June 13, 2020

"Each passing day sees more scenes that recall something closer to cult religion than politics."

"White protesters in Floyd’s Houston hometown kneeling and praying to black residents for 'forgiveness… for years and years of racism' are one thing, but what are we to make of white police in Cary, North Carolina, kneeling and washing the feet of Black pastors? What about Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer kneeling while dressed in 'African kente cloth scarves'? There is symbolism here that goes beyond frustration with police or even with racism: these are orgiastic, quasi-religious, and most of all, deeply weird scenes, and the press is too paralyzed to wonder at it. In a business where the first job requirement was once the willingness to ask tough questions, we’ve become afraid to ask obvious ones.... The media in the last four years has devolved into a succession of moral manias. We are told the Most Important Thing Ever is happening for days or weeks at a time, until subjects are abruptly dropped and forgotten, but the tone of warlike emergency remains: from James Comey’s firing, to the deification of Robert Mueller, to the Brett Kavanaugh nomination, to the democracy-imperiling threat to intelligence 'whistleblowers,' all those interminable months of Ukrainegate hearings (while Covid-19 advanced), to fury at the death wish of lockdown violators, to the sudden reversal on that same issue, etc. It’s been learned in these episodes we may freely misreport reality, so long as the political goal is righteous."

From "The American Press Is Destroying Itself/A flurry of newsroom revolts has transformed the American press" by Matt Taibbi (at his own website). Much more at the link.

84 comments:

BUMBLE BEE said...

He's cancelled.

Sebastian said...

"so long as the political goal is righteous"

And so long as the pursuit of it leads to ultimate prog power and the destruction of the American system.

The "cult religion" is a political project.

tcrosse said...

Andrew Sullivan has written something similar:
Is there still room for debate?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The media is all in for The Party. The narrative flows backward and down, from the top. From on high. Soros pays for the professional signage. Now - get busy and feed Antifa. They are out of cheetos.

Phil 314 said...

We always come back to Pilate’s question: “What is truth?”

And maybe the best response is another question “Are you not entertained?”

Narayanan said...

this could be preview for August - September

most western people have not witnessed Muharram observation in the Muslim world >>> not "celebration" 'festival' for Shia >>> occasion for flagellation

in India

Sunni do it differently
Month
Muḥarram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. The general meaning of the adjective muharram means "banned, barred, forbidden, illegal, illicit, impermissible, prohibited, unlawful, unauthorised, unpermitted".

Fernandinande said...

Because the MSM is the propaganda branch of the racist/socialist party, this statement is not inappropriate:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary."

Michael K said...

I just read that piece. Glad to see you blogging it.

It really is insanity and he points out that the press is already "shedding jobs" before the PC nonsense.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So the “there is no truth but my own subjective truth” crowd wonders why it is no longer trusted to tell us what news is and is not true? The devil you say!

Michael K said...

Blogger again. Hopefully that comment survived.

Fernandinande said...

I'm not reading past the first sentence of that article because the author fell "hook and and sinker" for the false MSM narrative about Floyd.

RNB said...

I see Wisconsin Public Radio just cancelled their long-running "Radio Drama Theatre," because too many of those old radio shows were icky and not up to the current (Friday) standards of wokeness. "Off with their heads!"

narciso said...

well then you'll be waiting a long time, he's looking through the crack in the cave wall, yes he was beastly toward the tea party and the huntress in particular,

rcocean said...

I agree. I didn't realize so many white people were so mentally ill. Just coming back from our morning walk and I heard a white sportscaster going on about how he's spent the last week "crying and outraged" over "The tragedy" of Floyd's death. He then compared it to the impact of the Vietnam War!

What's more incredible, is you recite facts to these people: 1 Million policeman, millions of arrests, Only, ten unarmed black men killed annually vs. 25 whites, 7,500 black homicide victims each year, etc. AND...they don't respond..but go back to the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Its says a lot about how society has changed over the last 40 years, that a sportscaster is proud of having cried like a baby for a week over the death of one criminal in Minnesota. I guess the strong, he-man type doesn't work in talk radio.

rcocean said...

Mitt Romney has to be the poster boy for this sort of White person derangement. And like most of his kind, he lives in an area with almost blacks and has no black friends. I doubt Mitt Romney has had dinner with a single black person, unless you count his butler.

Paul said...

So is Black Africa gonna wash the feet of American Blacks? I mean THEY sold slaves from other tribes to Muslim traders who then sold them to White Traders?

Oh, and are Italians gonna was the feed of everyone else for their slave trade? Egypt? How about the Aztecs? Chinese? Japanese? etc. No? Oh just white cause we are what, successful?

Inga said...

“Our president, Donald Trump, is a clown who makes a great reality-show villain but is uniquely toolless as the leader of a superpower nation. Watching him try to think through two society-imperiling crises is like waiting for a gerbil to solve Fermat’s theorem. Calls to “dominate” marchers and ad-libbed speculations about Floyd’s “great day” looking down from heaven at Trump’s crisis management and new unemployment numbers (“only” 21 million out of work!) were pure gasoline at a tinderbox moment. The man seems determined to talk us into civil war.”

At least Tiabbi has kept his wits about him. What a relief.

Francisco D said...

The media in the last four years has devolved into a succession of moral manias. We are told the Most Important Thing Ever is happening for days or weeks

Some people are just now noticing what has been going on for a long time.

It must be painfully obvious to open minded liberals that the Press is the propaganda arm of the DNC given how Bush and Trump are treated in comparison to the reverence shown Hillary and Obama.

ALP said...

Honest question: has our species ever previously eliminated *any* moral failing or fault from our population like we are trying to do now with racism?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The media in the last four years has devolved into a succession of moral manias. We are told the Most Important Thing Ever is happening for days or weeks at a time, until subjects are abruptly dropped and forgotten, but the tone of warlike emergency remains:.....

Exactly. The emergency, panic, fear of the day that the media wants to spew in order to make people hate Republicans and promote Democrats is a constant drip drip drip on our lives.

COVID COVID COVID!!!! we are all gonna die....until it is ok to be in a big crow as long as it is for a cause that the media loves. Then...covid...what is that? Unless you want to get a hair cut or a sandwich in a diner then you'd better watch out! The media will get you then.

They are all Chicken Little running around screaming that the sky is falling!!!!....Boy who cried wolf over and over until we all go deaf. So, people get tired of it and tune it all out.

When everything is an emergency....NOTHING is an emergency. Until there is a real one and the media and Democrats (but I repeat myself) will wonder why no one takes them seriously.

gilbar said...

how does the saying go?
If people get believing in GOD, they'll believe in Anything

JackWayne said...

On the one hand there’s this. On the other hand there’s that. They are equal except that I’m on the one hand and maybe we’ve gone a little too far in our righteousness. But we ARE the good guys so if we moderate a bit all will be well.

Yawn.

narciso said...

he chose to give autonomy to certain states, based on imperfect information, and has admitted to be sympathetic to the circumstances of floyds death, but not willing to imperil the safety and livelihood of milliona of people, that's considered crazy,

meanwhile everyone else is in the bearded spock universe,

Scott Patton said...

Is it really all that new? Same old stuff I think I remember growing up - '70s, 80's and early 90's. It was all cold war bla bla ( and before that, Vietnam), any indication that the West was willing to defend itself against the commies was presented as some kind of major provocation that will start WWIII. Same old stuff, maybe turned up to 11 because of advanced communication capabilities.

etbass said...

Guys need to spell check or sumpin.' Lot of comments read like nonsense because of typos.

Paddy O said...

Whatever other points are made, the one about footwashing shows a deep ignorance about Christian history and community esp in the South, where racial divisions split denominations and footballing is a common approach to expressed reconciliation in many very large and established churches. He shows his cultural ignorance even as he is trying to stir up a response.

narciso said...

miriam makeba, the one behind the defund the police op ed, is a supporter of assata shakur btw, the one who gunned down a ny state trooper, as part of the black liberation army, escaped prison and fled to cuba, a little like robert williams who inspired the panthers,

gilbar said...

i see they're banning The Dukes of Hazard
why?
is it because the show portrays police as incompetent, brutal, and corrupt?
is it because the show portrays Government as self serving, corrupt, and wicked?
is it because the show promotes the legalization of currently illegal drugs? (moonshine)
is it because the show is against slut shaming ? (Daisy Dukes)

hawkeyedjb said...

Inga, it's pretty clear you have no love for Donald Trump. I don't either, but I'm contemplating voting for him. I'm sure you won't. I expect Joe Biden to win. Imagine our great surprise when we discover that everything that was Trump's Fault wasn't ameliorated a bit by getting rid of Trump.

But not to worry. For the next 4-8-12 years, everything bad will still be Trump's Fault. And our feckless leadership will find that they don't actually need to fix anything! Hey, that's Trump's Fault. Vote for me.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

oops.....until it is ok to be in a big crow

Big crowd. Being inside a big crow would be very dark and dank.

narciso said...


I used to think that putin, didn't want to waste a bullet on taibbi, like the kadyrovski and oprichniki had done with politskaya and stairova, and probably klebnikov years ago,


https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/06/jonathan-turley-rips-cornell-law-faculty-letter-against-me-it-is-the-antipathy-of-the-intellectual-foundations-for-higher-education/

Michael K said...

At least Tiabbi has kept his wits about him. What a relief.

He knows, like all good leftists, he must genuflect at the Trump hate altar before trying to make his point. You actually made it for him.

ga6 said...

The last "open minded" liberal passed away sometime in the late 1970s his final resting place is unknown. wiki entry removed...

Temujin said...

I'll say this about Taibbi. He's been consistent. He is a Lefty, big-time and does not shy from it. But he's a rarity among Journalists! these days- he asks the questions of all sides, and though he views the world from the left, he knows the left is also a mess and declares it as such.

This article is filled with some great lines about Journalism! and the left, but my favorite phrasing is calling Twitter what it has become, which is filled with "Twitter Robespierres", looking to behead as many as possible.

There are only a handful of actual investigative reporters and/or Journalists! left out there. I may not agree with Taibbi on many things, but I find I agree with him on some of the very important things. That he looked at this and wrote what he wrote is actually brave for him. But he must feel safe. He must feel that they cannot take him down. Others are not so secure in their own self.

Ralph L said...

white police in Cary, North Carolina

Grandma's youngest first cousin lived there before it was totally swamped by Yankees.

Charlie said...

We reached the point where Matt Taibbi and Andrew Sullivan are the clearest voices of reason. Yikes.

Mr Wibble said...

Proving once again that you don't need God for religion, just sin and The Devil.

pacwest said...

At least Tiabbi has kept his wits about him. What a relief.

This is an excellent comment showing how weak Tiabbi's underlying premise is. In an opinion piece against the cancel culture/censorship that pervades the left wing press Tiabbi feels it necessary to present his bona fides that he is anti-Trump. 'Don't eat me. I'm just pointing out how you are are hurting the cause.' He feels that his argument needs the augmentation of Trump hatred to be acceptable to his readership instead of standing on its own. I highly doubt there would be the same level of agreement in the comments had the preface been 'I love Trump.'

Qualifiers. Truth is subjective.

Hey Skipper said...

@Inga:

...ad-libbed speculations about Floyd’s “great day” looking down from heaven ...

Do you have any idea how many news organizations flat out lied about what Trump actually said?

Ray - SoCal said...

And any research is discouraged, as Thought Crimes and Wrong Think.

Race and Crime in America
The unspoken statistical reality of urban crime over the last quarter century.
- Ron Unz

Disturbing Questions:

1. Why are 25% of Black Males of a certain age group in prison?

2. Why are some cities more successful than others at reducing crime among Black Males, especially in the South?

3. Why is the Black Crime Rate so much higher than other ethnic groups in the US?

4. What can be done to change this in the US?

5. Why is Black on Black Crime ignored?

narciso said...

the narrative must flow,

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/virus-will-win/612946/

Craig said...

Yes! It is a cult religion, and 54% of Americans are in the cult! I am relieved that Taibbi is noticing this.

Michael said...

.
Charlie said...
We reached the point where Matt Taibbi and Andrew Sullivan are the clearest voices of reason.


And Greenwald......don't forget about Glenn Greenwald

Inga said...

“Qualifiers. Truth is subjective.”

He wants liberals to be aware that he didn’t embrace Trumpism. He’s not on your “side”. He’s pushing back against extremism, which your side has plenty of too. Maybe he’s saying, ‘Let’s not become like Trumpists’ who have cancelled many of their own who didn’t accept Trumpism. Maybe he’s trying to get us to rise above such Trumpist practices.

Inga said...

In Milwaukee there was a very well known conservative commentator on a prominent conservative radio station, Charlie Sykes, who because he didn’t support Trump lost his job and basically run out of conservative radio on a rail. He was cancelled and his credibility as a conservative destroyed by Trumpists.

There are others like Bill Kristol, David Frum, Jonah Goldberg, George Will and many other conservatives.

So to be legitimately aghast at the extremism on the left, you need to take the beam out of your own eye.

hombre said...

Sorry, Matt. The “American press” is just conforming itself to the country it has created. Lead, follow or commit suicide before you are canceled.

Chest Rockwell said...

"And Greenwald......don't forget about Glenn Greenwald"

Well, Greenwald did not come to the defense of Lee Fang, his colleague at the Intercept, who Talibi wrote about in that article.

n.n said...

A Twilight faith, a religious (or "ethics", its relativistic cousin) philosophy, and mortal gods and goddesses. This will progress to a dysfunctional convergence when they begin to sacrifice human life for social progress (e.g. secular incentives, lucre). Too late. Let us bray.

n.n said...

At least Tiabbi has kept his wits about him. What a relief.

Yesteryear's liberal, an anachronistic residual, an old-fashioned model... join the libertarian, the American conservative.

n.n said...

Tiabbi feels it necessary to present his bona fides that he is anti-Trump. 'Don't eat me.

But I was progressive! A sectarian schism of the Progressive Church.

n.n said...

Alt-religions dressed in "secular" cloth.

rehajm said...

I doubt Mitt Romney has had dinner with a single black person, unless you count his butler.

He has a black grandson.

Gahrie said...

these are orgiastic, quasi-religious, and most of all, deeply weird scenes, and the press is too paralyzed to wonder at it.

Doesn't this sort of thing always happen at the turn of the century?

Kevin said...

“Our president, Donald Trump, is a clown who makes a great reality-show villain but is uniquely toolless as the leader of a superpower nation. Watching him try to think through two society-imperiling crises is like waiting for a gerbil to solve Fermat’s theorem. Calls to “dominate” marchers and ad-libbed speculations about Floyd’s “great day” looking down from heaven at Trump’s crisis management and new unemployment numbers (“only” 21 million out of work!) were pure gasoline at a tinderbox moment. The man seems determined to talk us into civil war.”

LOL! Now do Biden!

Sam L. said...

"From "The American Press Is Destroying Itself/A flurry of newsroom revolts has transformed the American press" by Matt Taibbi..." YAY!! Go To IT. Shoot yourselves in your foot of choice and and continue up your bodies!

AllenS said...

Ray - SoCal said...

1. Why are 25% of Black Males of a certain age group in prison?

2. Why are some cities more successful than others at reducing crime among Black Males, especially in the South?

3. Why is the Black Crime Rate so much higher than other ethnic groups in the US?


Generation after generation after generation of black children without a father in the house. It really is that simple.

rcocean said...

Mitt has an adopted black grandson - who's 3 years old.

Wow, 1 out of 22 Grandkids from 5 children. Mitt really is down for the struggle. Maybe the 3 y/o can tell Mitt about life in the Ghetto.

rhhardin said...

Watching him try to think through two society-imperiling crises is like waiting for a gerbil to solve Fermat’s theorem.

Prove, not solve.

Saint Croix said...

"White protesters in Floyd’s Houston hometown kneeling and praying to black residents for 'forgiveness… for years and years of racism' are one thing, but what are we to make of white police in Cary, North Carolina, kneeling and washing the feet of Black pastors?

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. There's nothing wrong with serving other people and helping other people.

The weird part is the racism. Dividing God's children into "white" and "black" is an ugly and highly secular view of the world. Capitalizing the word "Black" while you keep "white" in small caps--something Taibbi does--illustrates that Taibbi has racial issues of his own. And it does not help matters to start using uppercase for "White" people.

Race is stupid. Racial division is poison. Stop dividing human beings into races on the U.S. census. Fight this division at the source. We are all Americans. Talk that way and think that way, and you'll be fine. It's when you start dividing people into classes--and putting some classes above others--that you create a recipe for chaos and civil war.

rcocean said...

Inga - your comments on Conservative & Never-trumpers sound like what they are, an ignorant Leftist desperately trying to say "You too".

Sykes and Kristol have voluntarily left the Conservative movement and the Republican Party to support Nancy Pelosi. Charlie 3-wives Sykes believes trump is immoral, while Kristol can't stand his "isolationism" .

Both of them, like George Will, Mona Charon, Jennifer Rubin, Burt Stephens, Bruce Bartlett, Matt Lewis, David French, and Rod Dreher are now Joe Biden Democrats. Trump forced them to drop the mask.

JaimeRoberto said...

A big part of the problem is the nature of 24 hour news. You need to do something to draw the eyeballs all day long so even the smallest things need to be hyped up. Perhaps it seems worse since nearly all the mainstream media is on one side.

As for Taibbi, I don't agree with him on much, but he's honest enough that I'm willing the give his opinions a listen. Too bad more of the media isn't like that.

Gahrie said...

Generation after generation after generation of black children without a father in the house. It really is that simple.

The most troubling thing for me with this latest spasm of rage, is the fact that I am now being called a racist for stating this.

pacwest said...

Maybe he’s saying, ‘Let’s not become like Trumpists'

Or maybe he's saying this, or maybe he's saying that, or maybe he's saying what he said. Who knows.

The Crack Emcee said...

The Democrat Party IS A Cult

The Macho Response, March 2, 2020 - and tons of times before that.

I should start public speaking soon.

The Crack Emcee said...

Actually, I'm insulted:

This is the topic, and none of you said, "Crack's been saying this for a decade"?

How rude.

Drago said...

Inga The Liar: "In Milwaukee there was a very well known conservative commentator on a prominent conservative radio station, Charlie Sykes, who because he didn’t support Trump lost his job and basically run out of conservative radio on a rail. He was cancelled and his credibility as a conservative destroyed by Trumpists."

As with hoax collusion, Inga just keeps the lies coming.

Sykes voluntarily left his minor market radio show to get bigger bucks from lefty billionaire Omidyar at the lefty The Bulwark, along with all the other FakeCons who got pay raises to jump ship to lefty venues and to endorse democrats and their policies.

Inga simply cant help herself. She'll just keep up the lies.

Next up for Inga: Sykes only toik the Bulwark gig because Boogaloos made him!!

LOL

rhhardin said...

Nobody mentions the key system components - business model (sell eyeballs to advertisers) and audience (soap opera women).

Jouralism is about that, not some higher truth and least of all contact with reality.

All of social media is about that gap, in fact, variously seen depending on what reality is supposed to be there. Taibbi is writing there these days.

I myself find nailing the situation attractive, but it's really a poetic exercise, not a journalistic one.

rhhardin said...

Nobody's calling me, the most literal racist in the world in a genetics science sort of way, racist these days. They're reserving the term for easier enemies, I guess.

Michael K said...

It is interesting that Inga continues to repeat lies as though she is unconscious and just a leftist bot.

pacwest said...

Crack's been saying this for a decade.

RMc said...

Shorter Taibbi: Orange Man Bad; crocodile, please eat me last.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Ralph L said...

white police in Cary, North Carolina

Grandma's youngest first cousin lived there before it was totally swamped by Yankees.

Actually it's C.A.R.Y. It stands for Containment Area: Relocated Yankees.

Inga said...

“It is interesting that Inga continues to repeat lies as though she is unconscious and just a leftist bot.”

It’s funny how Michael K gets irritated by people not being convinced he’s right and continue to state their opinion despite his Trumpslaining.

Inga said...

Crack, Trumpism is a cult. I would’ve thought you would’ve recognized this, as you’ve been an astute debunker of cultism for years.

Charles said...

More and more like China’a Cultural Revolution every day.

They are just evil waiting for real power to harm many.

Jim at said...

Taibbi is one of the very few leftists willing to take a hard look at what his side is doing. Good for him.

Jim at said...

Notice how some people completely ignore the larger point he's making while focusing on a simple slice of Trump hate.

Civil war, indeed. But it won't be Trump who 'talks' us into it.

Phil 314 said...

Who will be our Napoleon?

minnesota farm guy said...

Ray in SOCAL asks some important questions. Several others have answered " fatherless black families". The saddest part of that answer is that Patrick Moynihan identified the problem in 1965 and since than it has only gotten worse; in 1965 the non-marital birthrates for blacks was 25% by 2014 it was 70%. An analysis of what came after the report subtitled "Rejecting the Moynihan report caused untold, needless misery."
Back to Taibbi: other than the obligatory swing at Trump this is an outstanding - and frightening- piece of analysis. Thanks, Ann for blogging it.

chuck said...

I like reading Matt Taibbi, but in small doses. That he has failed to note that, like an opened jug of milk, the left always goes sour, is a wonder.

The Crack Emcee said...

Inga said...

"Crack, Trumpism is a cult. I would’ve thought you would’ve recognized this, as you’ve been an astute debunker of cultism for years."

Thank you, but no, Trumpism is not a cult. Cult leaders are not elected.

The left has been projecting it's pathologies onto the Tea Party for 5 years now, as a way to avoid addressing it's own failings.

glacial erratic said...

I guess there's a brand new "White Man's Burden" for 2020. And it involves crying over black criminals and lots of kneeling.

The Crack Emcee said...

It's been so long since I incited a riot I've almost forgotten how it's done.

Kirk Parker said...

Crack,

"The left has been projecting its pathologies onto the Tea Party for 5 years now..."

Projection is one of the few things the left knows... it's actually been 10 or 11 years wrt the Tea Party, but the starting point there is NOT something new about the left's behavior, it's purely because that's when the Tea Party got started.