Adam Steinberg
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

I think this article is quite confusing. On the one hand, yes, there is an element of hysteria on the left that has kicked in as the new administration has put its boot through one trusted institution or tradition after another. That does not mean that their concerns are 100% misguided; the boot is real: we are seeing an unprecedented attack on what America is all about. But let’s look closer at the column. First of all, the examples of mythmaking by the media that Johnstone presents are all against the left; they are those examples the conservatives would love to tout as examples of leftist hysteria. What about examples on the other side, based on the ways the right-wing media try to spark outrage in their base? Her prime source of statistics is Julian Assange, a person whose disdain for America and liberal thought is pretty clear by now. She is making their case for these people. Trump and the GOP would like nothing more for that media trust to drop to zero so that he/they can be the ultimate arbiter of truth. She ignores the monumental influx of fake or misleading news coming from the right, and that it dwarfs that coming from the other side. Also, she seems to skip over the fact that a great deal of that untrustworthy view-of-the-world forming news is coming from politicians on the right, and their investments in shaping the truth, not the supposedly biased owners of the media and not merely oligarchs on the left. How can we have it both ways? Which side are the oligarchs on? The media, flawed as they are, are absolutely essential for a functioning democracy. How does that play into this view?

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    Adam Steinberg

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    Father • Teacher • Songwriter • Political Junkie