When I actually started college, the year started with “19.” When I returned to the big university, the son of a president had just defeated Al Gore, Jr. to have the privilege of becoming president himself. The inauguration was a few days into the new semester. About 9 months later, some radical monsters hijacked some airplanes and changed the world forever.
I knew this kid from the dorm—I’m sorry, “residence hall”—who thought I was intriguing because I was profoundly disabled but a fire-breathing conservative Republican. He needed to find out how in the Sam Hill that could possibly happen. And he had that verbal dexterity that you find among liberal college kids. I’m the kid who correctly read the word “acrylic” when I was 9 on some intelligence test. My uncle handed me The Fountainhead at around the same time. Don’t get it twisted: As a Christian and Catholic theologian today, I could and would grind Ayn Rand’s whole philosophy to dust. But I was 13 when I actually finished Anthem by Rand, and if I am honest, I didn’t stop reading it annually until I was probably 25. Our family didn’t go to church. We were not Christians in any appreciable sense, but for the fact that the followers of Jesus found a way to make an imprint on the United States. If you’d ask us, though, denying God’s existence sounds like a conversation starter at a party, not a serious idea. I had some legitimately mystical experiences in my teenage years and got saved, as we say, in 1997 at 17. My dialogue partner I was telling you about thought he was going to be Carl Bernstein. We’re at the university with the best-regarded journalism school (arguably) in the entire country, so good for that kid. But I happened to say in 2003 that “gay marriage” is a contradiction. He called me a bigot, and we never spoke again. Too bad Ted Lasso wasn’t around; “Be curious; not judgmental.” But you know, certain people always think the incurious are other people, never themselves. For my part, even today, I never judge people’s sexual urges, inclinations, or even mistakes. But I grew up the grandson of a U.S. serviceman, with a belief that Communists and Nazis were the ones who attempted to change reality when they didn’t like it, and attempted to force others to comply. That cavalier thrower of the word “bigot” probably has a byline in the Paper of Record now.
Would they be so arrogant today, had Richard Nixon not fallen? Capitalism made it worse. Add a time pressure, and the arrogant get sloppy to hit a deadline. The giant media companies aren’t in Lawrence, KS or St. Louis, MO, either. And if you happen to be filthy rich, there’s no risk, or trade-offs, or uncertainty. Why would there be?
As irritating as I find Republicans at times, I still retain a passionate anti-communism and hatred of all totalitarianism, and an intense, fervent patriotism. It is distinguished from “nationalism” in all forms in this way: all nationalisms seek the elevation of their country, even at the expense of other nations, and perhaps especially so. I cannot imagine forcing anyone in France to do anything, solely for the benefit of the United States. That even sounds ridiculous.
There’s an old guy somewhere in the middle of the country, and he’s got grandkids. And he never even went to college. But he told those kids to at least read one book a week, like he’s done. And to tell him what you got out of it. We have journalists working today who think that’s made up. I could find 10 people like that grandpa. These journalists don’t read; you can’t even get some of them to do a thorough Google search related to a story. A lot of right-wing people have gone off the deep end, and I won’t deny it. But there’s a reason “normies” don’t trust journalists.
I can’t recall ever having negative feelings about Dan Rather. I don’t even really have them now. But I remember being on the blog Little Green Footballs, when Charles Johnson blew up the Killian “memos.” You can definitely get in a right-wing bubble if you want. I wouldn’t recommend it. But it’s a whole alternative ecosystem because of arrogance like this.
Objectivity may be impossible, but fairness should be prized. I watched MacNeil and Lehrer pretty much nightly from 1985 until I got to high school 9 years later. For what it’s worth, you couldn’t bribe a member of the Bush family to say a bad word about either man. And you can’t bribe me, either.
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