‘Electronic agora’ fails to yield liberalism

Let thy speech be short, encompassing much in a few words.
Ecclesiasticus (Apocrypha) 32:8

Langdon Winner, one of the academic “stars” that the J school at the University of Nevada, Reno often brings in, insulted the intelligence--and patience--of his audience by speaking recently for one hour during a talk this fall.
Good speakers seldom go beyond 20 or 25 minutes.

Moreover, Professor Winner of Rensselaer Poly Tech asked such fraternity bull session questions as: 1) “What kind of world are we making?” and 2) “What is my role in it?”
Then he spoke glowingly about the “electronic agora,” declaring that the Internet and blogging are “powerful new means of communication.” But he never addressed the question: so what? Many Americans will still be ignorant. Too many will vote against their own economic and class interests because of social issues they find abhorrent.

Winner spoke of his epiphany after learning that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had deceived the nation in a United Nations speech in February 2003. Winner said he learned never again to believe the government. What took him so long?
Hadn’t he heard of the Tonkin Resolution in 1964? Or absorbed I.F. Stone’s indispensible dictum that all governments are liars and not to be believed unless proven to the contrary?

Peter Kirstein, writing for Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors, pointed out the parallels between Vietnam and Iraq:
“Both wars were initiated with distorted intelligence such as the nonexistent attacks on the Maddox and Turner Joy in the Gulf of Tonkin and the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Both conflicts became guerrilla wars in which U.S. forces became mired in nonconventional conflict. Building viable nations and winning the hearts and minds of the people failed.”

Winner did, however, say one true thing in his scattershot speech: Judith Miller, former reporter for the New York Times, is shameful. She let Bush administration sources lead her astray with biased, prowar reporting. Indeed, since the Times has such a powerful impact on the nation’s media, you could argue that she was instrumental in leading the nation into the disastrous war in Iraq.

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Press critic Norman Solomon writes on the Web page of “Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting”: “The American media Establishment has launched a major offensive against withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. In the latest media assault, right-wing outfits like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are secondary. The heaviest firepower is coming from the most valuable media real estate in the USA: the front page of the New York Times.”

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Lou Cannon, biographer of Ronald Reagan, gave a speech on the UNR campus recently. I did not attend, not wanting to hear the “cannonization” of Reagan. On a scale of 1 to 43, Reagan ranks 42nd, just ahead of Bush II. No need to await the judgment of future historians.
The media speakers on the UNR campus are sometimes entertaining. But they never address the serious problems of the Establishment media: government propagandist, gutlessness, self-censorship and burial of important stories.
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Once more into the breach against the perpetual conservative lament that the media are liberal. Lewis Lapham, former editor of Harper’s who is one of the best political essayists in America, was trashed in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review. Lapham was accused of excessive denunciation of President Bush while overlooking his achievements.
Bush achievements? The reviewer did not name any. Moreover, any political observer who isn’t a right-wing kook must constantly denounce Bush. His outrages are perpetrated daily.

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I know nothing about country music and couldn’t care less about it. But I do love the Dixie Chicks.
Their vocalist, Natalie Maines, had the guts to say to a London audience in 2003 that she was ashamed that Bush came from their state of Texas. Result: demonization, banishment of their songs from country radio stations in America and much destruction of their CDs. To her everlasting credit, Maines did not back off. She refused to apologize.
While the Dixie Chicks showed immense intestinal fortitude, NBC-TV showed it had none. It refused to run commercials in Los Angeles for a film documentary, “Shut Up and Sing,” about the Chicks.
Their principled stand is worth all the money in Texas.