I just got online ... and ... Playbook did *what*?

If you want to spotlight & understand the very heart of US political media dysfunction, think about the nest of background assumptions required to imagine Chris Hayes & Ben Shapiro as equivalent.

One tries his best to tell the truth; one lies freely. One has a coherent, principled worldview that he tries to apply fairly; one glibly hops from faux principle to faux principle as it suits him. One has experience & skill in reporting; one has never done anything but Takes.

They are different species. They are involved in different undertakings, with different standards & aspirations. To cast them as equivalent -- "one from each side" -- requires ignoring all that & taking their partisan affinities as the ONLY variable that matters.

It is to explicitly say that media gatekeepers *will not* take honesty into account, or decency, or history, or consistency, or character.

This is it. This is what Politico is saying. "We don't care if you're honest or decent. Your 'side' alone qualifies you to be amplified."

Then they have the gall to turn around & say that ignoring honesty & character is a *virtue*, & that Dems who insist they matter are being "partisan" & living in a "bubble" -- that Dems must expose themselves to lies & sophistry out of some kind of intellectual hygiene.

Note, though, in the MSM & culture generally, this demand *never* goes the other way. No one asks or expects right-wing publications to allow Dems to take over & make their case. The notion is laughable.

No one expects Fox or Breitbart to turn themselves over to the people they relentlessly demonize & hurt so that they can pierce *their* bubble. No one asks or expects them to expose themselves to truth or decency.

The journos at Politico can tell themselves stories about how brave & open-minded they are (and oh, they will). But in the end, this is just another expression of America's founding credo: white people who are upset must be heard. Always. No matter what.

If they're upset based on lies & conspiracy theories, oh well. If they're upset because they care about white supremacy more than democracy, oh well. If they practice a level of glib sophistry that would get them laughed out of a dorm room, oh well. They're white & upset ...

... and thus civil society & all our institutions must warp & convulse to accommodate them, to hear them, to coddle them, to forget all the lies, to forgive all the crimes. Even if they are *fresh from an insurrection," dead bodies barely in the ground.

They're white & upset, so they must be heard. It's the most fundamental principle in American history. It's leading quite visibly to the crumbling of our democracy. And Politico -- because "mischief"? -- is reinforcing it. Fucking pathetic. </fin>

lolsob addendum: https://twitter.com/KateAronoff/status/1349764636288151554