A couple of weeks ago, I posted about famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's most recent book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder". One of the things that has puzzled me is the lack of publicity about his book, particularly given Bugliosi's impeccable credentials (he prosecuted Manson, and was 21 for 21 in murder convictions).
It turns out that others are wondering the same thing.
Today's New York Times had an article about it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07bugliosi.html
This is curious, because the New York Times is one of the many major media outlets ignoring the book. I have yet to see a review of it in the New York Times.
The article is quite interesting. Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, is quoted as saying that he hasn't read the book, but suggests a reason as to why the media has been silent about the book: "I think there's a kind of Bush-bashing fatigue out there."
I don't know about him, but I just can't get enough of it.
He also points out that the fact that the book has become a bestseller with virtually no media coverage suggests that the implosion of the traditional media has had a lot to do with it. I quote:
If a dedicated part of the Internet community wants to move something, it doesn't need a benediction from the mainstream media and might benefit from not having one."
I constantly laugh when I hear about Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and the other far-right idiots bloviating about the so-called "liberal media." Where are they? Where are the guys who went over Clinton's personal life with a fine-tooth comb? The media that held Les Aspin accountable for the deaths of the "Blackhawk Down" soldiers-- a couple of dozen of them. This crew has been responsible for over 4,000 unnecessary American deaths in Iraq, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. The manpower and materiel that has been tied down in Iraq has caused to us to lose ground in Afghanistan, a place where we are actually fighting the people responsible for the 9/11 massacres.
These people have led us into a disasterous war, have been beyond ineffective in dealing with this newest energy crisis-- yeah, drilling in Alaskan nature reserves is a great long-term solution-- have hammered at our civil liberties and have not made this country one iota safer. Murder rates, drug use, teenage pregnancy, housing defaults are up and employment and investment down. This is making the mid-seventies of Jimmy Carter's "malaise" infamy look like a paradise by comparison. Where's the outrage over it?
5 comments:
Holy Feck! I posted about that too and I have wondered why other than out here on the intertubes there have been nothing but crickets on this important book.
Sheesh.
Bush Bashing Fatigue???
The silent scream in my head is louder than ever.
Where is the outrage about so many things?
Sadly- and I hate to sound like such a cynic and/or pessimist so early in the day- we are a nation beaten down.
That is why all of our collective voices matter out here.
As for the so-called liberal media, what a joke as we know.
I suffer from hate speech fatigue myself.
Great post Johnny Yen. Keep the fires burning my man.
I think the model we're heading toward, although in a digital/electronic version and not a print version, is similar to what was found at the turn of the century. Each major outlet is identified with a particular party or political ideology, and supporters of those parties/ideologies will only consume news from their own sources. If you think about it, the "objective media" model with trusted anchors and journalists only lasted a few decades post WWII and can now, maybe, seen as a fluke.
The "Left Behind" books were huge sellers without any "mainstream media" promotion, and Limbaugh's first books were huge best sellers before he was the media titan he is now.
I personally believe that "Bush bashing fatigue" is really more a failure of imagination, in that most Americans simply can't face the true extent of just how wrong the last 7 years have been.
No one ever hears about Noam Chomsky, either.
I'm putting this one @ the top o' me list!!
Excellent. I wonder if blogging itself, wherein people can have their say and be listened to, has replaced "blowing a fifty amp fuse" in the streets?
B/c it seems more people are ready to blow than in the Sixties, but far fewer are actually in the streets -- dancing or protesting, either.
Bush is a fascist pig . . . a dry drunk Mussolini. (And people wanted to have a beer with a man who no longer drinks beer? Eeejits. FoxFascists. The 28%-ers.)
JY, I live in conservative freak-land. We have a sheriff that thinks he is in the old west and violates civil rights in the name of eliminating illegals... I'm intimidated. I want to post about it and I keep quiet. I'm not proud, but I'm honest. We live in a crooked world. I agree. Where is our outrage? The thing is: everyone leaves the outrage to everyone else. Sad, but true. There needs to be an uprising - but who will do it? Who will risk the consequences?
I'm sorry if I sound negative. I think about this often.
Where is the outrage? It is in us. Why do we not take action?
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