In the rush to leave 2004 behind, I never got around to posting the conclusion of a small debate
that erupted about Bill Moyers. It began with a farewell to
Moyers that praised him — he was retiring from broadcast journalism — and
continued with reader Larry Lippman’s negative
response, which attacked Moyers for being sanctimonious and me for
adulating him, followed by Bill Osborne’s reflections on the power of the mass media to create the
worst of all worlds.
Lippman then messaged a response, which has not been posted. Here ‘tiz:
As you know, Tom Shales in the Washington Post pointed out that a common
sin of the left is piety, and it could be applied to Bill Moyers, but that “it wasn’t much of a
character flaw,” which is true in general, but not in a journalist.
Piety has a tendency not only to close the mind, but also closes off the possibility of serious
discussion or debate. “You are a fascist” tends to be a conversation stopper.
Unfortunately, this character flaw is often associated with a mental defect — the inability to
make distinctions. If intelligence consists in the mind’s ability to both generalize and make
distinctions the leftist mind is often half-brained.This mind has no problem in detecting similarities
and making generalizations from them, but it often has trouble noticing differences.
Bill Osborne is a good example of the leftist writer’s tendency to fuse piety with
half-brainedness — Nazis bad. Goebbels a Nazi. Both Limbaugh and Goebbels recognized the
power of radio to influence the political landscape.Therefore Limbaugh a dangerous incipient
Nazi. No, I am not worried, and I am not moving to Canada.
Happy holidays and a wonderful New Year.
I forwarded Lippman’s message to Osborne for his response. Here ‘tiz:
I see what Larry is trying to say. Nazi is used as a sort of hippie epithet for
rednecks and the like, but I refer to German history for other reasons. After all, I have lived in
Germany for the last 25 years, and have written numerous articles about the culture, including one
published by the MIT Press on how Hitler manipulated the symphony orchestra for propaganda
purposes. Germans and their history are a living reality for me. [Read the article. — JH]
Starting a war with false fears about WMDs is clearly fear mongering for political purposes.
It led to the extreme of war. This fear mongering was taken up by rightwing radio. Using the
media this way has important historical correlations people should carefully consider.
I think it is a little superficial to try to discredit Moyers as pious. It sounds like Larry is being
made a little uncomfortable by what he said. He can’t attack the substance, so he attacks a
presumed style. And that is to say nothing of the fact that the right’s political base is Christian
fundamentalists. What is more pious than a president who literally mimics the rhetorical style of
Southern fundamentalists, and who wants to turn over many government programs to faith-based
initiatives?
Larry is overlooking a few things. I wish someone could find a way to help these folks see
how they come off. Maybe they would would become a little more
moderate.
