Yesterday was the five year anniversary of the column that made me realize that the East Coast punditry was imbibing deeply in the terrors of the day and where I found myself asking Bill Keller, what the hell have they put in your water? From my email to Bill Keller, Feb 8, 2003:
The most dangerous thing about this administration is how closed it is to outside input, how sure it is that is has all the answers and how unwilling it is to listen to any points of view beyond their own. I don't understand how it is possible for anyone to feel comfortable with how decisions are made by this administration. They subvert science when it doesn't conform to their views. They subvert international treaties because they have no trust in relations and believe we can live in this world by ourselves. They propose budgets that are worse than a joke. And yet you think they can make a decision to go to war?
I am amazed that you guys in the media all seem to march to the same track. When do you get your own opinions that are not shaped by the people you talk to everyday? Perhaps you should read some more foreign press? Or if you would like, we in the hinterland could try to feed you a little bit of reality?
...I would not trust this government to boil water, much less lead our troops into war.
The column I felt compelled to respond to:
The I-Can't-Believe-I'm-A-Hawk Club
Remembering Bill Keller's Column From Five Years Ago
Her conclusion bears repeating - this was, even at that time, a government that had already shown a profound intolerance for opinions not its own, and partly as a result had shown itself to be spectacularly incompetent at anything not related to putting out its own spin on things.
That so many in the press were willing to overlook all that is troubling, to say the least. Nothing since then has convinced me that they've learned a lesson from all of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment