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Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 7/27/2008 6:22:34 PM
Title: When smart people turn into blithering idiots
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From DAN MITCHELL: Events in recent weeks have shown, as if any more proof were needed, that blind ideology turns otherwise smart people – left and right – into blithering idiots. The latest batch of offenses to common sense shows that the left may be even more prone to this than is the right. It often seems as if the current iteration of the right knows better, but -- in a conscience-free sort of way -- doesn't care. But many on the left often just don't seem to want to acknowledge obvious facts, seeing them perhaps as impediments to a Higher Truth.

First, we had the reaction to the New Yorker's brilliant, biting takedown of the right-wing's fantasies regarding Barack Obama. Whom did it anger? Not people on the right, but many people on the left, who, insisting upon denying reality, called it "offensive" – to Obama!

Then there were the people who decided that there wasn't enough "MSM" press coverage of Jane Mayer's new book about the Bush Administration's torture policy. Newspapers across the country covered it, including some of the biggest national papers (this even though they were basically promoting a competitor's story), public radio, and several television outlets. You could tell this to the people complaining, but it didn't matter to them. How much coverage should the book have gotten to please them? Splashing it across the front page every day for a week may have been enough, but even there, I have my doubts. The "MSM" would still be in the administration's pocket. And some automaton left-wing bloggers and the pod people who spend their days commenting online would throw in some gratuitous mentions of Judith Miller.

But the most idiotic of recent idiocies is the Huffington Posts's column "Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report," by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brendan DeMelle. This could be a great service if the column actually "unearthed" anything – which would take some work and perhaps even actual reporting. But, incredibly, nearly every single item they post is based on, and actually links to, a mainstream media story. They cite stories by The New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, and many other mainstream media outlets as proof that the mainstream media isn't covering those stories.

It's beyond bizarre. These men are not merely doubting reality -- they are using reality itself to cast doubt on reality. Even more disturbing, their audience doesn't even seem to notice. The comments section is full of people lauding the writers' efforts to "unearth" these stories, with many of them decrying the "MSM's" ignoring them.

Or maybe it's not the whole audience doing this, but only the commenters whom the Huffington Post has decided are fit to comment. I wrote a short note in the comments section of the latest "Unearthed" column, pointing out that nearly every item in it relied on and linked to a mainstream media story. This comment – which contained no offensive or insulting language (I did say the column was "silly") – was apparently rejected by the Huffington Post's moderators. [Permalink]

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