September 11th Editorial
The most egregious of all the events of September 11, 2001, is not the loss of life that occurred, but rather the loss of educated opinions and informed viewpoints that came about because of the disaster. While it is true that there are many in the media who are valiantly attempting to divorce the gullible public of the President’s rah-rah rhapsody, they operate in vain.
It is common knowledge that the best way to attack an enemy is to attack the ways in which it communicates. While our attackers were not truly able to destroy our infrastructure, they were able to expose some of the self-defense mechanisms of American media. In times of peace, the media thrives on fake controversy, selling the salacious sizzle rather than the insipid steak of domestic news. During war, however, we are fed the patriotic line, and the majority of us are content with this. Thinking can be hard.
There is a time and a place for groupthink. Unfortunately, it can go too far, and we are left with situations such as the general ambivalence towards civilian casualties in Afghanistan. News outlets are afraid to stray too far from the norm of what “43” preaches, because Mr. Fleischer will get very upset with them and tell them to be “careful with what they say.” As a result, most Americans who aren’t willing to really search in unconventional places for their news are, since September 11th, subject to propaganda of the most heinous kind – designed to protect them but ultimately capable only of weakening them.