[Rhodes22-list] Joe the Plumber and the MSM

[Brad Haslett]

Ahh, I'm not done yet.  This summer I spent a week in Kunming, China.
We were guests of our precious Cora's former baby sitter. They are
retired school teachers.  Their daughter wrote a screenplay that
became a popular movie in China.  That was before the Chinese
government shot as many people who died on 9/11.  My friend had
already left the county (China) years before and became a dissident
writer.  Where were we?  Oh yeah, school teachers in China.

Folks, I'm leaving for the weekend to visit a couple of 80 year olds
who aren't worried about any of this.  I'm taking a 6 year old to a
theme park that is designed to make you forget about all of this.

You think about if for me, will ya?

I'm not worried about this in the long run.  I'm still young enough to
pick up my bat, and my ball, and my glove and find a new ball park.

If I have to worry about what I say, like "Joe the Plumber", and
whether my dirty laundry is going to be attacked, I'd just as soon go
back to the Internet cafe in Kunming where some punk cop looked over
my shoulder while I was posting to you.

China got over their "Dear Leader".  What the hell attracts you to the
next one is beyond me. Forgive me for not participating.

Brad

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:35 PM,  <pdgrand at nospam.wmis.net> wrote:
>
> October 17, 2008
>
> Joe and the Devil
>
> Uwe Kiefer
>
> Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, you did us all a great service. You spoke to
> power, you questioned your leaders, and in the finest traditions of a
> democracy you stood up and put it to 'em.
> Because of this brave act I now know how much you made in 2006, that you
> are divorced, you wouldn't have been all that affected by Obama's tax
> plan, you're not a papered plumber in Ohio, and you're 34. You can thank
> the media for this, personally I never cared. But for standing up and
> speaking to power your private life has been plastered all over the United
> States.
>
> Gone is the discussion over Progressive Taxes. Gone is the discussion of
> Obama's policies and what they really mean for an economy and culture like
> America's. Gone is the discussion of how Obama's philosophy applies to
> American reality.
>
> Joe, your story isn't sad because of you, it's sad because the best
> Republican Party strategists trying to get McCain elected were trumped by
> a 34 year old plumber who asked a simple question.
>
> And it's really sad when a regular, private citizen exercising his right
> to question his leaders is rewarded by having his private life barfed up
> all over the MSM, his integrity and honour made the issue instead of the
> policy of the would be ruler.
>
> I do not care how much you made in 2006. I do not care that you aren't
> papered in Ohio. I do not care, and can't even imagine the relevance, that
> you are divorced.  You scared the American media, who are (almost) totally
> in the Obama camp, so they went out and got all the information they
> could, sent it press and violated your right to privacy. If there is no
> legal violation, certainly there is one in spirit.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised, and would totally understand, if you never wanted
> to question another politician in your life. The media decided to make you
> the issue, even though the issue you raised with Obama is the one that
> directly relates to them and the country.
>
> Joe, do you know what is really scary about your story? It's that the
> media doesn't understand the damage it's doing to itself by pillorying
> citizens who question their leaders. If the people are too scared to stand
> up and question their politicians for fear of having their private lives
> exposed all over the media then the people will stop questioning and we're
> one step closer to complete political apathy - glassy eyed citizens
> blindly accepting what the government - or any power structure - says.
>
> In such a world, even if the media does do its job and exposes a corrupt
> government, would we even care? They helped turn us into docile subjects
> and in the process diminished all value they used to bring to our culture.
>
> But wait! How did this come about? It came from the institution we have
> relied on to help us question those who hold the power. Albert Brook's
> character in Broadcast News<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/> gives a
> speech about how 'The Devil' will come to us in small steps, eroding our
> values slowly, meticulously. Joe, your story is a perfect representation
> of that metaphor. By creating a climate of fear those who would speak to
> power won't, and our shared value of questioning our rulers will be
> diminished.  'The Devil' is that much closer to his goal, and all thanks
> to the media.
>
> Their error is self destructive. The media is supposed to be an
> institution we rely on. The more they contribute to a process that makes
> private citizens scared to question their leaders, the more destruction
> they do to their own foundations.
>
> I propose a complete ban on reporting any citizen's private information
> unless that information is relevant to a crime or breach of public trust.
> (I'm sure a lawyer could word that better.)  We must feel protected from
> the media, we must feel that questioning power doesn't expose us to
> personal risk; especially from the one institution we have always relied
> on to help us question power.  America's fundamental rights include
> privacy and free speech, for the millions of Joes out there; this 'Devil'
> must be thwarted.
>
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