Actforchange sent me one of those wonderful "autoemail" forms, requesting that I sign it and send it to the press asking them why they chose to do a blackout on Colbert's speech. Sure, I thought. But duh, do we really need to ask them that? I sat down to personalize it a bit, and ended up with very little of their form letter left.
FYI, blowing my horn I'm well-trained and usually very effective at persuasive writing and argument. They key in the "gentlemanly art" of persuasion is, not to directly offend or insult your audience; stay unemotional and logical, and build an irrefutable case.
As you will see, I failed miserably in this email. This is not persuasion. I made it personal. I couldn't hold back. Because I am simply disgusted. Disgusted with the MSM. Go see "GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK" if you want to see what the press used to be. But don't go to the Correspondent's Dinner.
Anyway, my letter below the fold.
Dear XXXX:
Believe me, I didn't need the talented and whip-smart Stephen Colbert to tell me what I've known for at least three years now -that the mainstream media has been, in my opinion, unconscionably negiglent in its role as the "fourth estate" - as the watchdog and protectorate of the people in this, what used to be the greatest democracy the world has ever known. For years now, (and especially, as a twenty year veteran of another area of the media industry), I've felt the pit in my stomach growing as I've watched scandal after scandal, crime after crime of this administration and its corporate cronies goes unquestioned and unreported by people who used to take pride in the title "journalist", only to be replaced by far less impactful and universally meaningful stories such as runaway brides and grooms falling off boats during their honeymoons.
Nevertheless, prompted by Actforchange, I'm writing to ask the rhetorical question of why you declined to give Stephen Colbert's scathingly critical performance at the White House Correspondent's dinner the coverage it was due. Back in 1996, Don Imus roasted President and First Lady Clinton with a series of off-color and deeply personal jokes; this was covered extensively at the time. I cringe because deep in my heart, I believe I know the answer.
You seem to have decided to report on the White House Correspondents Association dinner without mentioning the remarks of the keynote speaker. Why is that? Were you uncomfortable with his courage in pointing out that you have not really been carrying out the independent watchdog role upon which our democracy depends? I have my own ideas about the answers to those questions. As we saw in Nazi Germany, complacency in the face of power and enormous amounts of blood money seems to be as addictive as Oxycontin in the hands of Rush Limbaugh. By quesitoning - by veering from the talking points handed you - you could lose your jobs. Your bonues. Your vacation homes. Your nightly invitations to the Cristal-flowing parties of the powerful. Losing those things would be tragedies for you. After all, you've got a lifestyle to protect. Here in America, we're all promised the right to the "pursuit of happiness", right?
But "happiness" will be a long way off for those whose lives this administration has destroyed. Have you ever thought about the other tragedies that are a result of your silent cooperation with the people committing these heinous crimes? The deaths of our American heroes; their maimings; their mental injuries which will take the rest of their young lives to suffer through? Do you think about the mothers losing sons and daughter, the wives losing husbands and husbands losing wives, the children who will never know a parent? Have you thought about the people who died to create our great Constitution...and how, in five short years, one man and his cabal have cavalierly deccimated it - without a peep from any of you? I wonder, do you all still have mirrors in your homes and if so, do you still look in them every day?
Someone on a blog recently referred to the star-studded, self-congratulatory event you just attended as the "Stenographer's Dinner." Not to put down self-congratulatory events - they are a long part of our human tradition and I happen to enjoy them immensely myself. Isn't it fun to dress up and drink champagne and laugh with pals? But let's put this in perspective. What exactly, do you have to congratulate yourself for this time around? The fact that you unquestioningly bought the lies and propaganda surrounding the Iraq war? That you have let the facts of inhumane torture and secret prisons and spying on American citizens fade away like paragraphs on the obituary pages? That you have stood silent while the administration prepares for another 1950's like underground explosion as the U.S. warns Iran that we'd like to try out our nuke toys on their innocent citizens? That you, unquestioningly, allowed the fictionally created "swiftboaters for truth" to smear the character of a true war hero? That none of you, with the exception of the stalwart Helen Thomas, dares ask the questions that might have saved perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives, including the lives of 2500 or so of America's finest soldiers, not to mention thousands of innocent Iraqui women and children?
I suppose if I were you, I'd be cringing in shame right now, and perhaps I too would turn to my well-honed denial skills and pretend that your Stephen Colbert "come to Jesus" moment never happened at all. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, as they say in AA. It's a powerful, effective psychological response that has been instrumental in your complicitous in betrayal all of us - all the American people.
When, I wonder, are you going to wake up and realize the harm you've done? When will you be ready to draw on that curiosity, tenacity, and courage that used to be the hallmarks of great journalists throughout the ages - and do something meaningful for you country?
You can still turn this around. But time is running out. It's time to wake up, take off your stenographer's hats, and give the American people the truth.
Despite your recent defection from democracy, we are still - albeit naively - counting on you.
Sincerely,
xxxx