Richard Perle on “Activists and crawlers,” at the Tatler:
There’s no doubt the nuclear emergency in Japan is serious, so it’s perfectly reasonable for the media to help us understand the complexities of nuclear reactors, meltdowns, radiation levels, and the like. But having watched with the rest of us, I’m wondering when the identifying crawler on CNN or MSNBC or even Fox will identify an expert commentator as an “anti-nuclear activist.” Given their non-stop air time, several must be sleeping in network green rooms. Before the earthquake/tsunami they could be found opposing our nuclear strategic posture, opposing modernization of our strategic deterrent, opposing civilian nuclear power and arguing for eliminating all nuclear weapons. It may be hard to get the physics right, but the crawler should be easy.
Fortunately though, in some case, they’re self-identifying: “Chicago TV Interviews No Nukes Advocate With ‘Texas Nazi’ Sign Over His Desk.”
At the Make Believe Media, there is no such thing as an “anti-nuclear activist.” There are only “fact-based scientists” and “stoopid people.” There is no room for “nuance” at the MBM, everything is a binary: Obama-supporter or racist, progressive or Nazi, sane-person or Tea Partier. Whatever does not fit in the first box must, by default, go into the other. It’s just easier all around for everyone and eliminates the potential mistakes that ambiguous processes like thinking might allow to creep in and spoil the narrative.