Comments on: The fall of Van Jones and the stealth censorship of reasonableness

By: Van Jones’s Resignation: Cowering in Front of the Real Crazies « DU Dems

Van Jones’s Resignation: Cowering in Front of the Real Crazies « DU Dems — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:59:33 +0000

[...] What results from this cycle? University of Chicago journalism professor Jeff McMahon (no relation) cautions us all to “notice that it’s still unreasonable, as Jones’s example shows, to wonder about the [...]

By: jasong

jasong — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:39:28 +0000

As Tim Wise notes:

[E]verything they are saying about Van Jones was what people like them said about civil rights leaders in the 50s and 60s: about Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, and John Lewis, and Fannie Lou Hamer. They were communists, and revolutionaries, and a danger to the republic. Make no mistake, had they been old enough in those days, Beck and every modern-day movement conservative would have stood with the segregationists, with the bigots, with the mobs who burned the buses carrying freedom riders. They would have stood with the police in Philadelphia, Mississippi, even as they orchestrated the killing of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner. They would have stood with Bull Connor in Birmingham. How do we know? Easy. Because not one prominent conservative spokesperson of that time did the opposite. Not one. That's who they are. And the minute you forget that, the minute you insist on treating them better than they would treat you, the minute you insist on playing by rules that they refuse to as much as acknowledge, all is lost. They do not believe in democracy. They believe in power. White power. They believe in the past. They are Afrikaners, and it's about time we started calling them that.

By: Vickie Karp

Vickie Karp — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:55:52 +0000

Important post, Jeff. I think concepts like impartiality and procedure have been thrown out with the bath water of investigating the roots and reasons of the issues. The difference between governmental policy and political opinion have become so blurred that just about anyone, left or right, can sound like a shock jock with little provocation. I know it’s important to analyze why and how reasonableness goes out the window. I hope the new administration also becomes extremely adept at conveying the rules of the game of policy, not politics, in propping up or knocking down guys we like or don’t for one reason or another.

By: Jeff McMahon

Jeff McMahon — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:19:32 +0000

Ooh, snap.

By: iskid2astop

iskid2astop — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:20:10 +0000

I’m more disappointed in the hypocrisy of this. Did Bush’s staff get so throughly combed, seeking any little problem? Nope. Perhaps this is good, but if it is good, why doesn’t it happen across the board? Irritating.

By: gracenearing

gracenearing — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:55:01 +0000

A crackerjack activist before he started wearing ties to work, he may be more effective outside of the White House than within it anyway.

I’m beginnning to think that most people are.