How about that?! Deep Throat is former FBI official, W. Mark Felt. I didn’t think we’d EVER find out.
I’ll leave the clever analysis of Felt’s motivation and ethics to the ever brilliant pundits on cable news. But I hope that this new and exciting development in one of the greatest political mysteries of the 20th century will serve to remind us of a few things:
Whistleblowers are heroes. All of you in the CIA, the Pentagon, even the White House, you know you are serving evil masters. If you find yourself being told to cover up evidence of Bush wrongdoing or to fabricate intelligence, perhaps a phone call to your favorite reporter is in order. Undermining an evil administration is not traitorous. Covering up their evil is.
There’s the right kind of source to protect, and the wrong kind. A hero uncovering a crime is the right kind. A scumbag committing a crime is the wrong kind. Yes, I’m talking to you Judith Miller.
There is such a thing as investigative reporting. And it wins Pulitzer Prizes. Real reporters out there – I beg you, learn from this. All the young journalism students, go to the library, Netflix, whatever and read/watch All the President’s Men. Journalism is NOT two opposing points of view yelling at each other. It’s sources, hunches, fact-checking, and goddammed good writing! They didn’t set out to bring down the Nixon administration. Nixon brought himself down with his own crimes; Woodward and Bernstein just shined a light into the darkness. Stop letting Bush bully you into keeping your flashlight off.
You are the stewards of the republic. You are the barrier that separates democracy from fascism. Don’t let the fascists win.
No comments:
Post a Comment