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It's on us


I had this conversation with a Tweep the other night.


I was going to write about this last week, and am now glad I didn't. Why? Because this came across my plate:
And this came after blue checks like Joy-Ann Reid, for whom my admiration diminishes by the day, had things like this to say:
I'm not going to belabor the point. It should be self-evident to any regular reader of this space what this blog holds dear. We are pro-democracy. We are also pro-Democratic as the only party delivering on the American promise of self-government, as the opposition party has traduced every point of honor in its quest for absolute, untrammeled power.

We voted for Joe Biden. We voted for Kamala Harris. President Biden, in his estimation, thought that Merrick Garland was the best man to lead the Department of Justice. Not to jail opponents. Not to bring down arbitrary prosecutions. But to restore honor to a department ravaged by the previous "administration". To restore justice to the Department of Justice. And to make sure that the four years of the Trump regime, and the January 6th Insurrection, never happen again.

What we didn't vote was to mollify the feelings the Twitterati have for revenge. We don't do revenge. We do justice. And it appears, contrary to the caterwauling from the usual purviews of the left, that Attorney General Garland is pursuing the Big Lie. He is investigating not just the flunkies and wastrels at the Capitol that January day, but the so-called brain trust at the Willard Hotel plotting and planning the riot. 

What these people want is Law & Order on steroids. They want The West Wing, with righteous vengeance raining down on the malefactors. They want a drama. They want a spectacle.

I will admit that would be satisfying to me. Who doesn't like everything wrapped up nice in a bow in 42 minutes? But that's not how the world works. These are serious matters. It appears that, yes, DoJ is going after the Big Lie. And it's starting with Trump's lawyer who was leading the charge to overturn the election. And you don't do that without getting everything exactly, precisely right. 

But, to return to the main point: We voted these people in to do a job. To withdraw support from them because they're not doing the job with bells and whistles and daily press conferences is not only churlish, it's idiotic. Our population is infantilized, taking television and film for reality. People who should know better are stoking this grievance. And for what? Clicks? Clout? Ratings? They might be even worse than the enemy, because they sow division and discord, and they engender apathy and resentment. Rather than explaining soberly that in a functioning democracy things have to go by the book, they want to throw out the book and have their own revolutionary tribunals.

I'm tired of them. The most enervating thing is that they don't know more than you or I do. They have no special knowledge or insight we don't possess. But they sucker their followers into thinking they do, removing agency from them. "Listen to me, I'll give you the real scoop." No, you won't. You'll just feed them what you think will keep them agitated and watching you or retweeting you. 

As I've said before: Mute the blue checks. Ignore them. Ninety-nine percent of them are useless, and not good actors. They have their own interests, and those interests are not necessarily healthy for the nation. Mr. Garland is doing his job. Pres. Biden is doing his job. Vice President Harris is doing her job. If you don't trust them to see this to the end, why even bother to vote? And make no mistake: That's the lesson they're imparting, no matter if they have "pro-democracy" in their handles. If MSNBC, Fox, and CNN were to vanish, that would be the greatest shot of energy for this Republic in decades. 

If the media wants to prevent another January 6th, it can begin by looking at itself. Meanwhile, we know what we have to do. Elevate factual information. Knock down defeatism. And vote. 
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