the 50th Anniversary
of "I Have a Dream".
Other people's idea of how to mark the 50th Anniversary of "I Have a Dream":
@EdgeofSports @NancyPelosi She would have opposed such eavesdropping only beginning on January 20, 1969
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 24, 2013
There may come a day of tragedy or celebration or remembrance when Mr. Greenwald gets out of bed and says to himself, "You know what? As the principal reporter on a huge, complicated and important story, maybe today I'll just report the news and not go completely out of my way to win the 'Trollingest Asshole on the Internet' award. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, I'll stop making shit up and shrieking it at 150 decibels just to score ideological points!"
Maybe he'll even go so far as to retract things he said when it turns out they're just not true.
On that day -- the day when the Leader of the Indignanti stops going out of his way take a dump on his own message -- my faith in Mr. Greenwald's journalist credibility will increase sharply.
19 comments:
Whenever the trollage and the Huffage makes you doubt what you're doing...you need to ask yourself one question:
In five years, how do you think the great future pundits of the time will look back on this story?
Think of how Sully, Bobo and ilk now speak of the great Persian tromp down...
Remember the days of blow job indignation....?
Remember when we were asking ourselves that...back in 2004?
Do you think anybody in 2018 is going to be looking back at Snowden, Greenwald Manning and Assange as heros?
Do you really think that?... because your critics certainly do....
You obviously reject Gore Vidal's thesis on the uniparty having two right wings. It does, in fact, hold a good deal of water (e.g., The Carter Doctrine begun by Roosevelt), but you are persecuted by the very idea. For reasons beyond my reckoning, when basic facts speak for themselves.
By 2018, Snowden, Greenwald, Manning and Assange will be forgotten; as inconsequential as Fallujah and Najaf.
The hysterical ninnies who today wail that the NSA is the worst thing ever will have dropped Snowwald like an old toy and moved on with their endless string of bright shiny pseudocrises.
And that, my pretend radical friends, is why we as a nation can not have nice things.
Let me add, Vidal's quote:
There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently ... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.[61]
Now, your real job is to make a small dent in that statement, should you choose to do so. Good luck, Jim. Boomp, boomp, boomp,boomp, boomp, boomp, boomp boomp....neener nee...neener nee...
Oh, and blackdaug, yes, indeedy-do:
Heroes. Manning, Snowden, and, yes, Greenwald.
Up yours.
fug me in the face for forgetting Assange, and millions others.
I despise the idea of political correctness. It's a vacuous right wing pseudo-irony. (Who wouldn't want to be politically correct?) Still, I don't like the suggestion that some people acknowledge King's speech in ways more appropriate than others. Worse, that being critical of one's present day lawmakers amounts to nothing more than "trolling" (about which King could give a fuck) is a sorry, petty opinion.
@Compound F
That doesn't mean the two wings are equally bad. Nor does it mean that some people might be ruined by one wing. Lastly it does not mean that there is another viable choice.
I shudder to contemplate how deeply Glenn will root around in the sewer of his own dickishness on September 11.
@Compound F:
There's a salient point you're missing, which is that Gore Vidal wrote that in the 1970s, before Nixon's Southern Strategy really began to bear its bitter and toxic fruit.
These days the Republican Party has abandoned even the pretense of reason, and so the ante has been substantially upped. You're now in a situation where keeping them as far as possible from the levers of power has become a matter of life-and-death for your country.
For reasons beyond my reckoning
not a very high bar to hurdle.
Maybe it's time to ignore the disagreeable personalities of Greenwald, Snowden and Assange and concentrate on the very important issue of NSA spying.
Your friend Cesca claims that "nobody cares about NSA surveillance" when it's obvious from Congressional response from both parties that this is not true.
I call such people "NSA Truthers", who are very much like "Climate Change Truthers."
BTW, as bitchy as Greenwald is, he has never had me suspended from Twitter, unlike "Crystal For Obama." And I've had some knockdown drag-out Twitter fights with GG. He has never even blocked me! Therefore, henceforth, I will ignore GG's injudicious comments as childish trolling.
I know you told me, via podcast, to get over the nastiness of Twitter. Nonetheless, it is one thing to block or to insult someone. It is another to cut off her right to speak in a forum entirely after ONE innocuous and factual comment.
Why did Dr. King waste his time on such petty problems when there was illegal surveillance going on? Couldn't he see that that is the only issue which really matters in this world? Surely he could have accepted a place at the back of the bus until Kennedy's Evil Empire had been brought down?
bluepill: your point merely amplifies my own: things have only gotten more reactionary from both parties since Nixon. And Stirling Newberry has a theory as to why. And why things will become even more reactionary. IT begins with resources, rare resources. He referred to his thesis as, "American Thermidor." You can find it on the google. I totally recommend reading it for its kick-ass disposition and predictive value.
Spying on everyone is a license to steal, blackmail and corrupt.
Corporate silent coup in America
If one has not cheated during competition he did not do everything he could to win
Militarization of local law enforcement
Members of Congress are immune from prosecution when evidence of criminal acts are discovered through communications surveillance.
Insider trading is legal for members of Congress
The rotating door is delayed bribery.
It is only murder when "they" do it.
Materialism is the base human instinct. Humanism is a symptom of mental instability.
Steal from the poor and middle class because they will not do a thing about it.
Bankers are above the law, because their success is essential to the economy.
Winner take all is a stronger motivator than lifting all boats.
To maintain war profiteers, it is necessary to start wars.
Life is only one card in a hand.
gcwall o' aphorisms.
@Compound F:
I've read a few of Mr. Newberry's writings, and I'm aware he is very sick at this point and wish him a speedy recovery.
Nevertheless, I've never been convinced by the argument that the Western political parties and constructs that were once openly progressive have been hewing rightwards and becoming more reactionary out of choice. While I agree in principle with a lot of Newberry says, I think the modern versions of the cycles he's describing are far less deterministic than imagined, but because the concentration of money and power in the hands of the few that wish to hold on to it at any cost stacks the decks across the globe to a degree which has never been seen before, holding the line while trying to find a way forward is more important now than at any time in the past.
Does anyone realize what a completely preposterous question Zirin posed in the first place? Greenwald shows not only his reflexive hatred for the Democratic Party in his response but his abysmal ignorance of the period in question. Hoover had been wiretapping and bugging King since well before the March on Washington. The attorney general and the president signed off on it. The Nixon inauguration is a childish, stupid reference point in response to an ignorant question.
Just when I was ready to write-off Greenwald, he nails it with his zinger about Pelosi.
BTW, I like the defense of the President now as much as when all defense of the President sentences started, "Yeah, but Clinton..."
Berto
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