Jon Stewart was wrong...

when he went on Crossfire and berated the host for arguing. (Never mind the rude part of it, nor the cowardly part, you know, where he makes political points and then whines "we're just a comedy show" when people question them.) Stewart wants a return to the old days, when news was less about confrontation, punditry, and analysis, and more about a straight presentation of the facts. But only those people who feel there ever was a straight presentation of the facts miss the old days. For those of us who think the MSM was an unchecked propadanda machine, run for and by liberal elites, those were the bad old days.

It is funny that those who consider themselves subversive, and liberal, and open to new ideas, are the ones who feel most threatened by how subversive, liberal, and intellectually diverse news is nowadays. Only liberals yearn for the good old days of self-appointed Solomons guarding the gates.

This post's idea was threshed out by an email discussion with sometime commenter "Horny George." The emails, slightly edited, are below.

Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 1:11 AM
Subject: Calvin

Hey Hark:
Check out Calvin's cartoon online. http://www.ucomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ In case you don't look at it on Sunday, it has a 10-2-1994 date in the archive. It's similar to my rants.
Take Care,
Horny George

Hi Horny,
Interesting, but there's an assumption there that the old guard MSM acts (or acted, in the mythical good old days) in good faith, whereas bloggers and pundits do not. I don't believe the MSM does that, nor ever did that...
Here's an excellent example of how bad it can get, when you don't have anyone calling shenanigans on the MSM. http://deanesmay.com/posts/1128377436.shtml When the MSM of a country or a region turns itself, wilfully, into a propaganda tool, that is dangerous.

If someone likes the particular set of lies the MSM tells then it doesn't bother them. (Much like Clinton's white lies didn't bother you that much, and Bush's white lies don't bother me that much, even though we both recognize the deceit.) But the press is not supposed to be an ACTOR, but the MSM is today, and probably always has been. It doesn't bother you as much as it bothers me because you agree with the MSM about more things than I do.

The fake Bush memos are a perfect example. I found that entire fiasco horrible, disgusting, offensive, rotten, maybe even criminal. Most liberals figured it was no big deal. To this day Dan Rather still has not admitted the Bush memos were forgeries, lol. Were it not for bloggers, the fact that they ARE forgeries would never have been estabished.