October 22, 2009
Exclusive: Blacklisting is Alive and Well in Modern Day America
Jonathan Strong
The left wing of the political spectrum sometimes appears to look back at the years of McCarthyism with a bizarre sense of nostalgia. Perhaps, it is that it was a time of victimization for which they recall with twisted fondness or perhaps it is mere historical revisionism. While Sen. McCarthy may have over stepped in his pursuit of Soviet infiltrators and collaborators, he was undoubtedly correct that the Soviets were attempting to infiltrate American society and one of their key avenues was through the media. While communism is no longer the threat it once was, the threat of “statism” through unchecked government expansion remains real. Indeed, as long as humanity inhabits this Earth, the threat of central planning through authoritarian control under the arm of government will always exist.
However, the shoe is now on the other foot, or so it seems. Instead of “the right” going overboard in their attack on “the left” and the punishment (or criminalization) of ideas, it is now the media in cooperation with the political elite on the left using the power of the government, tactics of intimidation, defamation, distortion, and ostracism to delegitimize conservatives in America.
This past summer, average Americans from across the country took to the streets, town hall meetings, and marches in opposition to the Obama administration’s health care reform plans. Regardless of how you feel about the administration’s plan, the protests expressed legitimate grievances and ideological opposition to an overt desire to expand the government’s role in health care. The media denigrated these protests, labeling them “tea baggers,” a disgusting sexual reference most notably aired by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. The perverse label has continued to be used by the media as recently as this past Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” by E.J. Dionne and Paul Krugman. Cooper and others have been incapable of concealing their disdain for these protesters and were joined by senior members of the Democrat Party’s leadership. Nancy Pelosi falsely accused the protesters of having swastikas and dismissing them as an “Astroturf” movement. At the same time, the health care company Humana was effectively censored by the White House for exercising their First Amendment rights in issuing warnings to their customers about what the potential consequences of the proposed reforms might entail. Now, in true Nixonian fashion, the Obama administration has made a concerted effort to marginalize and ostracize Fox News because of its rightward bent in its primetime line up. Fox makes no apologies for this, just as MSNBC and CNN don’t apologize for their leftward bent. It is a free country after all, and news organizations are free to push an agenda if they so wish. However, the Obama administration has gone a step further in targeting Fox News in verbal attacks by senior members of the administration such as Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod. It is now less surprising that Obama has been unwilling to take a hard line against Hugo Chávez; he may be borrowing some of the same techniques used against Globovision TV.
And, as usual, the left has chosen to once again target conservative radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Agree or disagree with either of them, their programs are examples of the First Amendment in action. Rush Limbaugh’s association with a group attempting to buy the St. Louis Ram’s was opposed by race-baiters Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, enabled by the spineless NFL Commissioner Robert Goodell in an apparent bargaining chip for upcoming collective bargaining agreements with the NFL players union. Even if you hate Limbaugh, you should agree that in a democracy one’s legitimate political views should not affect your ability to participate in legal commercial activity. Limbaugh was defamed and slandered, enabled by CNN and other news outlets that shamelessly aired quotes that had no basis whatsoever (fact checks for critical SNL skits only). And as usual, Rush was forced to re-live his unwise (but not racist) comments concerning Donovan McNabb from his brief stint on ESPN years ago.
I’m not a huge Glenn Beck fan. His views are paranoid at times and he’s prone to emotional roller-coasters which can be hard to take after a day’s work when you just want to put up your feet. That said, he’s done an excellent job exposing a vein of extremism running through the administration. First, he exposed the Marxist Van Jones as a radical with troubling views from his past statements. The White House either did a horrible job vetting him, or simply didn’t have any major disagreements with his left wing extremist views. He’s also pointed out another Marxist strain in Anita Dunn’s praise of Mao Tse Tung during a speech to high school students. She can attempt to spin it any way she wants, and the media can ignore it for the time being, but her comments on Mao are nothing short of sickening. Having Mao as her favorite philosopher, a man who killed between 30 and 70 million people, is no better than heaping praise on Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong Il, or, dare I say it, Adolf Hitler. It is disgusting, unjustifiable, and shameful. The Obama administration should be wary of playing this card against Fox News. President Nixon further complicated matters for himself when he made an enemy of the media. While CNN and MSNBC may smugly enjoy the attacks from the White House for now, they may become envious of still higher ratings for Fox News that have resulted from the controversy and adopt similar tactics of opposition to the Obama administration. Many other commentators have already observed that the White House demeans itself by stooping to such petty attacks, but if the attacks garner attention, others might be tempted to grab some attention for themselves.
The tragedy for the country is that it is being disserved by a media so complicit in the attempt to marginalize conservative views while unapologetically cheerleading the Obama administration. If the American experiment is to continue, it must be a bustling marketplace of ideas from the left and right. This attempt to blacklist conservatives seems a concerted attempt to distract the public and the media from the real issue at hand: the expansion of government. No news agency is asking the direct question that must be asked of the Obama administration and the Congress: at what point is government too big? The state cannot continue to expand without the endangerment of the continuation of democracy and liberty. Thank goodness for Fox News and responsible journalism.
Reader Comments: Submit Your Comment (4)
If it wasn't for Fox News we wouldn't know of all the dirty dealings going on in the Oval office. We need one or more honest news sources that give unbiased views of what is going on.
If we had to listen to CNN or MSNBC all day our heads would be full of propaganda.
Totalitarian regimes gain their power through the media. That is why revolutionaries target radio and television stations first.
posted by : al Kidya
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 10:39 AM
It is amazing that the other networks did not immediately side with Fox News. The Obama Administration performed a masterful stroke by attempting to legitimize the other news organizations while singling out and delegitimizing one. This is such a dangerous oversight on the part of the other outlets, can't they immediately see the danger of letting politicians decide who is and is not legitimate? What is different about the President and his staff deciding the legitimacy of news coverage from the president and his staff deciding the legitimacy of political points of view? This is the most dangerous slippery slope I have experienced in my political life and to actually see some members of the press defending these attacks on a fellow member is very disturbing...
posted by : Jared M. Sewell
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:25 AM
It's a real shame that the President of the United States has to fall to this level. Whether or not we care for Glen Beck or Rush or Hannity, we have to admit they do bring us to light on issues we hear no place else. I find it quite disgusting that the President would even consider a Black List. He needs to stop whining, and concentrate on issues at hand such as unemployment, and stop worrying about how many people are on the side of his agenda. He must realize that not everyone agrees with him. Finally, the days of George W, my goodness the liberal media attacked him on all sides.
posted by : Roni
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 03:05 PM
Pelosi lied about swastikas at tea party hoaxes?
I have photos of the swastikas waved by tea partiers on my web site.
You are the liar, not Pelosi.
As if this needs to be said, you fascist puke ...
- AC
posted by : AC
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 09:21 PM
