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The Left and Media Censorship - ClassicalLib17 - 07-27-2010
This very forum was much like what this article describes. But I think even the Progressives on this forum are now running from this administration's policies like scalded dogs. That is a direct benefit of providing an open forum which allows open and honest posts and discussion. Thank you WaukTalk Forum for providing this venue to reach out to the misguided and set them straight with the truth. Enjoy this article from the City Journal. God Bless America
Andrew Klavan
Empire of Silence
Journolist, Breitbart, and what the Left doesnât say
26 July 2010
A personal incident has given me a particular perspective on recent news about the media. Last Tuesday, I received word that the French release of my thriller novel Empire of Lies had been canceled by publisher Seuil Policiers. The editor who originally bought the book had left the French company, and the new editor, my agent says, feels that âshe can not publish . . . because of the political and religious aspects of the story.â This, even though itâs in breach of a contract for which Iâve been paid in full. Empire of Lies features a politically conservative Christian protagonist, Jason Harrow, who believes he has uncovered an Islamist terrorist plot being obscured by the leftist mainstream media. âLies, lies, lies,â the emotionally troubled Harrow murmurs at his television set. âItâs all about what they donât say.â It will come as no surprise that my friend Andrew Breitbart praised the book as the only thriller heâd ever read in which the mainstream media were the villains.
The bookâs French cancellation is, I realize, a rather small cultural event. Yet it gives specific color to the recent revelations on the Daily Caller website that left-wing journalists conspired to suppress scandals that might harm Barack Obama and to the brouhaha over Breitbartâs online release of a video that resulted in a government workerâs momentarily losing her job. In both stories, one thing leaps out at me: everywhere, the Left favors fewer voices and less information, and conservatives favor more. Everywhere, the Left seeks to disappear its opposition, whereas the Right is willing to meet them head-on.
Take the e-mails that the Daily Caller obtained from the now-defunct lefty Web service Journolist. Never mind the personal or psychological implications of a radio producer who lovingly imagines Rush Limbaughâs death or a law professor who doesnât know that the FCC has no power to deprive Fox News of a license or a reporter who wants to smear Fred Barnes and other right-wing commentators as racist in order to distract the public from the hateful radicalism of Jeremiah Wright, then Obamaâs pastor. The point is not these peopleâs animus or ignorance or wickedness. The point is that what they desired was not victory in open debate but silenceâthe silence of censorship, intimidation, or the grave.
When has Rush Limbaugh ever wished a liberalâs mouth closed forever? Really, who can deny that Rush would happily argue a point with absolutely anyone anywhere? When has Fox News ever done anything to its rival cable stations but trounce them in a free competition for ratings? When has Fred Barnes ever tried to bully or intimidate someone into shutting up?
And what about Breitbart? Did he, like many a daily journalist before him, momentarily put speed over full context in releasing an NAACP video? Perhaps. But Breitbart is the grassroots nemesis of vast media conglomerates that continually and purposefully ignore, suppress, and distort information unfriendly to their ideology: release and disclosure are his reasons for being. Breitbart routinely breaks important stories that the mainstream media wonât touch. âI donât even know about it,â chuckled ABC Newsâs Charlie Gibson well after Breitbart revealed corruption at the left-wing activist organization Acorn. âI just didnât know about it,â said Bob Schieffer of CBS after Breitbart and others had been hammering at possible wrongdoing at the Justice Department in a botched case against New Black Panther thugs. And I guess the networks just didnât know when Breitbart decisively disproved allegations that Tea Partiers hurled racist insults at lawmakersâbecause they continued to spread the discredited smear.
Old-media pooh-bahs like former ABC anchor Ted Koppel lament the âgood old days,â when three government-licensed networks served as gatekeepers to what the public could and couldnât know. Breitbart, meanwhile, exhorts crowds of citizens to shoot videos and gather information, telling them, âYou are the media now!â Breitbart only wants more information, while the left-wing media too often operate through obscurantism and suppression. They bury the word âIslamâ when describing terrorists who murder in the name of Allah. They depict police as racist while hiding the racial crime statistics that explain police actions. They actively ignore and spike both political and sex scandals involving prominent liberals, liberal causes, or media bias. They attempt to label speech offensive or racist if it undermines their positions.
My beleaguered creation Jason Harrow was right: it is all about what they donât say. Now, in France, he himself has become part of that silence. Here in America, the Right keeps his voice alive.
Andrew Klavan is a City Journal contributing editor. His new thriller, The Identity Man, is due out in November from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Re: The Left and Media Censorship - Danno - 07-28-2010
You mention "the misguided". How ironic that is because it really is people like you who are the truly misguided, for they are people who do not see the fact that all government... progressive, liberal, consevative, socialist, communist, is just a smokescreen, a cardboard cutout which hides the real machinery. To think otherwise is folly. Government is as relevant to the Big Picture as the last Bears Packers game. The two are actually quite similar when you consider their diversionary qualities.
Now go put your blinders back on.
Re: The Left and Media Censorship - ClassicalLib17 - 07-28-2010
Danno, I have never posted anything advocating big government and I agree with you that government is not the solution, government is the problem. I appreciate your paraphrasing of President Ronald Reagan's famous quote, I think he hit the nail on the head with that one many years ago. Thank you for your thoughtful response. P.S. Those misgivings that you feel, regarding our current administration's big government policies, are correct and you should continue to seek the truth because there are many more fact-based websites out there than I am able to post on this forum for all to read.
Re: The Left and Media Censorship - Danno - 07-28-2010
Yeah, Good ol Ronnie. He sure did a lot to get rid of Big Government.
Here's something to consider.
"Ronald Reagan came in for a lot of criticism when he warned of the dangers of letting trees run amok and ruin our air.
Noting President Ronald Reagan's notorious 1980 reference to trees causing pollution (Reagan said: "Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation.")... obviously Ronnie was on to something. Where others have been lured into looking at towering Redwoods and seeing ancient stately majestic beauties reaching serenely into the sky Ronnie saw right through them like he saw through communist fronts. While the real effects of trees were invisible to the rest of us Ronnie clearly saw that trees were waging a silent war on Western civilization."
Re: The Left and Media Censorship - ClassicalLib17 - 07-28-2010
Danno, It seems that Al Gore may have been influenced by President Reagan, also. Regrettably, he tried to use his fairy tale for personal financial gain by regulating the carbon dioxide output of the world's free industrialized economies by way of the Obama administration and Democrat controlled congress. Of which, to date, his massive Chicago Climate Exchange investment can only be described as 'putting the cart before the horse.' But I will guess that a few late night hotel massages will help to ease that pain. Once again, thank you for shedding some additional light on this issue.