If you don’t already despise the elite media, the next few paragraphs should put the final pieces into place. No joke, some high-profile members of the elite media are now on their high horse (if you’ll pardon the expression) over the frenzied coverage of serial stolen valor liar Brian Williams.
In short, members of the elite media don’t think members of the elite media should be treated like members of the elite media treat everyone else.
In a piece titled “Charge of the Bile Brigade,” the National Journal’s Ron Fournier, a Platinum Media Cardholder who wields superior sanctimony like a superpower, indicted all “Americans” for “flit[ting] from one controversy to the next with little context or objectivity.”
(Note: “Americans” is FournierSpeak for “Yahoos.”)
Probably because social media can’t greenback and greenroom Ron Fournier to come on television and explain why everything that happens in America is really all about Ron Fournier’s feelings, Ron Fournier singled out social media by name as a big part of the Bile Brigade.
(Note: “social media” is FournierSpeak for “The Little People.”)
Into each story charged the Bile Brigade. Rumors, falsehoods, and rushed judgments poured into the public square, overwhelming discerning Americans who still desire solid reporting and thoughtful opinions. I am part of the problem: As a political columnist and Twitter unkie [sp], I’m not always sure whether I’m adding to or subtracting from the debate.
Are vaccinations harmful? Can I get Ebola? Ask those questions on social media, and you’ll likely get mocked. …
Many people, myself included, thought social media would help people overcome their inhibition and create a more vibrant public discussion. …
Where does this leave us? First, we don’t trust the old media. Second, new media has made it easier for Americans to pull apart, and we’re no more likely to speak up. My hope is that as the new platforms evolve, the public will adapt and technology will be used as it has so many times in the past: To educate and unite the masses. This can’t happen fast enough. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do.
If I’m reading this correctly, Fournier is okay with everyone having a voice … just as long as he approves of that voice.
I must say, though, that Fournier’s desire “[t]o educate and unite the masses” puts a chill right down my freedom-is-messy loving spine.
Will we be uniting the masses before or after morning calisthenics?
Odd, how Fournier doesn’t report the fact that it was social media that finally put a stop to America’s anchorman stealing the valor of others. Thanks to a Facebook comment from a military witness who was in Iraq when Brian Williams was not shot down by an RPG, Brian Williams’ 12 year stolen valor rampage has finally come to an end.
NBC News had 12 years to stop Williams, and didn’t. Or, if the numerous reports are true, NBC News knew the face of its brand had a problem with the truth and chose to do nothing to stop him.
No Bile Brigade, no truth.
Odd, how Fournier also doesn’t mention that it was online media that stopped Dan Rather and CBS News in 2004 from using forged documents to topple a sitting Republican president.
No Bile Brigade, one corrupt liar defrauds our entire democracy.
ADDED: Via Twitter Fournier is arguing I misunderstood his column. He says he wasn’t defending Williams by labeling his critics the Bile Brigade and he actually likes social media even though it’s contextually challenged and full of bile and hasn’t yet “united the masses.” Then Ron told me to “saddle up,” which had something to do with my role in the aforementioned Bile Brigade. He doesn’t like me. That is crystal clear.
Add to the Fournier hopper the barely-employed Piers Morgan, who regularly uses his Twitter account to mercilessly troll any American who believes in self-defense. Monday Morgan defended Williams in part by lashing out at, uhm, Twitter with the astonishing argument that it was somehow a positive thing that Walter Cronkite was able to get away with all kinds of unethical behavior (though dining with go-go dancers sounds rather awesome.):
A recent biography about Cronkite revealed he enjoyed numerous freebies including flights to glamorous vacation spots around the world for his friends and family. He also, reportedly, dined with go-go dancers and bugged a committee room at a GOP convention.
Imagine what Twitter would have made of all that?
Don’t you dare “imagine” transparency for Uncle Wally. It’s good for America that Nixon Cronkite was able to enjoy the benefits of cronyism and illegal listening devices.
Transparency is for little people, Little People.
Over at Mediaite, its founder Dan Abrams is outraged that a member of the Elite Media is being treated like members of the Elite Media treat everyone else:
I am troubled by the fervor, occasional glee, and potentially disproportionate fury emanating from an unusual assortment of allies now determined to end Brian’s storied career based on what we know today. This alliance of certain capital-J journalists, conservative bloggers, and some who simply despise any rich and famous journalist are a formidable force.
What is happening to Brian Williams is what Brian Williams and Dan Abrams and Piers Morgan and Ron Fournier and all of the elite media do at every opportunity, and not just to The Powerful.
The only difference between the current swarm around Brian Williams and the recent swarms the media fabricated to EmmanuelGoldstein Darren Wilson and George Zimmerman, is that the swarmers around Williams aren’t godless liars. We’re seeking truth.
Newsflash: Unlike Wilson and Zimmerman, Williams actually did something wrong. Repeatedly.
The same elite media that invented the swarm and the scalp hunt and use both almost exclusively to promote the cause of Big Government and the Democrat Party, is now crybabying over the fact that the methods they spent years perfecting are now in play against Their Guy.
I’m sorry-not-sorry, because I know how you all long for the good old days when The Bile Brigade couldn’t stop you from toppling Republican presidents with forged documents, puffing yourselves up with stolen valor lies, and planting illegal listening devices to gather information on your enemies in the Republican Party.
I’m sorry-not-sorry, because I know how you all long for the good old days when being a “journalist” meant no accountability after you had worked so hard to sell your soul into the Exclusive Club of Gatekeepers who bottlenecked information and transparency and accountability and truth.
But mostly I’m sorry-really-sorry — and more than a little disturbed by the fact — that you are so blinded by your, yes, privilege that you can’t see how we rubes in the Bile Brigade are actually good for your personal bubbledom and your corrupted profession and our democracy.
You swarm with lies.
We swarm with the truth.
God bless The Bile Brigade.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.