“Tom & Karl & Fidel & Alex”
By Chris Busone
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of these United States, famously wrote that “given the choice between government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.”
Now, while Tom was one of history’s greatest champions of freedom (he literally created the phrase, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”), he had his faults like everyone else; chief among them the irony of championing freedom while owning other human beings and impregnating them when they were in no position to consent.
But when we talk about the founding fathers of this nation, for better or worse, Jefferson is not only at the forefront of that class photo; he’s the guy kneeling in the front row with the football under his arm.
So, if in this instance, he was that adamant in his belief that we need a free press for this red, white and blue rager of ours to survive and thrive, well sh!t, while I definitely have my differences with the guy, I guess I’m with T-Jeff on this point.
Now obviously this topic cha-cha’d its way into my consciousness this month because of the recent kerfuffle concerning the press’s access to the buildings and surrounding grounds that house the capital of our precious, threadbare though it may be, democracy. (I actually heard an anchor on a major news outlet refer to it as a “kerfuffle,” so I couldn’t resist.)
But I had this glimmer of a thought; a passing fancy, a wild-eyed cornfed half-baked notion, that maybe, just maybe, we could try and discuss this topic without taking one political side or the other and examine it on its own merits … ya know … like actual Americans. (I’ll take civil discourse for 500, Alex.)
I struck upon this idea that we could interact intellectually without one group calling the other “commie, socialist, anarchist, low IQ lamebrains, and just for good measure, COMMIES again,” while the other spews out flowery epithets such as, “orange, diaper-wearing, felonious pant-load with gas station hotdog energy.” (There … I got that out of my system. Now we can move on.)
Now, possibly I’m engaging in a bit of naivete, but I remain hopeful that we can discuss, without offending. There’s also the possibility that I’m just p!ssing up a rope here, but what the hell, I’ve got a few more paragraphs to kill.
Now we’ve heard the thoughts of the father of independence on the importance of a free press, but in the interest of equal time, let’s shift our weight for a moment and give the floor to the grandaddy of the absolute antithesis of democracy; put your hands together for German philosopher and OG-Marxist, Karl Marx. Why do we need to hear from Karl of all people on the subject of freedom? Because even the dude who literally invented the concept of Communism said, “The essence of the free press is the reliable, reasonable, and moral nature of freedom.”
And that from a guy who thought independence and democracy were four-letter words … and maybe they are in German, or maybe Karl just wasn’t a very good speller, who knows. The point being, leaders with vastly different geopolitical kinks agree that the press must be allowed to operate and report freely to hold those same leaders and citizens alike to task.
You say you want more examples? Try this on for size:
F-cking Fidel Castro himself, a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist-Dictator-Dick if there ever was one, and hater of all things American (except baseball and Hemingway), admitted that, “The first thing dictators do is finish the free press to establish censorship. There is no doubt that a free press is the first enemy of dictatorship.” Apparently, he had this revelation between cigars and mass executions because that is exactly what he did. Job one. Day one. New Year’s Day 1959. He clocked in and put an end to the free press in Cuba. Then he lit a cigar.
So, are we saying that to be a truly free republic, publications, reporters, and media outlets should have no guardrails and be allowed to say and publish anything they want? Of course not. But it happens.
We’ve all stood in the checkout line and allowed ourselves the guilty pleasure/furtive glances at the tabloids as their headlines exclaim in definitive absolute terms that, “An Alien Impregnated Michael Jackson And He Gave Birth To Bruno Mars!” But we expect that kind of horsesh!t from those publications, and pay them no neverminds. (Even though that Michael/Bruno thing sounds like it might be true.)
But in the real world of journalism, large, trusted, bonded media outlets need to verify, clarify, certify, and verify again, every and all stories and information they put out to the public. Because that is the task they’re held to, morally and legally. And we’ve seen, when morality failed, one of the country’s largest media outlets held legally to task to the tune of almost a billion dollars. We actually saw footage of the owner of that outlet testify, under oath, that not only did he know he was broadcasting falsehoods, he instructed his on-air minions to do it again and again because when they did, viewership numbers went through the roof. And more viewers meant increased ratings, and increased ratings meant more sponsors, and more sponsors meant more money in his pockets.
Not exactly the spirit of the First Amendment, but when you’ve outgrown your yacht and your fifth wife is complaining, you do what you have to, I guess.
But I do not believe that is the norm for the fourth estate in our country. No, there are real stories being broadcast of those in power saying things and doing things that are in direct conflict with the tone, tenor, and outright written words of the articles that govern this great republic. And that’s why a free press is invaluable to a true democracy.
So Mr. Bigshot, if it’s causing you angst that the free press is broadcasting your exact words and exact deeds to the public that you swore an oath to serve, while you’re trying to keep those words and deeds quiet, well, you need to shut up and take it, and not lock yourself in your office bathroom and blame that dicey breakfast burrito you got this morning at the drive-thru.
That’s the press doing their job at its most American. Not spreading lies or faking the news or altering the facts or whatever other bullsh!t word salad you want to put on it to get yourself out of a jam. If it’s p!ssing off people in power, well then you know that the press is doing it the way the First Amendment intended. It’s the free press exercising their freedom to … well … press…freely, I guess. (That sounded better in my head)
So stop throwing a tantrum and get up off the floor of the bank, Junior. No! No complaining, mister. You made your metaphorical bed; now you can sleep in it. And no tweeting all night under the covers either, Buster Brown! You just lay there and think about what you did, young man. Wait until your father hears about this …
But what’s it really all about, this jousting of pens and swords? To my mind, the fruit-filled center in this slice of Americana pie is freedom. Freedom of the people, freedom of the press, and freedom to think, say, write, and broadcast truthful, honest reporting on events and the individuals who populate them.
And that freedom does not just apply to journalists. It belongs to all Americans. Artists and non-artists alike. But those mighty pens become even mightier in the hands of skilled journalists and artists, songwriters and playwrights, authors, essayists and poets.
Artists such as E.E. Cummings, who freely discarded the traditional rules of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spacing to transfer his poems of love and nature, of satire and society, into not just gorgeous sonnets, but beautiful pieces of visual art as well. And who also took a moment between his masterful works to remind us that, “The theory of a free press is not that the truth will be presented completely and perfectly in any one instance, but that the truth will emerge from free discussion.”
Free discussion. It’s what this whole megillah we call democracy was built upon. And the more we discuss, freely, without name-calling or finger-pointing or trying to silence those who don’t agree with us, the more the truth will emerge. We live in a time where we all need to be our own investigative journalists. A time where we need not accept the words of any one faction, any one outlet, any one leader or party, but search for and confirm our truths and hold accountable those who mean to subvert the truth and jeopardize our freedom.
Holy crap, I’m just a guitar player, but I think we may be on to something here!
Whatta ya say, just for the hell of it, we all forget which side we’re on for a couple of minutes and just talk to one another about the things that matter most to us. Something tells me we may not be that far apart after all.
Here, I’ll start us off … ready? 2…3…4… Discuss!
