The Press

What is to be done?

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For those who do not know about the history of the Russian radical movement I should explain that the title was not invented by Lenin. Very little was. This was the title given to an interminably long and boring novel by Chernyshevsky, which outlined in fictional form the ideas of radicalism. One of the great mysteries of the Russian soul is how a novel of such incredible turpitude should have become so popular in a country, which, at the time, boasted some of the greatest novelist in the world.

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“Dishonest Words”

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David Friedman analyzes, with prejudice, the use in argument of loaded words such as “homophobic.” Such words, used thoughtlessly, confuse and indicate confusion on the part of the speaker. Used artfully, they are rhetorical bludgeons intended to stifle rational discussion at the point where rationality would be most helpful.

(Note also the comments to the post, including one comment that straightforwardly defends the use of dishonest words, in a way that unintentionally makes the opposite case, though the comment is perhaps a parody.)

The NYT and Astronomy

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Often, and especially before elections, the act of interpreting MSM news articles takes on the feel of one of those scientific investigations where the investigator tries to gain information about an invisible celestial body by observing its effect on visible stars and planets.

The AP: Unbelievable

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Here’s a well written fisking of Associated Press CEO Tom Curley’s dishonest apologia for both the AP itself and for the AP’s notorious terrorist-photographer Bilal Hussein, who is in US custody after being caught with a bunch of terrorists and acting like a terrorist.

My first thought when I read this kind of thing is: How stupid do MSM executives think the rest of us are? But of course it’s beyond that point now. The fact that a lot of us have come to assume that MSM reports on partisan topics should be considered bogus until proven otherwise is no longer news. It’s a shame that it’s come to that. Or maybe the shameful thing is how long many of us believed that journalism had been transformed by degreed experts into a prestige profession — one far removed from the antics of The Front Page. But J-schools don’t change human nature, and incentives to cut corners and misuse positions of trust for personal and political gain will always be with us. At least now we have the Internet to help expose some of the worst abuses and provide alternative sources of information.