PrintIt seems that in blogdom as in real life, the big fish try to eat the little fish. If you regular readers remember, on October 3, I posted a piece that compared the passing of the new law suspending habeus corpus for “terrorists” to the Reichstag fire. Until today it was the only piece in print, blogdom or the airwaves to make that analogy. Then a HuffPo columnist decided to also use it. Although they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it does not help much here. Unfortunately, I have no legal recourse (although my college professor wife said she would be tempted to give the writer an “F” if she were her student). However, I would like to point out the difference between good journalism and whatever it is they do over at HuffPo.
When I hatched the idea, my first thought was that it was too obvious, so I did a web search of “Bush” and “Reichstag Fire.” Needless to say, it turned up several articles, but all pertained to 9/11 and were several years old. To me journalistic integrity argued that I needed to point out I had seen those articles. I even put links on them so people could judge for themselves. On the other hand, the writer at HuffPo was either too lazy, too stupid or too brazen to even do a simple web search, which, by the way, they teach you in Journalism 101. Because she writes for a much larger audience than I do, she will get credit for the idea. In fact, when I brought the subject up in a comment she called me a “pimp.” Apparently HuffPo’s policies that forbid “abusive, off-topic, use excessive foul language, or include ad hominem attacks” do not pertain to their columnists.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to blow off the affair, but that article is the most personal I have written. It was my grandfather who gave what has become known as the “five minutes to twelve” speech urging Germans to unite against Hitler before it was too late. The fire came four days later. A few months after that my family fled for their lives as the Nazis began rounding up opposition leaders. One HuffPo writer suggested the Nazi analogy was overblown. Jon Stewart once did a great sketch on that theme. But as one whose family actually lived through those times,what my relatives taught me is that freedom is usually not lost in one apocalyptic Hollywood moment, but fades away in increments until one morning you find yourself in the dark as my aunt did, and walk by a gallows for your father on your way home from school. Or like my uncle you finally get that coveted visa to get your mother out of hell only to find she is already on a train to it. Constant vigilance, integrity and the rule of law are all that keeps us from falling into the abyss.
FOLLOW-UP: 11/1:
A week later I have not heard from anyone at HuffPo. Apparently then their columnists are allowed to play by different rules than their readers and others. “Abusive, off-topic, use excessive foul language, or include ad hominem attacks” are OK if you write for HuffPo but not for anyone else. Nice double standard. I believe we have an administration in power that plays by similar rules.
Print Posted by: liberalamerican
