The other night, David Rawth tweeted something which caught my eye:
Typically, I ride for Jon Stewart, whom I find to be a truth teller in an industry which has very little invested in that sort of thing. Roth's words struck me, as a result, and the impact was even stronger because I know Roth's politics and very much admire how smartly and eloquently he can explain them. When I watched The Daily Show early Wednesday, I finally understood what prompted Roth's tweet. I shot him an email in response, and I thought I would share that:
I saw a tweet of yours from last night that was critical of Jon Stewart's treatment of the Wisconsin Dems and the protesters. I didn't fully grasp the context, but when I sat down to watch last night's episode and Monday's, I came away very disappointed in one of his rhetorical bits. He lampooned the broadcasters who were comparing the Wisconsin protests to Egypt, and that made sense to me. However, he next lampooned a dude on CNBC who compared Wisconsin to September 11th. Obviously, no one has died in Wisconsin, so the most basic comparison of the two events makes the CNBC assertion laughable. It trivializes death. But that is a very myopic view of 9/11, and while I can't say so definitively, I suspect that the CNBC person meant 9/11 as a shorthand for the country's response to terrorism, not as the literal destruction of the World Trade Center. In that broader regard, I find the comparison apt.Following the news this last month or so has been particularly difficult. As a result, I am somewhat less informed than I normally am. Some days, it's just too hard. However, I don't stop feeling--feeling dismay, sorrow, and skepticism. Sometimes it comes pouring out.
9/11 initiated an administrative, cultural, and social restructuring that convinced Americans to sacrifice liberty, fundamental rights, and even the concept of dissent in service of security. It profoundly altered the collective consciousness of the nation. We have arrived at another restructuring. Using the public apparatus of government to dismantle unions, claw back portions of the social safety net, and hold municipal workers accountable for crimes to the economy that they didn't commit is a terrible precedent that will be replicated elsewhere. Worse, it represents another completely galling, cynical, insidious, and dangerous triumph of the wealthy and powerful over the poor and helpless. Only in this country would a response to widespread economic depression caused by Wall Street manifest itself in the functional equivalent of legislative pogroms against Main Street.
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I also find the Walker-union clash of great significance, a sobering snapshot of the ideological battle being waged in this country.
As you know, earlier this week Gov Walker took a phone call from a blogger posing as David Koch. Thinking that he was talking to a major financial supporter, Walker discussed his view of the unions frankly. Contrary to certain Internet reports, these comments were not much different in tone than his more public pronouncements. Walker is not a cynical manipulator; he believes the road to salvation is constructed over the remains of the union hall
At the tail end of the phone call Walker actually characterized Ronald Reagan’s firing on the air traffic controllers as a seminal moment in world history, an act that led to the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union. He sounded genuinely moved and exhilarated as he remembered.
It's clear that Walker and his ilk believe that the Clash of Civilizations has come to Madison and the enemy is not Islamic fundamentalist, but middle class working people who bargain collectively to thwart the will of the oligarchs. That this is happening in Wisconsin, of all places, is absolutely terrifying.
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