PrintReports of MSM's death are greatly exaggerated
MSM — Main—Stream Media — in the guise of CBS has received some heavy body blows over the past few days. However, the incessant, gleeful handclapping by conservatives at the well—publicized faux pas of Mr. Rather & Co. is, in my humble opinion, a bit overdone and premature. I would venture a guess that CBS News and 'Sixty Minutes', with or without their doubtable Senior Blatherer, will be around for some time to come. So will the New York Times and like publications along with the broadcast and cable Marxist news outlets of assorted stripes and colors. For they are but the messengers. No more responsible for their output than a megaphone is for its.
Ridding ourselves of the nonsense that is promoted as political discourse, non—fiction publishing and higher education is a task most Herculean. At the beginning of our republic politics was already hard—hitting contact sport. After all, weren't duels even fought over public issues? But the arguments presented and debated during the formulation and ratification of the Constitution put today's discourse to shame. Issues were paramount. Reasons for and against each position were well—reasoned and coherently presented. One only need peruse some of the many documents and speeches found at the Founders' Constitution, published on—line by the University of Chicago Press, to gain an enduring appreciation of the integrity, honesty and intelligence of those who set us upon this course.
What happened on the way to today where honesty and integrity are often the first casualties in Vote Wars? Was it 'media bias?' Is the Devil making them do it, as Flip Wilson once explained away any instance of dubious behavior? Moral decay? Why do we seem to coexist in two parallel political universes? Where even on those rare occasions where there is agreement on fact, the interpretations made, meanings ascribed and conclusions drawn are blithely presented by the MSM as equally plausible when one of the positions — by the logical principle that two mutually—exclusive assertions cannot both be simultaneously true — must be utter nonsense?
For many years the answer to such questions eluded me — not that I am now claiming divine insight. But a couple of essays from the archives of the New Criterion helped me to see the light. The first is 'The treason of the intellectuals and 'the undoing of thought'' by Roger Kimball. The second is 'Lying for the truth: M
