Posted on 02/14/2005 9:00:31 PM PST by cleo1939
Recently, three powerful men have been damaged or brought down by their own utterances. Eason Jordan resigned his position as top news executive at CNN because he had allegedly said that the U.S. military was deliberately killing journalists in Iraq. Trent Lott had to give up his position as Senate Majority Leader because of his too-profuse praise of former segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond. And the not-yet former president of Harvard Larry Summers was forced to repent and apologize for suggesting that biological differences might explain the paucity of female science professors.
Plead for a new social order under which a few offensive spoken remarks, even if highly odious and taken in context, are forgiven. Most everyone has some fairly nasty thoughts and occasionally these thoughts turn into speech. If we allow a few obnoxious comments to destroy someone's career, many will avoid engaging in freewheeling discussions.
Suspect that most of us have made comments at work more offensive than the statements that got Lott and Jordan fired. Unless we change the rules of engagement ambitious people will start being extremely circumspect in conversation with those they don't completely trust. ....
(Excerpt) Read more at techcentralstation.com ...
I am a little late to the bloggfest as it were so I don't know for sure but it seems to me that Trent Lott was gone after big time by MSM. I could be wrong.
So, we should all fold up our tents, pack up our equipment or what ever and stop going after people that accuse the US Military of targeting journalists in Iraq and covered up Saddam's misdeeds for many years. We are just bad people for taking such actions againts such small misdemeanors.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
This IS scary! We can't allow these blogs to create this "chilling effect" and prevent news people from making false accusations about our armed forces! They have every RIGHT to invent stuff about what our people are doing in combat! What is this, 1984?!?!?!
The author's a little late on this. PC started doing this over a decade ago. I guess that it's a concern now that liberal icons are being affected.
Jordan's comment that he didn't want CNN to be "unfairly tarnished" completely overlooked the fact that he had unfairly tarnished the U.S. military, and not for the first time.
It's a new day, and if you appoint yourself as the truth tellers, you damn well better tell the truth.
This comparison is a minimization of what Eason Jordan did. He committed treason in my opinion - you don't lob false accusations at your own nation's military in a time of war, certainly not on foreign soil and in a public forum in which you aim to influence people. Lott was just stupid, and Summers merely clumsy.
Sure, you're forgiven.
Now pack your s**t and get the hell out.
Bing! Bing! Bing! We have a winner...
the infowarrior
more of a "truth effect"
This boy talks about Larry Summers, who didn't need blogs to get in hot water, and omits Dan Rather altogether. Maybe he should stick to his game theories and leave real life to others.
A chill wind blowing..... /Tim Robbins
The best book I've digested in quite a while is, "The Wisdom of Crowds", by James Surowiecki. He practically predicts the whole deal. The power of the bits of brain of many will trump the certified brains of the few every time. Check it out.
Will the internet cause people to stop talking?
Oops...He accidently forgot about Robert Byrd saying the N-work on national TV...
I hadn't heard him in years. I was changing stations on SIRIUS satellite radio this morning and there he was.
The chilling effect bloggers will have will be on those who lie. Works for me.
Yep...All of this communication will cause people to stop communicating...
Tim Robbins blowing....../A Chill Wind
Trent Lott, on the other hand, was brought down by the MSM. A few bloggers paid attention to his birthday remarks to Thurmond. On the other hand, the MSM was delighted to have a lever to take him down.
The President of Harvard was not even touched by the blogosphere. The lame-brained attack on him came from card-carrying feminists in and around his own institution.
The article compares apples, oranges, and short-hair cats -- a comparison that holds no water whatsoever. Along the way, it demonstrates a lack of knowledge about the current tension between the MSM and the "new media." I thought TechStation was more accurate than that.
Congressman Billybob
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