Kevin Williamson’s latest piece in The Dispatch is definitely quite bold, but honestly I appreciate that he’s willing to just tell it like it is when it comes to honesty in politics and media.
Kevin is intentionally provocative in how he writes, but I do think there’s a good amount of truth to the broader point he’s making. We know honesty is an issue with Trump and with modern politics generally, there’s no denying that. I guess for me, it becomes a question of when does one draw the line? At what point does constantly normalizing misinformation and dishonesty start damaging institutions themselves? That part stood out to me the most, just very thought-provoking.
As Kevin says, governments in free societies rely on consent and trust, and once courts, media, and the public stop assuming basic honesty from officials, it’s incredibly hard to rebuild that trust again.
Curious what others think.
ProfessionalStudy732 on
“J.D. Vance is a throne-sniffing Luciferian gargoyle who would sell his beloved Mawmaw into white slavery if he thought it would move him a quarter-inch closer to the presidency,”
I am here for the insults.
Eilemthxx on
Great rant and it’s refreshing to see someone re-establish the tether to reality that it is actually abnormal for any administration to lie like this; it′s abnormal for any human being to lie as much as Trump does (over 30,000 lies and falsehoods, and that’s not including most of his second term).
But we know journalists aren’t going to change; they definitely won′t call lies out as lies, because they will also be sued to hell, and none of their bosses want to get into the muck of proving someone knows what they’re saying is bullshit. So we just keep circling the drain.
DeliciousAnt9096 on
Very refreshing. I think the current crop of society-destroying fascists have benefitted greatly from doing and saying things that are so obviously horrible and wrong that journalists can’t report on it objectively without it seeming like hyperbole, and theres an entire far-right media apparatus that’s eager to jump on any journalist running a “hit” on any of their golden boys. Hence journalists end up meekly taking these ghouls at their word and downplaying all the atrocities and obvious lies. Obligatory not a journalist, but I think the only way out is laying out the truth no matter how insane it sounds and taking attacks from right wing ghouls as a badge of honour. That unfortunately requires a level of courage and clarity that seems to be lacking these days.
4 Comments
Kevin Williamson’s latest piece in The Dispatch is definitely quite bold, but honestly I appreciate that he’s willing to just tell it like it is when it comes to honesty in politics and media.
Kevin is intentionally provocative in how he writes, but I do think there’s a good amount of truth to the broader point he’s making. We know honesty is an issue with Trump and with modern politics generally, there’s no denying that. I guess for me, it becomes a question of when does one draw the line? At what point does constantly normalizing misinformation and dishonesty start damaging institutions themselves? That part stood out to me the most, just very thought-provoking.
As Kevin says, governments in free societies rely on consent and trust, and once courts, media, and the public stop assuming basic honesty from officials, it’s incredibly hard to rebuild that trust again.
Curious what others think.
“J.D. Vance is a throne-sniffing Luciferian gargoyle who would sell his beloved Mawmaw into white slavery if he thought it would move him a quarter-inch closer to the presidency,”
I am here for the insults.
Great rant and it’s refreshing to see someone re-establish the tether to reality that it is actually abnormal for any administration to lie like this; it′s abnormal for any human being to lie as much as Trump does (over 30,000 lies and falsehoods, and that’s not including most of his second term).
But we know journalists aren’t going to change; they definitely won′t call lies out as lies, because they will also be sued to hell, and none of their bosses want to get into the muck of proving someone knows what they’re saying is bullshit. So we just keep circling the drain.
Very refreshing. I think the current crop of society-destroying fascists have benefitted greatly from doing and saying things that are so obviously horrible and wrong that journalists can’t report on it objectively without it seeming like hyperbole, and theres an entire far-right media apparatus that’s eager to jump on any journalist running a “hit” on any of their golden boys. Hence journalists end up meekly taking these ghouls at their word and downplaying all the atrocities and obvious lies. Obligatory not a journalist, but I think the only way out is laying out the truth no matter how insane it sounds and taking attacks from right wing ghouls as a badge of honour. That unfortunately requires a level of courage and clarity that seems to be lacking these days.