Category Archives: Culture Nights

Night Vision, Part 1

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The one thing that everyone should object to is being fed a constant diet of predigested mush and being told “trust us, it’s good for you.” Most folks want a smorgasbord they can keep going back to and where they can sample and experiment and even see their tastes change over time. Naturally the ones peddling the mush aren’t going to like this, and will warn you that you’ll burn your tongue or get indigestion, but it’s really their own heartburn they’re worried about.






Preview of Summer Blockbusters

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The summer movie season will be upon us before we know it, and there are a number of promising – if somewhat familiar – films waiting in the wings. The one area where Hollywood can be considered conservative is in producing remakes of proven winners, and this summer will be no different. Here’s a sneak peak of the updated classics heading our way:



Dances With Moonbats: After a Civil War, a white “soldier” takes an assignment in the American West where he is quickly forgotten. Befriended by Indians who think he is funny, the man decides he really is an Indian. His idyllic life with little accountability is shattered, however, when he writes a letter claiming the soldiers killed at Little Big Horn were “little Napoleons” who had it coming. Starring Ward Churchill.



Network: the updated version of this movie reflects the growing consolidation of the Big Media and its struggle against the inroads of the new media. The surefire catchphrase that will become the movie’s trademark comes when two of the main characters in the Network loudly proclaim: “We’ve lied like Hell and we can’t fake it anymore!” before resigning their positions. Stars Dan Rather and Eason Jordan.



Animal House: A rogue fraternity of conservative college students face prejudice, persecution and double-secret probation from the school’s administration and other students while enjoying high-spirited antics such as “Oil for Food-Fights” in the cafeteria, putting a dead horse named Nixon in the Dean’s office and hosting a wild burqa party that gets out of hand. Stars Hugh “Who’s With Me?” Hewitt in the John Belushi role.



Gone With the Wind: Despite the name, this is a drama set in the future when enraged senior citizens march on Washington, D.C. and burn it to the ground when they discover that the money supposedly set aside for their Social Security benefits blew away years before. One of the most stirring scenes is supposedly when the citizenry topples the statue of Teddy Kennedy that is carved with his famous statement, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t have a plan.”



Judge Dread: An ideal summer action/comedy that borrows from several other movies. Hilarity ensues as the Democratic minority scrambles to avoid an up or down vote on the president’s judicial nominees, known as the Men and Women in Black. The Chair of the DNC is hoping that the moviegoing public will be distracted from seeing this film by the latest release in the “Scary Movie” franchise.



There you have it, the summer blockbusters of 2005 (though “Hugh Hewitt: The Movie” may be surprise dark horse). If you go to any of these, however, please remember that no true fiscal conservative would ever pay $7 for a tub of popcorn.

Bill Moyers, please call James Ault, Jr.

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Some days on this blog are going to be more about politics or what’s going on in my life, and other days will be more faith related. The last couple of days have gone more that direction, but I didn’t want to finish today without pointing out an article in the Opinion section of today’s Star Tribune about faith and politics.



I don’t know if the editors were feeling repentant after printing the borderline bizarre (especially since it was presented so seriously) column by Bill Moyers a couple of weeks ago, but today’s Q&A – conducted by editorial writer Dave Hage – with James Ault, Jr. was a refreshing change. Whereas Moyers claimed that Christians in politics have set out to destroy the environment and stir up war in the hopes of hastening the Rapture, Ault actually took the time (3 years) to study a fundamentalist congregation and get to know what shaped their philosophy and led them into political activism.



The article merely scratches the surface of the topic, but shows a sensitive and open-minded perspective. Ault has used his experiences to produce a documentary, “Born Again,” and a book entitled “Spirit and Flesh.”


Eason Jordan turned me into a newt! (notes on the witch-hunt)

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The Wall Street Journal, Columbia Journalism Review and other mainstream media – made up of Journalist Truth-seeker Priests – have had a mostly negative reaction to the Eason Jordan affair where Jordan, head of CNN news, resigned under pressure after reportedly claiming on multiple occasions – without offering evidence – that U.S. troops were targeting journalists in Iraq. Considering the actions of Mr. Jordan, that’s not surprising. Oh, wait, what they’re really upset about is the actions of the bloggers! They have decried the witch-hunt mentality and described bloggers as “knuckledragging mouthbreathers” – or was that knucklebreathing mouthdraggers? All I know is that all the knuckledragging makes it painful to type.



[If you’re not familiar with the Eason Jordan story as it has developed over the past few weeks, you can read a timeline on Easongate.com here.]



As a brand new blogger I can’t claim any credit or share any blame for being one of the Barbarians at the Gatekeepers, but I did have the experience of watching this story develop from the very beginning as I researched the blogosphere in preparation for launching The Night Writer. The behavior I saw was pretty consistent with what was drummed into me by my professors and editors at the major journalism school that – perhaps grudgingly – saw fit to give me a diploma a couple of decades ago.



First, an eye-witness to the event (and someone not normally associated with any of the conservative blogs) posted his description of what Mr. Jordan said and the reactions of other conference attendees (including members of the U.S. Senate). The first reaction in the blogs was to ask if others could corroborate the story. Several blogs, using their own initiative, found people who had been at the scene and could corroborate. These bloggers also pursued and received statements from Senators Frank and Dodd, and reported Mr. Jordan’s clarification. Some did further research that turned up previous statements by Mr. Jordan in public forums that were consistent in tone and content with the Davos statements and were also presented without evidence. Mr. Jordan himself was also contacted, and he responded to certain bloggers with a “clarification” of what he said and the context of his comments.



When other WEF attendees who had heard the original statements contradicted Mr. Jordan’s clarification, the bloggers identified the person at the WEF responsible for managing the recordings and transcripts from the Forum, interviewed him and sought a tape or transcript of the original remarks to establish what was true. The tape was originally promised, and then that promise was rescinded. The WEF defended withholding the tape to defend their “non-attribution” policy and preserve an atmosphere that would allow future speakers and panelists to speak freely. I note that this policy is similar to the one the White House and Vice President Cheney took in regards to discussions with key energy company executives early in President Bush’s first term. The bloggers reacted to this embargo in a manner very similar to the way the media reacted to Mr. Cheney’s position.



Blogs on both the left and the right began to press this issue and ask why the mainstream media was ignoring a story that raised questions about the true views and intentions of a high-ranking person with a significant influence over what messages a large portion of the population receives. Even given Mr. Jordan’s influence, this might not have been a big story, but the ensuing stonewalling served to inflate, rather than deflate, the controversy. All in all, while there may have been some elements on the fringe of the developing story who were more reactionary, it was a methodical, “what are the facts” approach that showed initiative, perseverance and accountability in getting confirmation from sources. In fact, the ongoing accounts of Michelle Malkin, LaShawn Barber, and Ed Morrissey (CaptainsQuartersblog) and many others, though a bit heated toward the end, could be a good case study on how to responsibly follow a developing story.



Rather than acknowledge – let alone celebrate – the process, the MSM reacted as if it had been hustled, when instead it had been out hustled. The WSJ editorial board even described themselves, in comparison to bloggers, as reasonable adults able to determine what is or isn’t newsworthy and essentially indicating that only they and their knighted brethren were qualified to pursue the Holy Grail (truth). They were like King Arthur in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” trying to sound reasonable but becoming more and more frustrated until finally shouting “Bloody Peasant!” at an annoying serf. This of course gives the blogosphere the opportunity to respond in kind, “Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? That’s what I’m all about! Help, I’m being repressed!”



The worst thing for the MSM about this latest scandal isn’t that one of their own supposedly self-defenestrated (jumped or pushed, you decide), but that they completely missed the lesson of the Trent Lott/Swift Boat Vets/Dan Rather/Eason Jordan “kerfuffles”, and that is that the blogosphere and the world beyond is made up of multitudes of responsible adults who may not need or appreciate such paternalism from their watchdogs.



The mainstream media may continue to see itself in the role of gatekeeper; what it can’t see is that thanks to the growth and accessibility of the new media, the fence is knocked down.




Update:

If you’re reading this and want some additional perspectives on the aftermath of Eason Jordan’s resignation, I suggest visiting Jay Rosen’s Pressthink blog for this take and related comments. Jay’s not typing with his knuckles.