Posted on 03/26/2002 2:53:29 AM PST by gohabsgo
In 1990, charismatic Peggy Noonan penned What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era. Still active today with her Wall Street Journal column, Noonan has the trademark ability to touch our spiritual consciousness, and impress upon ever-widening audiences the human imperative of integrity, kindness, persistence and honesty.
Her passionate ability to see through partiality and distortion, and to respect timeless truths serves as a metaphor for the present day media revolution occurring on the Internet. This revolution has the extraordinary potential to reconstruct the content and delivery of news in such a way that the media scions are already running for the hills. And if this keeps up, a printed newspaper arriving each morning at the curb, will occur as often as the Borden man turning the corner with your milk delivered in a glass bottle.
Conservative writers, long silenced by a media lockout on their opinions, should be enthusiastic, spirited, and emboldened. And the public, thirsting for a semblance of truth and common sense like the proverbial hiker lost in an arid desert, are the beneficiaries. We have all been incarcerated in a way. With no alternative from the endless insults delivered in the largely anti-American liberal press and television media, regular people take their appetite for intellectual stimulation to conservative talk radio, and increasingly qualified and substantive sources on the Internet.
No one, conservative or liberal, can disprove the extraordinary growth of these two red-hot instruments captivating the imagination and aroused intelligence of independent-minded thinkers. As the print media and TV largely soft-peddled the outrageous (and revealing) Red Cross gaffe over the refusal to permit young children to sing "G-d Bless America" for 9/11 victims, literally millions of incensed Americans mobilized, communicated, and voiced their outrage over the Internet via e-mail. Since then, left-leaning Red Cross apologists, still defending their policy in the name of diversity, inclusiveness, and religious tolerance, have had their lunch handed to them.
According to conservative estimates, a quarter of a million people sent e-mails to the Red Cross the day the story broke, stating their displeasure and shock, and pledging their allegiance to discontinue pledging. The response was so overwhelming that in days following, the print media had no other choice but to cover the story, and the pseudo Red Cross apology. This and countless other examples, occurring on a daily basis prove inescapably, you are making a difference. You are being heard. And by the way, you are driving the liberal media establishment, long accustomed to their syndicated monopoly as news gatekeepers, out of their patronizing minds! Their pet agendas are getting migraines too.
A revolution can manifest itself many ways. For instance, when Maxine Waters went to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro several years back, she spouted "Viva la Revolucion" in her own unrivaled style. A revolution can be equally defined as an overthrow, rebellion, insurrection, change, uprising, or mutiny. "Mutinous" was used by Dan Rather to describe Bernard Goldberg, best-selling author of Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, a book wherein Goldberg himself states: "The media are so liberally biased it's sickening!" For amusement, we suggest you see RatherBiased.com.
"Rebellious" is an apt characterization of former NOW-Los Angeles president (1990-1996) Tammy Bruce. Ms. Bruce characterizes NOW as "a foot soldier in the war against free speech" in her book The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds. The National Review opined: "Ms. Bruce bravely exposes the hypocrisy of those who are quick to charge conservatives with "hate speech," and takes on all the sacred cows: gays, race-baiters, feminists, multiculturalists, and many more! She even confronts the duplicity of the news and entertainment establishments and the dishonesty of academia." Nice going Tammy, so what took you so long?
Here´s where you, the ever growing legion of conservative iconoclasts, dissenters and renegades, fit in. This is the greatest opportunity you have ever had to get your point across; to convince first thousands, hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions, that there is an objective, conservative voice shared by the "silenced majority" who finally endorse the overwhelming evidence that their beliefs have been methodically suppressed and disparaged, for decades.
Like any other form of persuasion, you have to articulate with authenticity and animation, reinforced by honest and verifiable fact. One misquote dooms the entire story. Exercising the common (but unfortunately effective) method of the left, that of launching derogatory epithets like assault weapons when the facts don´t support your argument, obliterates the integrity of your message. But you know better, and it´s one of the reasons you took action in the first place. You´ve got these lying two-faced weasels dead to rights, apprehend the slimy tactics, and you´ll do your homework. More than anyone else, your readers will count on you to maintain this standard. Don´t EVER compromise it!
Picture yourself as a fly on the wall at Mike Eisner´s office. As Disney Chairman and owner of ABC news, shareholders are calling into question the dramatic drop in stock prices, and they´re questioning what to do to correct the cataclysmic free fall of ABC news ratings. Ted Koppel, ever smug and superior, has so repelled viewers with his comatose "Nightline," that he came out publicly to proclaim that he is still "relevant." Ted, you´re as relevant as a Who in Whoville. The embarrassing (and failed) ABC negotiations to replace Koppell with funnyman David Letterman speak volumes about ABC´s news problems.
On a staff conference call, ABC News President David Westin broke his silence about the situation, while trying to convince the company of the value of news programming. "You should look at the current situation as a challenge to the entire news division to be more competitive, innovative and bold," said Westin. Not long after the 9/11 attacks, Wes Pruden of Jewish World Review wrote in "When Mickey Mouse offends even Mickey" (11/05/01), "David Westin, the lawyer in charge of ABC News, delivered a little homily on journalism ethics the other day in which he said he couldn't really say whether the terrorist attack on the Pentagon was morally wrong." Mr. Westin would be well advised to escape the shackles of neurotic denial and realize that the majority of the country is rejecting his gnarled interpretation of reality. But don´t hold your breath, he´s a lawyer, not a news man.
By the way, Cokie Roberts, always ahead of the curve, can see what is happening and has moved on to "spend more time with her family." Sam Donaldson? Where´s he? Somehow Canadian-born (oh, you didn´t know that?) Peter Jennings seems to hang on with enchanting middle-East reports that have included former girlfriend Christiane Amanpour. Yet, there is a fascinating and telling quote under Jenning´s picture on the ABC News website: "The Internet is the new frontier of journalism." Yes, Peter you are right about that, this new frontier, the unexplored periphery, is already teeming with writers who know they have an attentive audience; people more aware now than ever that thinking for themselves, rather that having others think for them, is critical to their survival.
Fox News is well aware of this phenomenon too, and in "Web Critics Take Aim at Old-Style Publishers" (03/18/02) stated: "call it the democratization of the rarified world of media criticism. In much the same way the Internet has opened the world of publishing to the masses, it is now opening avenues for criticism of old-style publishers. A small but growing contingent of amateur and semi-professional media critics are taking aim at newspapers and periodicals, picking up where those papers' ombudsmen (if they have them) leave off." Sounds like Fox has a little competition. Oh, and Fox, we´ve read what the "professional" media can produce, so there´s no offense taken in being called an amateur or semi-professional. And, competition is good, unless of course one is a member of a teachers union.
Thankfully, the majority have been deeply moved by brave American soldiers who have sacrificed themselves, both in the past, and today, to preserve a way of life, not to alter it. Yet, at the same time we witness organizations like the Red Cross and the ACLU running to the support of Al Qaeda prisoners at Camp X-Ray, making sure they have their ethnic meals, and their "civil" rights. This doesn´t make any sense. Why the Left would prefer that you equate patriotism with jingoism, Judeo-Christian values with intolerance and bigotry, and socialism with inclusion, only further evidences the gravity of their mental disorder.
I believe more and more common sense Americans are dropping the alphabet networks, CNN, and syndicated newspapers like hot potatoes for the simple reason that they have had enough, trust independent thought, and when denied access to the truth, will seek to discover it elsewhere. That´s your assignment and mission conservative writer. Deliver to the public the facts and common sense, sustained by a conscious belief in a merciful G-d, and respect for values that are so clearly absent in a valueless press. And don´t be afraid to love your country, it´s the only one you´ve got!
When I first logged on to the Web in 1999, I was utterly, and joyously, astounded at the sheer number of excellent writers of conservative and Libertarian thought. People I, although I was subscribed to many non-mainstream publications, had never heard of.
It was a jolt of fresh air.
The first stage of winning the war of ideas is exposing more of the public to things they may never have heard or considered before. Never forget, many, many people get their "ideas" from the TV and popular culture, and celebrities- which is probably 9-out-of-10 left wing. This is why talk radio is a valuable adjunct to the internet- it introduces more people to ideas they may never have entertained on their own.
"Get out of Cheney's house!"
Another positive sign, the Academy Awards' show was watched by fewer people than ever before. Ah! Life is good.
Keep up the good work.
However, the article above goes off the deep end. On the one hand, this article tells us to stay away from "derogatory epithets" while at the same time acusing the liberals of a "mental disorder." Sorry, accusing those with whom you disagree of having a mental disorder is not the way.
Yea, well, actually this G-d business in secular discussion is a bit too PC for my taste. Use of the full printed word "God" in media subject to physical destruction (web qualifies) offends some orthodox Jews.
Irving Berlin, who wrote the song, would seem to me entitled to have his song title reproduced the way he wrote it.
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