of their own would happily rat them out when the time came. Are liberals really that gullible?
No doubt they think its Bush's fault.
Seems fair to me since some of the journolists comments were plots to tar and feather other people based on their 'private' conversations.
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