Journalism's big black eyes: Does anybody remember when...?

 
   Journalism is predictable: it's full of "strategery" and hot-tempered. That's part of why I left. I'm thinking about the highs and lows since last fall, which invariably are crowded out of the public conciousness within the span of a week or two.  For example: the big shock of summer 2010, the JournoList, never to be mentioned again, seemed to expose the major rift between illiberal leftist journalism and mainstream U.S. society.  The rabble-rabble-rousers quickly abandoned the JournoList scandal (take a peek over at BigJournalism.com) and oozed on over to WikiLeaks for the time being, but the issues remain...

   Information is lined up like chess pieces. The JournoList actively discussed smearing public figures (Palin, etc.) from the safe tower of the "Fourth Estate." What happens to them now? It's a blip on the radar. According to blogger Trevor Loudon, "At least a few, perhaps many, were committed Marxists who saw journalism, not as a profession, but as a revolutionary tool." Or, people leap to conclusions, demanding blood. "Sherrod at USDA is a racist." The police officer acted "stupidly."

   And what happened to the outrage over WikiLeaks? Not one, not ten, but NINETY THOUSAND documents compromised? Well, founder Ass-ange under house arrest, but not really under lock and key for his treachery of the western world, but awaiting possible extradition for an easy gotcha of sexual assault.  Why do they always try to take down the big fish with secondary charges?  To bank away time while the legal beagles work out the details on making the larger case stick?  I don't understand how this cretin still lives.  Another imponderable is how the right is temporarily misleading itself on the legitimate termination of Anwar al-Awlaki  earlier this month. And any American daring to champion Wikileaks deserves to be tarred and feathered.
  I wish we placed the same importance on civics as we did the LeBron James decision... seriously.  Remember that one?  Over the span of a year, he went from hero to zero to hero after he left the Cavs for the Heat.  (Remember the Ohioan gaggle led by the Governor himself that begged him to stay as if he were a religious figure...?)  Now he's doing self-deprecating McDonald's commercials while ESPN does the PR analysis (Unbelievable.)  I guess you have to come up with lo-o-o-ts of filler to round out the 24 hr. infotainment cycle.