“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Independence)
Last week, the social media got to me. I became for a time, really incensed, angry.
As a believer in the principles set forth in the Preamble to our Declaration of Independence, I find the burgeoning rhetoric of white nationalism quite disturbing. We have an unrepentant “platform” provider for white nationalistic rhetoric as the newly appointed Chief Strategist for our President elect. The extent to which the Chief Strategist believes the rhetoric, nobody really knows. In any case, the code words of the movement are beginning to infect the language of public discourse like a virus.
White nationalism’s fundamental premise is that our nation should allow the creation of “Euro-ethnic” enclaves as a matter of “freedom” for those who hold a “white Euro-ethnic” identity. That premise carries with it a fundamental belief in the creation of an inevitable and “beneficial” (for the white nationals only) prospect of an ethnically cleansed region in the U.S. The last time we had serious white nationalism take hold in a significant part of the country things did not end well for the white nationalists whose whole region was devastated with great vengeance.
Ultimately, over the 151 years since that conflict ended, the American People have made great progress toward forming a society under a mostly ethno-neutral and, increasingly, also a gender-identity neutral government and polity.
White nationalism is a rejection of the ethno-neutral state focused on the guarantee of human rights for all of its inhabitants and the broader world that has been evolving since the beginning of the American experiment. It is very easy to adopt white nationalism because it is a rejection of the need to get along with others who are different and it feels good to be superior to them. The ideology requires little effort and almost no study to be good at it. Shouting racist slogans and making others uncomfortable is even fun for some. Today, the idea has real appeal to those who have little accomplishment.
Our culture has moved from slavery in the 1600s to racial integration and acceptance of gay marriage. More so in the urban areas than in the exurbs and rural areas where there is less of the "lots going on" of urban life and less interaction with the wonderful mosaic of diversity. Now, for the first time in generations, that progress towards neutrality appears to be at issue. Many find this frightening, other find it good, exciting, and novel.
On November 18, Mr. Pence, an expresser of extreme anti-gay rhetoric to say the least, attended a performance of Hamilton performed by a varied ethnic and sexually-oriented cast. Some in the audience booed when he entered. Others cheered.
After the performance ended, the cast made a simple petition to the Vice President Elect: “We, sir — we — are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,” he said. “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”
The Constitution of the United States formed a government in peculiar form that initially had no real provisions as to how the rights of the citizens were to be structured and protected. To do that, in March 1789, the Congress adopted the Bill of Rights for the purpose set forth in its Preamble;
“THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.” http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-billrights.html
While most are familiar with the First Amendment, many readers of this Committee of Correspondence may not be fully familiar with its exact text that states: “Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The Hamilton actors’ petition for protection, made to an elected, sitting governor of Indiana and Vice President Elect of the United States was wholly within the tradition of the New York stage. It was a First Amendment petition in classic format.
For generations actors have made political statements and pleas to the audience and the broader public during their performances in the Theater District. It is the premier venue for safe expression of meaningful free speech on all sort of issues. The audiences have expressed their opinions with boos as well as cheers. The fundamental purpose of theater is free speech to make some point.
The Vice President responded gracefully and respectfully to the cast’s plea for protection by hearing out the oration without giving a comment and leaving in a dignified and appropriate way. Since then, he has commented wisely.
Then, a most inspiring series of events began to explode in the social media—free speech! An imbroglio of competing ideas and expressions of values flowered like a spectacle of Fourth of July fireworks.
The President Elect chimed in with his Tweet, “Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!” Then later, “The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!” And doubling down in another Tweet, “The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior.”
Following this, the massive, and surprising equally sized expression of our cultural divide came forth like a torrent. On one side, the Hamilton actors were praised and on the other, they were condemned for showing “disrespect” to Pence. Some of my right wing Facebook friends parroted Trumps tweets, some quite viciously.
Personally, I was incensed by Trump’s statement. In my mind, the test as to whether a person believes in free speech and personal liberty comes at a time when free speech bites them. The test is whether the person bitten attacks the ideas expressed while affirming the right to speak or attacks the act of expression itself. Those of you who live under authoritarian regimes really understand the truthfulness of the Freedom Test.
My interpretation of what the Hamilton actors’ Petition sought was that they were petitioning for assurance from the Trump administration that, as ethnic and gender-identity minorities, their rights would be protected. In my view, Trump’s response was a resounding “No!” It was echoed by many of his followers. Instead of affirming our traditions of equal protection, Mr. Trump demanded homage. It was a demand to kneel and bow to his administration with a public apology.
To me, Trump failed the Freedom Test. Would only that Trump have praised the demonstration of speech and given a solid assurance that his administration was not white nationalist and would guarantee the blessings of Liberty to all, including ethnic and gender-based minorities. Trump did not do that in his Tweets. He has still not done that.
In fact, Mr. Trump in his glorious exercise of his right to speak freely as an American just cannot seem to understand why he is so criticized. To him, the press are all just liars because they view reality so differently from his view. Is Mr. Trump beginning to cross some line? http://nypost.com/2016/11/21/donald-trumps-media-summit-was-a-f-ing-firing-squad/
Later, Governor Pence to his credit did acknowledge the actors’ privilege, but Mr. Pence is a surrogate who has been publically contradicted for misperceiving the new party line. He is not the one who soon will be in charge. We have seen so many surrogates speak inaccurately that we have no idea as to what the President Elect thinks until he Tweets and then he may Tweet the opposite in a few hours.
I was really incensed by the Trumpist Tweets; angry.
Then, I went to Trump’s own Twitter account and made a marvelous discovery.
Even though clearly Trump failed the believer in freedom test, free speech itself passed with flying colors! The nation’s discourse is incensed with wonderful pungent vapors of the perfume of real freedom. The comments on Trump’s site were diverse and showed a broad range of viewpoints. The fragrance of free speech flowered also on Facebook and hundreds of other media and venues.
Where else but in America can the People have a direct, unfiltered conversation with a newly elected leader?
For years, I have been posting on this site. In doing so, I have disclosed a lot about myself. Some like me, others don’t, and some of you probably think I am an idiot. Others, like Tyler, the Colonel, TTG, and Babak Makkinejad and hundreds of others have exposed their personalities and beliefs. Each of us who post exposes something of their essence.
The thing about speaking is that if a speaker speaks long enough, the speaker’s character will be show.
By Tweeting and re-Tweeting, Mr. Trump has given us a wonderful view of who he really is in a very personal way. At some level, he must value and heed the discourse. Perhaps his participation in the conversation is one of the sources of his success. All types of people Tweet back. No doubt Mr. Trump uses Twitter to deflect us away from embarrassing things like his escape from the public airing of his business practices by settlement of serious fraud claims made personally against him. However, Mr. Trump may use social media, as a source of intelligence about the electorate, deflection, or advocacy, one thing is clear: Presidents elect share the same right of free speech with all of us. By his Tweeting, we have gotten to know him and he us. Hopefully, his Tweets will continue.
Isn’t it marvelous? We must all cherish and protect the discourse no matter what view of the future of this country we each individual may hold.
Post and Tweet on everybody! We may recover some common ground and good outcomes.
And thank you Colonel Lang for this Committee of Correspondence!
Have fun all!
Origin
When Broadway starts partitioning for the reduction of gang violence in low income neighborhoods. Then maybe I'll listen to their chosen political pleas.
Posted by: Jay | 22 November 2016 at 12:01 AM
I think Origin has given us, and I mean this sincerely and respectfully, why we must rant and ramble and, hopefully have an audience to whom we can rant and ramble freely, within limits of proper decorum. Prepared, rehearsed, and polished expressions reveal very little of "us," the people, although they may show that we have done our "homework," which often, look the same.
I think there are two aspects to the controversy surrounding Hamilton. Like you, I thought both the cast and Pence did the right thing. However, people can and do have opinions, independent of how power should be exercised, and I don't think it is healthy as a society to insist that those opinions and sentiments don't exist so that they fester. I don't have to agree with those sentiments, but I sure do want to know what opinions are out there that I may not even be aware of, let alone agree or disagree with, and how the people who hold them arrived at those opinions. The caveat, though, is that because the internet has gotten so crowded, it is difficult to find opinions that you don't know of and the thoughts behind those opinions unless you try very hard to dig them up.
Posted by: kao_hsien_chih | 22 November 2016 at 12:02 AM
"Liberals believe that their nation states are associations formed by individuals for the purpose of ensuring their natural right to life, liberty, and happiness. They have an imaginary view of their liberal states as associations created by isolated individuals reaching a covenant, a contract or agreement, amongst themselves in abstraction from any prior community. They have a predilection to whitewash the fact that their liberal states, like all states, were forcibly created by a people with a common language, heritage, racial characteristics, religious traditions, and a sense of territorial acquisition involving the derogation of out-groups."
This was precisely the case in the founding of the United States. The Anglo-Celtic nation of the New World constituted themselves as a particular people according to the articles of the Constitution. Plato and Montesquieu, NOT Locke, were the main influences. Republics are always particular, rather than universal. The People Preceded the Proposition.
Until 1965, most of the US population came from Northern Europe, and those who didn't were ruthlessly assimilated according to WASPish norms. Likewise the Black population came from a small sector of West Africa - hardly the melting pot meme dreamed up by some Jew in London in the twenties.
"Ultimately, over the 151 years since that conflict ended, the American People have made great progress toward forming a society under a mostly ethno-neutral...polity.' It's a complete non-sequitor to go from 'the blacks had it tough, and so we straightened that out' to 'America should be an ethno-neutral country. That's ahistoical nonsense, a retrospective end of history fever dream. America is now a domain of tribal competition thanks to the open borders efforts of oligarchs and leftists with a sick obsession with the other and a hatred of their own traditions. Diversity + proximity always leads to conflict. Here's the studies which point to where the United State is headed. Trump's just the beginning, and Bannon (who is only a white nationalist in the imaginations of Mother Jones types) are mere avatars of the social changes liberal ideology itself installed. And the research is on on the consequences... https://heartiste.wordpress.com/diversity-proximity-war-the-reference-list/
Liberalism of course is the true 'easy ideology'. Everyone is placed in little boxes - abstract units of production, consumption, and 'self realization - where the ruling zeitgeist is 'do as thou wilt' with the parameters of the harm principle. But actually conserving the traditions of a spiritual organic community against the globalizing forces of dissolution - that is the hard choice. Actually generating and aspiring to something greater than a value neutral post-modernism poz-fest requires concerted effort. Liberalism is a contract with mediocrity that protects its practitioners from ever being more than political children.
By contrast, 'the wonderful mosaic of diversity' is a series of decontextualized exotic cultural stimuli our bored last men and women amuse themselves with. The liberal state is ultimately the enemy of any true diversity, because the liberal state ethos leads to differentiation without difference.
No more. As the National Front tweeted after Trump won, “Their world is collapsing, ours is being built.” The epoch of dissolution is over. The age of a new nationalism has begun.
Posted by: Lemur | 22 November 2016 at 12:21 AM
Origin,
I recently came across this VERY LONG essay by a liberal psychiatrist (at Moon of Alabama, and have seen rec'd at other blogs as well), who is devotedly anti-Trump and thinks he would make a bad president, but he does not think he is a racist or white nationalist ("any more than any other 70 year old white man"). When you read the article I think you will be surprised at how incredibly small the following of such groups are. Apparently this psychiatrist was motivated to do all this research and share it because he had some suicidal patients come to him after the election, due to the election results and felt a strong need to provide knowledge to fight the fear.
You Are Still Crying Wolf http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/
There have been many articles in the MSM about the fact that Trump did not win because he got more white voters than Romney, he actually got more Black, Latino and Asian voters than Romney. That combined with the 3rd party voters and many Dems sitting at home is what won him the election.
Like many liberals I think you make the mistake of taking Trump (and Bannon)literally. He is trash talking on purpose, provocatively surfing the anti-political correctness wave to reach people at a different and more visceral level. This verbal WWF strategy worked for him to get him elected. Bannon is a key part of this "Fight Club" strategy; they're tapping into the anger and assuming that many in the so-called minority groups are angry too and will join them. Yes, they really think this and they did get more minority voters. I posted two articles about him in The Democratic Party of 2017 post. And I think they are right.
BTW, my black sister-in-law voted for Trump (in Monmouth County NJ, no less!). She told me that in her opinion he talked to everyone the same, and she was tired of the Democrats with their racist faux-black speech trying to bond with the black community. She's angry at the establishment for various reasons, including the economy, and one of them is taking advantage of the black vote while doing nothing for the black community. Her angry vote went to Trump; Hillary represented the establishment that was scorned.
The question is, what can Trump get away with as president and will it help or hurt the goals he is starting to set? Because he's going to push the envelope to accomplish what he thinks is important. He has started to set out political goals for his administration. What will he risk to achieve them? Can he transition from the pugilistic campaign speaking style and his twitter wars that you and so many find distasteful to something more "seemly" or "presidential?" Or will he continue what he's doing now and alternate acting more presidential with duking it out in a public sandbox on occasion? Maybe it's just a way for him to let off steam. He's certainly breaking lots of unwritten rules, and lots of folks are enjoying that.
Posted by: Valissa | 22 November 2016 at 01:05 AM
@Origin
"White nationalism’s fundamental premise is that our nation should allow the creation of “Euro-ethnic” enclaves as a matter of “freedom” for those who hold a “white Euro-ethnic” identity."
No - the point of white nationalism is to put all OTHERS into enclaves and have the whites have all the rest of it. Do the "whites" want to lay a pipeline, by force, through tribal land or the tribals through a white enclave?
"Our culture has moved from slavery in the 1600s to racial integration and acceptance of gay marriage."
What are you smoking? That is wishful thinking. How many blacks are in prison just for smoking something? How many whites? How many, outside the coastal elites, really accept gay marriage?
"Where else but in America can the People have a direct, unfiltered conversation with a newly elected leader?"
Well, lots of states in Europe in Europe, in Asia, Africa and South America come to mind. You really believe the U.S. is THE vessel of enlightenment? Go travel. It is far from it. And where did you get that "conversation"? Do you really think Trump reads any of those tweets directed at him. When would he even do that?
Trump simply CREATED the Hamilton affair when headlines crept about his $25 mill settlement payment to Trump University victims. He planted a diversion like he always does. It worked like a charm. Within four hours news about Hamilton was beating news about Trump-U by a factor of 4 to 1 in all major media. Trump-U was a major fraud committed on poor people. A real scandal. Hamilton was just some east-coast nonsense which, given that the musical is mostly a very elite, one-sided whitewashing of history, will bring him even more support from his voters.
This was such an obvious fake scandal one really wonders how any media would fall for it.
Posted by: b | 22 November 2016 at 02:35 AM
Origin
With all respect I think you dont understand the meaning and the background of these simbolic events such as Brexit, President-elect Trump and to you of lesser importance but for us Eastern-Europeans big issues like Hungary's not so new and Poland's new govts' efforts against Brussels, or an ever strengthening Visegrad 4 (V4) cooperation etc.
This is not alt-right, populism, or demagoguery. This simply the revolt of normality against abnormality.
If you say new-nationalism I say yes, since unlike the old it is not aimed against ALL other nations. Its main adversary is internationalism.
Posted by: Balint Somkuti, Phd | 22 November 2016 at 03:03 AM
Good Morning Origin
Mike Pence took his family to a Broadway play at great expense to see the acclaimed play Hamilton. He received a less than stellar reception- not the first and not the last- and sat to enjoy the play. As per his security detail he left quickly at the end but stood and listened to the rant as a gentleman. The rant could have been delivered to him in writing but it was not . Personally I felt bad that he had to go through this with his family by his side. Have They No Decency Sir.
The message from the Trump future administration is We Are All Americans. We solve problems together but create problems when we are not together.
Twitter and Tweets are mindless trivia which is how I take them but then I'm getting to the age where others may call me an old man.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond.
Posted by: Bobo | 22 November 2016 at 06:00 AM
Re. Yesterday' Trump berating network bosses for being liars and unkind to the golden child liar. Maybe he can line up other professionals in science, engineering, industry, military, academia etc and give them the emperors decree on how things should be.
Posted by: LeeG | 22 November 2016 at 08:24 AM
Jay, haven't you heard of "West Side Story?"
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 22 November 2016 at 09:07 AM
"We have an honored guest with us, the Vice-President Elect. Many in this city and audience including myself were disappointed in the results of the election but it has been fairly decided. We have a diverse nation that includes not only the cast of this play but also conservative White men from Indiana as well, this is what makes America great. After all, e. pluribus unum. So in the spirit of unity and reconciliation I dedicate my performance tonight to you Mr. Pence."
Posted by: Peter Reichard | 22 November 2016 at 09:12 AM
Peter Reichard
What is it that you are quoting? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 22 November 2016 at 09:25 AM
b, you are only the occasional guest around here, due to the time needed for your own blog. Full discovery, and no harm meant to Origin, I didn't manage to finish reading his long contribution.
Do you really think Trump reads any of those tweets directed at him. When would he even do that?
No, I would not assume that too, he surely can afford staff for those matters. But why not take a look occasionally or indeed, however hard to believe, write a comment himself? ...
Trump simply CREATED the Hamilton affair when headlines crept about his $25 mill settlement payment to Trump University victims.
I both agree and disagree.
Agree: consumer's are often lured into traps by being offered dreams...
Disagree: I do not have the least idea about the precise genesis of the Trump university. ... Are you 100% sure, Trump wasn't himself at least somewhat lured into the idea of profiting of his name or VIP status. Some people were interested in using his name? In Communication and Marketing VIP's are a very, very central tool. And the crowd usually flows to success.
Posted by: LeaNder | 22 November 2016 at 09:25 AM
sorry, got the plural versus genitive case wrong. The 'bloody' apostrophe!!! German - English switch didn't work satisfactorily. ;)
The very, very best to my former neighbors in London, not all, but surely some of them. Among them a former class-mate and an SST member.
Gone for a while
Posted by: LeaNder | 22 November 2016 at 09:53 AM
Lemur you must not know many liberals, or perhaps better now called, the Coasters. Few have any knowledge of the philosophers. What they do know is that they live in peaceable, diverse communities including all stripes of people. They love the milieu and they are prospering financially. I don't want to be overly harsh, but if you are not prospering, move or learn to run robots. There are lots of open jobs in the Coaster areas.
Also, the world is not collapsing. Quite the opposite. It is just that for some here, it seems to be collapsing. If there is any tendency toward collapse of the ES, that tendency will be encouraged by the emergency of white nationalism here. If there is disruption here, the world will simply pass us by as the baton or progress and prosperity passes to China or maybe Europe.
As the US rejects globalism, GM and the other rust belt enterprises will simply pull up stakes and move to Mexico where they can employ competitively priced labor enjoy free trade with the globe.
Today, Europe announced it was forming its own "Pentagon" for a unified EU defense force and Mexico, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, and more are meeting to establish a Pacific free trade zone under China's leadership. The general idea is screw the US, we are bigger and we don't need it.
If you want to prosper, move to the coast and adopt Coaster ideas. White Nationalism is a dead-end street. While Trump "won", the rust belt lost. Trump did win. He is a seasoned globalist and if things get bad, he will just relocate his enterprises to wherever the most profit lies. This week it appears he was lobbying the president of a South American government to approve a new hotel for him.
Posted by: Origin | 22 November 2016 at 10:22 AM
Proof is in the taste of the pudding. This morning discourse from all corners of the political spectrum has shown up; wonderful.
Unfortunately, Trump continues to fail the Freedom Test. His spectacle on Twitter today is quite informative as he conditions his followers to abhor the free press. He said he cancelled his meeting with the principals at the New York time because he did not like their terms. I don't know what the NYT demanded, but I would hope they wanted the meeting to be on the record and Trump wanted to keep it secret.
Posted by: Origin | 22 November 2016 at 10:28 AM
@ Origin
FYI:
"Parscale is one of the few within Trump’s crew entrusted to tweet on his behalf."
From: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/inside-the-trump-bunker-with-12-days-to-go
Posted by: The Beaver | 22 November 2016 at 10:33 AM
All
Report of Trumps' yesterday off the record meeting with MSM, very interesting.
http://nypost.com/2016/11/21/donald-trumps-media-summit-was-a-f-ing-firing-squad/
“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said, ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said."
Posted by: kooshy | 22 November 2016 at 10:46 AM
In my opinion, the system of National Socialism, had it not attacked USSR, would still be with us today. In fact, given the rise of China and the Rest, a Fortress West led by Germany could have been an attractive option for many in Europe.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 22 November 2016 at 11:10 AM
Origin,
"Free press".
You're killing me here. There's no free press in the US MSM. There's a bunch of liars who were openly colluding with HRC to push a narrative and try to get her elected.
Stop with the false piety about "muh sacred free speech" from the people who insisting Trump is a Hitler-Stalin in league with Russia (but also going to start a hot war with them). The MSM whored out the cachet of their reputation in the name of their ideology, and no amount of apologia from you can change that.
Posted by: Tyler | 22 November 2016 at 11:18 AM
Kooshy,
Good.
Posted by: Tyler | 22 November 2016 at 11:18 AM
Origin,
Yeah, I can't get worked up over this when the Left is trying to put people in prison for not wanting to bake cakes for gay "weddings".
Or that the Hamilton actor who made an ass out of himself made a lot of commentary on Twitter regarding raping drunk white women.
Posted by: Tyler | 22 November 2016 at 11:19 AM
Ron Paul's website passes along the work of someone who has combed through the Wikileaks and identified specific MSM journalists who collaborated with the Clinton campaign.
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/revealed-the-real-fake-news-list
Posted by: ex-PFC Chuck | 22 November 2016 at 11:53 AM
Tyler, you are doing free press here.
This blog has more coverage than lots of print papers. I disagree with you on many levels, yet I push the "Publish Button" so you can speak to the world. I believe discussion proves-up ideas that get sifted in the discourse. In fact, you have taught me a lot through your posts.
Were we in Turkey, Egypt, China, or a majority of the other countries in the world, either you or I would risk going to jail.
As for your criticisms of the MSM, it has the right to express its values, be for the candidates it prefers, and diss the others with impunity. There is no law or rules that says it has to be fair, honest, or truthful. Of course they wanted HC elected because they were well familiar with Trump and thought him a bad choice for the country. The whole purpose of a press is to persuade the readers to the outlet's viewpoint. The rule that there is no rule for speech is what has made our country great and mostly well run.
Trump is trying to suppress free speech with bombast, intimidation, and legal actions so that he can control what people see of him. His tactic is to intimidate and sue those who diss him and hide his shenanigans like his oligarchical self dealing with his companies while in the national spotlight.
How can you support such a man, you, who so eloquently, but misguidedly, perform free speech for the world? Such people want to shut us all up.
Trump Tweets tell it all. Examine their assumptions and logic with common sense. Believe him in what he says! Examine the consequences if he gets what he wants, a totally docile press. If he beats down the press, people like you will never know how badly they have been deceived and taken.
Thanks for participating. I enjoy contending with you.
Posted by: Origin | 22 November 2016 at 11:53 AM
LeeG,
Do you deny that the network bosses are consummate liars, abominable propagandists and fully-bought shills? They really bet on the wrong horse, they doubled and tripled their bets, and they lost. Now someone is calling the bet. What is wrong with that?
Ishmael Zechariah
P.s: Scott Adams on Trump's win
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/153480921421/persuasion-versus-populism
Posted by: Ishmael Zechariah | 22 November 2016 at 11:57 AM
There is no reason MSM journalists should not collaborate. Like Presidents Elect, MSM journalists have a right to free speech.
Outlets have a right to take sides and express their views in public and private regardless of their slant. That is their role in this Republic.
Trump got secret previews of some of his questions from his friends in the press too. That is what free press and freedom of speech is all about; trying to advantage those who you agree with. Anyone who believes MSM news outlets are neutral or fair is uninformed and naïve.
Celebrate the disorderliness of it all. It is good!
Posted by: Origin | 22 November 2016 at 12:12 PM