Doug Clark: Politics Trumps Morality
One could write volumes about the sad state of modern journalism. The collapse of quality and integrity are nothing short of mind-boggling. The collusion of reporters with right wing sources. The gushy pandering of small town newspapers to their hometown favorites. The wholesale swallowing of manufactured opinions by by once great newspapers.
But even against those sorry standards, Doug Clark at the Greensboro News-Record reaches a new low today in a comment he makes about the immigration issue.
Politics trumps whatever your idea of morality is on this issue, and many other issues for that matter.
After a sharp exchange with Clark a few weeks ago, I've been reading his blog regularly, trying to understand why people consider the guy a moderate and a pragmatist. Now I know. He's a pragmatist alright. Politics trumps whatever your idea of morality is on this issue, and many other issues for that matter.
Is it any wonder the newspaper business is in the toilet? And with editorial writers raising their voices in support of ignorance and political expediency, is it any wonder journalists are viewed less favorably than auto mechanics and bankers?
At least they're ranked higher than car salesman. For now.
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Why doesn't he own the comment?
Wouldn't it be more appropriate for him to say, "Politics trumps whatever our idea of morality is on this issue, and many other issues for that matter"? I guess he's just better than the rest of us lowly immoral/amoral creatures.
He was talking to me
so I assume you're point is correct. He is better than the rest of us lowly immoral/amoral creatures. He's a journalist, after all.
Ahhhhh, so that was a personal comment made to you
Heh. So, you're the one with morals....OKay....I'm too busy and had too quick a reaction to it.
Sorry Mr. Clark. I guess Anglico's higher moral standards are just too high for the masses then? So, he really doesn't think much of the rest of society....including his readers? I'm tired. I need help interpreting Mr. Clark. :)
One thing I've learned in my 45 years is you don't achieve high standards - moral or otherwise - unless you set high standards.
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
Standards!!!! You want Standards!! You can't handle Standards
One thing I've learned in my 45 years is you don't achieve high standards - moral or otherwise - unless you set high standards.* BM
Speaking of Standards! I once gave Doug this quote and he wanted to know who said it. So much for historial knowledge by the conservative mainstream media?
" Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair" * George Washington
Whose morality?
I can't tell if Clark means to say that politics trumps my particular morality . . . or morality in general. In any case, it's a cynical world view that deserves full-throated repudiation.
Yes....the universal "you" and the royal "we"
heh.....if a writer like Doug Clark is going to make a comment like that, he'd better own it. I guess I should read the whole thing to see the context, but I have some shopping to finish. :)
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
As politics these days seems to be totally concerned with money
in one form or another, his statement is tatamount to saying that morality is defined by whoever has the most money.
I bet Sen. Mitch McConnell would approve.
Person County Democrats
Despicable
The most disturbing line was his comment;
"And it's usually smart to find the facts. But not this time. On this issue, people have strong feelings -- and it's unwise to challenge them."
There's no question that a person needs a secure spot from which to address the mob when it comes a-runnin' with pitchforks, tar and torches.
Helms had a secure spot back in the late eighties when AIDS was in the headlines daily. He had access to the most up to date information about the disease, and he knew better than the jabber at the farmer's market and big-eyed declarations at church luncheons. He could have done much to calm the panic among folks who feared a plague had been sent by God to punish sinners. But he wouldn't do it. It wasn't just political "wisdom" that kept him from using his position to foster education instead of disinformation. He had plenty of political capital to spend. It was pure love of the comfort of his place and the adulation of the mob -- that "morals" crowd. Despicable. Here was a man who called himself a leader, who had all the support any leader could wish for, yet he chose to reinforce North Carolina's legacy of bigotry against blacks with bigotry against people dying of a disease that doesn't discriminate.
Clark is correct that the chances for any among the current slate of candiates to withstand the mob on a position opposing their fears and anger is slender. And he gets to have it both ways in a column that on one hand acknowledges the justice of Easley's and Lancaster's positions, but on the other reinforces the voter's support of the status quo by declaring the wisdom of standing silent and just watching the mob roar by.
I can't think of any among North Carolina's delegation in Congress, let alone candidates now running for state office, who have the political strength Helms had.
Thus, I admire all the more that Jim Neal is willing to take a stand against the mob on the matter of illegal immigration. And Clark's remarks have convinced me that Neal deserves my vote.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke
Doug, if you want to be "moderate",
you need to stand ready to correct your blog cheerleaders when they toss out inaccurate talking points like "tuition breaks" for illegals. They know their argument is weak, so they're making shit up as they go.
And I gotta tell ya', this kind of statement:
might be music to the ears of those who are ashamed of their own hate, but trying to dress up bigotry with the word "reason" just doesn't work. I know you're smart enough to know that, which means you're actively engaging in the enabling of hatred.
Words have power, Doug. You've been given a unique opportunity to expose your views to a relatively wide readership, but you can serve only one master. As long as that master is the truth, you'll be okay.