BE OF GOOD CHEER, MY BLOGGING BRETHREN
TKS
jim geraghty reporting
One of my favorite bloggers is the Anchoress, and she's been a little glum lately. She explains:
I’m not writing because…well, it’s all beginning to feel
a little futile, isn’t it? The daily grind of news is
essentially the same. Bush is an antiquated manly sort who
is also bad, evil, incompetent, hitler, a terrorist etc,
etc. How will Democrats regain power (without resorting to
buying votes or engaging in detectable fraud) - because
nothing in the world will be right until they do? Iraq is
(is not) in civil war. It’s not, really, but we want to
report that it is, and so “truthiness” is the order of the
day. The economy - near full employment with the strongest
job market in years - is terrible.
Nothing good will show up in the news until Bushitler is
out of office and the Dems are back in. Nothing. Good news
has been disallowed. If you want to find good news, you
will have to look for it yourself.
Bad news, though, is so welcome it even gets made up.
Once the left is back in power, however, Iraq will
miraculously become a stunning success story, the economy
will be “booming“…oh, and the homeless will disappear
again - poof! They’ve been at our soup kitchen at church
through every president for the last 20 years, near as I
can tell, but they don’t exist when the right party has
the White House. When the right party has the White House,
then the liberation of millions of tyrannized people, the
opportunities for women who had previously been denied
them…all of that will become newsworthy. It will be
celebrated. Oprah will do a show. When the right party is
in office, the thousands of recently released Iraqi
documents and what they reveal will also suddenly become
newsworthy and credible. When the right party is in power
-when they have the house and senate - the 22nd amendment
will be repealed, and the left will remain entrenched in
the White House forevermore, thanks to the compliant press
who will spike any news it doesn’t like or which doesn’t
help the cause.
I know this feeling. I've had this feeling. But I'm not feeling this way now.
For starters, let's be realistic about our expectations from the media. We're never going to open up the New York Times op-ed page and read a Maureen Dowd column stating, "You know, all I know how to do is write snarkily and snidely about the accomplishments of others. I really ought to give Rummy more credit for his efforts to transform our military to tackle 21st century threats." We're never going to hear Paul Krugman sing the praises of economic growth under a Republican president. Ruth Marcus is never going to write that the dangerous world we live in requires more manliness, not less, and the BBC is never going to say that Iraq is making great progress in many regions, and is a great accomplishment in bringing liberty to where there was once only oppression.
It's never going to happen, so stop looking for it. Don't use that as your measuring stick of whether your efforts are futile or worthwhile. You can't control what the MSM writes, and they're proving spectacularly immune to counterarguments and facts that don't fit their preconcieved notions. They're allergic to admitting they've made mistakes. I hate to get all touchy-feely, but focus on your circles of influence. Bloggers have an audience of their own, generally an audience of smart folks who go out and look for further information beyond the headlines.
Secondly, notice the good news in the world. And there's more than you think.
All relevant links found here
tks.nationalreview.com |
