Geee Posted August 11, 2010 Share Posted August 11, 2010 American Thinker:The Pleasures of Racism, Selfishness, and FearBy Jed GladsteinFor those who don't pay attention to how America's mainstream media actually functions nowadays, the recent JournoList scandal may prove a bit shocking. JournoList was a listserv[1] created by Ezra Klein, a sanctimonious young man who regularly appears on MSNBC. Mr. Klein writes for the Washington Post, which owns the JournoList email archive.According to Mr. Klein, the JournoList forum was created for members of the mainstream media as a "wonkish, [2] fun, political yelling match." During its existence, it accumulated tens of thousands of emails from its roughly 400 participants. Recently, it was discontinued when its contents were leaked to the public.[3]Some of the JournoList emails reveal that the mainstream media has been deeply complicit in deceiving the American people about Mr. Obama.[4] Other emails reveal that some of the luminaries in the mainstream media are both cruel and churlish. But what is perhaps most significant is that some of the emails show that the mainstream media is afflicted with a disability that might best be described as a form of social psychosis.[5]For example, one of the JournoList participants is a woman by the name of Katha Pollitt. Ms. Pollitt is a writer for The Nation magazine, and is also published by The New Yorker, Harper's, Ms., and The New York Times. In commenting on the Tea Party movement, Ms. Pollitt had this to say:"... today's US rightwingers have nothing concrete to offer people. Just the pleasures of racism and selfishness and fear."At the level of political theory, Ms. Pollitt's comment seems woefully devoid of verisimilitude. She makes an implicit assertion that the proper role of our national government is "to offer" something to the American people. This kind of thinking is what leads to a totalitarian nanny state. In our country, the proper domestic function of the federal government is to maintain a minimum structure of national rules that ensures the maximum amount of personal freedom consistent with lawful behavior. Beyond that, the Founders intended that the federal government should stay out of the way of the states and the American people, leaving them free to determine how best to secure their own happiness.[6]Ms. Pollitt's comment also reveals that she, like so many of her JournoList colleagues, is trapped in a state of pathological projection[7] about "racism and selfishness and fear." Despite many weeks of claiming that the Tea Party movement is racist, nobody in the mainstream media has been able to produce one iota of evidence to substantiate the charge. As for selfishness, surely there is nothing more selfish than expecting millions of hard working Americans to shoulder the burden of ever-expanding government programs for a permanent welfare class and tens of millions of illegal aliens in order to empower the left -- yet, that is precisely what the mainstream media wants Americans to do. And, as to fear, it takes only a cursory glance at the JournoList emails to see how central that emotion is to the gestalt of Ms. Pollitt and her JournoList colleagues.Considering the evidence, an objective observer must conclude that when it comes to "the pleasures of racism and selfishness and fear," the mainstream media and their cultural Marxist heroes beat the Tea Party hands down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geee Posted August 11, 2010 Author Share Posted August 11, 2010 Updated list: Spencer Ackerman - Wired, FireDogLake, Washington Independent, Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect Thomas Adcock - New York Law Journal Ben Adler - Newsweek, POLITICO Mike Allen - POLITICO Eric Alterman - The Nation, Media Matters for America Marc Ambinder - The Atlantic Greg Anrig - The Century Foundation Ryan Avent - Economist Dean Baker - The American Prospect Nick Baumann - Mother Jones Josh Bearman - LA Weekly Steven Benen - The Carpetbagger Report Ari Berman - The Nation Jared Bernstein - Economic Policy Institute Michael Berube - Crooked Timer, Pennsylvania State University Brian Beutler - The Media Consortium Lindsay Beyerstein - Freelance journalist Joel Bleifuss - In These Times John Blevins - South Texas College of Law Eric Boehlert - Media Matters Sam Boyd - The American Prospect Ben Brandzel - MoveOn.org, John Edwards Campaign Shannon Brownlee - Author, New America Foundation Rich Byrne - Playwright Kevin Carey - Education Sector Jonathan Chait - The New Republic Lakshmi Chaudry - In These Times Isaac Chotiner - The New Republic Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic Michael Cohen - New America Foundation Jonathan Cohn - The New Republic Joe Conason - The New York Observer Lark Corbeil - Public News Service David Corn - Mother Jones Daniel Davies - The Guardian David Dayen - FireDogLake Brad DeLong - The Economists’ Voice, University of California at Berkeley Ryan Donmoyer - Bloomberg News Adam Doster - In These Times Kevin Drum - Washington Monthly Matt Duss - Center for American Progress Gerald Dworkin - UC Davis Eve Fairbanks - The New Republic James Fallows - The Atlantic Henry Farrell - George Washington University Tim Fernholz - American Prospect Dan Froomkin - Huffington Post, Washington Post Jason Furman - Brookings Institution James Galbraith - University of Texas at Austin Kathleen Geier - Talking Points Memo Todd Gitlin - Columbia University Ilan Goldenberg - National Security Network Arthur Goldhammer - Harvard University Dana Goldstein - The Daily Beast Andrew Golis - Talking Points Memo Jaana Goodrich - Blogger Merrill Goozner - Chicago Tribune David Greenberg - Slate Robert Greenwald - Brave New Films Chris Hayes - The Nation Don Hazen - Alternet Jeet Heer - Canadian Journolist Jeff Hauser - Political Action Committee, Dennis Shulman Campaign Michael Hirsh - Newsweek James Johnson - University of Rochester John Judis - The New Republic, The American Prospect Foster Kamer - The Village Voice Michael Kazin - Georgetown University Ed Kilgore - Democratic Strategist Richard Kim - The Nation Charlie Kireker - Air America Media Mark Kleiman - UCLA The Reality Based Community Ezra Klein - Washington Post, Newsweek, The American Prospect Joe Klein - TIME Robert Kuttner - American Prospect, Economic Policy Institute Paul Krugman - The New York Times, Princeton University Lisa Lerer - POLITICO Daniel Levy - Century Foundation Ralph Luker - Cliopatria Annie Lowrey - Washington Independent Robert Mackey - New York Times Mike Madden - Salon Maggie Mahar - The Century Foundation Amanda Marcotte - Pandagon.net Dylan Matthews - Harvard University Alec McGillis - Washington Post Scott McLemee - Inside Higher Ed Sara Mead - New America Foundation Ari Melber - The Nation David Meyer - University of California at Irvine Seth Michaels - MyDD.com Luke Mitchell - Harper’s Magazine Gautham Nagesh - The Hill, Daily Caller Suzanne Nossel - Human Rights Watch Michael O’Hare - University of California at Berkeley Josh Orton - MyDD.com, Air America Media Rodger Payne - University of Louisville Rick Perlstein - Author, Campaign for America’s Future Nico Pitney - Huffington Post Harold Pollack - University of Chicago Katha Pollitt - The Nation Ari Rabin-Havt - Media Matters Joy-Ann Reid - South Florida Times David Roberts - Grist Lamar Robertson - Partnership for Public Service Sara Robinson - Campaign For America's Future Alyssa Rosenberg - Washingtonian, The Atlantic, Government Executive Alex Rossmiller - National Security Network Michael Roston - Newsbroke Laura Rozen - POLITICO, Mother Jones Felix Salmon - Reuters Greg Sargent - Washington Post Thomas Schaller - Baltimore Sun Noam Scheiber - The New Republic Michael Scherer - TIME Mark Schmitt - American Prospect, The New America Foundation Rinku Sen - ColorLines Magazine Julie Bergman Sender - Balcony Films Adam Serwer - American Prospect Walter Shapiro - PoliticsDaily.com Kate Sheppard - Mother Jones Matthew Shugart - UC San Diego Nate Silver - FiveThirtyEight.com Jesse Singal - The Boston Globe, Washington Monthly Ann-Marie Slaughter - Princeton University Ben Smith - POLITICO Sarah Spitz - KCRW Adele Stan - The Media Consortium Paul Starr - The Atlantic Kate Steadman - Kaiser Health News Jonathan Stein - Mother Jones Sam Stein - Huffington Post Matt Steinglass - Deutsche Presse-Agentur James Surowiecki - The New Yorker Jesse Taylor - Pandagon.net Steven Teles - Yale University Mark Thoma - The Economists' View Michael Tomasky - The Guardian Jeffrey Toobin - CNN, The New Yorker Rebecca Traister - Salon Karen Tumulty - Washington Post, TIME Tracy Van Slyke - The Media Consortium Paul Waldman - Author, American Prospect Dave Weigel - Washington Post, MSNBC, The Washington Independent Moira Whelan - National Security Network Scott Winship - Pew Economic Mobility Project J. Harry Wray - DePaul University D. Brad Wright - University of NC at Chapel Hill Kai Wright - The Root Holly Yeager - Columbia Journalism Review Rich Yeselson - Change to Win Matthew Yglesias - Center for American Progress, The Atlantic Monthly Jonathan Zasloff - UCLA Julian Zelizer - Princeton University Avi Zenilman - POLITICO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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