Friday, July 13, 2007
Teams again
Listening to Bill Bennett interviewing Tony Snow ... Snow says he is about to start giving our side of the war, using facts and graphics. Bennett says Okay, fine, glad to hear it.
This is a perfect example of the cheerleader phenomenon.
In a war that involves propaganda more than any previous war, our side finally decides to gingerly tippy-toe into the water, to start telling our own side, after five long years of dead silence, five years of letting the enemy possess the media, five years of letting internal enemies leak with no punishment.
Those of us who want our side to win have been screaming at the TV for five years now: "What's wrong with you, George Bush? What's your defect, Snow? This isn't complicated or mysterious, dammit! Your job is not to pal around with Helen Thomas, your job is to tell us what we're doing and why! Look at what FDR did in WW2!!! He took full control of the media, and WE WON THAT WAR!!!!!"
But the people who were in a position to carry those complaints to the administration have never done it; they just said "Yay Bush! Yay Bush! Bush is God! Hillary is Satan! Bush is God! Hillary is Satan!" It would have been far more helpful to the team if people like Rush and Medved had asked the hard questions directly and publicly.
Briefly: I don't expect people to be heroic. I do expect them to use their resources and position for good ends. If you are in a position to speak directly to administration officials, you must use that position to give them honest information, and to ask the questions they won't hear from Helen Thomas or David Gregory. You're not entitled to simply complain and moan like any ordinary citizen.
¶ 5:42 AM
This is a perfect example of the cheerleader phenomenon.
In a war that involves propaganda more than any previous war, our side finally decides to gingerly tippy-toe into the water, to start telling our own side, after five long years of dead silence, five years of letting the enemy possess the media, five years of letting internal enemies leak with no punishment.
Those of us who want our side to win have been screaming at the TV for five years now: "What's wrong with you, George Bush? What's your defect, Snow? This isn't complicated or mysterious, dammit! Your job is not to pal around with Helen Thomas, your job is to tell us what we're doing and why! Look at what FDR did in WW2!!! He took full control of the media, and WE WON THAT WAR!!!!!"
But the people who were in a position to carry those complaints to the administration have never done it; they just said "Yay Bush! Yay Bush! Bush is God! Hillary is Satan! Bush is God! Hillary is Satan!" It would have been far more helpful to the team if people like Rush and Medved had asked the hard questions directly and publicly.
Briefly: I don't expect people to be heroic. I do expect them to use their resources and position for good ends. If you are in a position to speak directly to administration officials, you must use that position to give them honest information, and to ask the questions they won't hear from Helen Thomas or David Gregory. You're not entitled to simply complain and moan like any ordinary citizen.
¶ 5:42 AM
