What doesn’t bother the heck out of us in this country bothers the heck out of me.
Prime example: Last week, businessman Greg Gianforte, the Republican candidate in a special election for Montana’s only House seat in Congress, knocked a reporter to the ground then jumped on top him and wailed away like Mike Tyson, screaming “I’m sick and tired of this!”
Sick and tired of what? Questions? Good god, that’s what reporters do. They ask questions then write stories that keep us informed about what’s going on. Without those questions, and without a strong, legit media, no one would know diddly beyond the range of their own eyes and ears.
More to the point, without those questions the darkness of ignorance – and I mean the dictionary definition, which is “a lack of knowledge or information” – would creep across the land, and in that darkness corporations and self-serving politicians would run amok.
Sort of like they are today.
Sorry to sound a bit dramatic, but it’s true.
It’s also true we need a strong media. We need people asking questions, challenging authority, informing us, etc. One of the very best things about this country, in fact – one of our strongest defenses against tyranny and ignorance – is a free press.
The Founding Fathers understood that. It’s why the First Amendment is first.
Since everyone claims to be a patriot these days, you’d think the nation would be horrified by Gianforte’s actions. In particular, you’d think the people of Montana would have been horrified to the point they refused to elect him.
But of course they weren’t. They elected him handily, and now Gianforte, his temper and his misdemeanor assault charge will soon be members of Congress – the highest body in the land.
Ain’t we proud?
I can hear some of you saying, “OK, but Montana is Montana. They’d elect a ficus plant before they’d elect a Democrat.” That’s true, but did you catch what happened at Gianforte’s victory party? Gianforte apologized, saying he’d made a mistake by assaulting the reporter. (A mistake is what you call it when you’re the one doing the punching.) To which someone in the crowd said, “Not in our minds.”
That’s a stunning thing to say. And equally stunning that no one shouted him down or disagreed. But based on what I saw online in the days following the assault, the person who said it spoke for many on the alt-right, which clearly wouldn’t object to more beatings of journalists they don’t agree with. I suspect they’d be in favor of jailing reporters, as well.
Anti-“lame stream media” rhetoric is nothing new, of course. But it’s been turned up a notch since the current inhabitant of the White House declared the media to be “the enemy of the people.”
What bothers me is there’s been no equal and proportionate response from the rest of the country. Where are the people coming to the media’s defense? Where are the patriots saying, “Dammit, they can’t do this to the media – we need what they do.” Where are the people rushing to re-subscribe to newspapers or watch TV news in order to keep the darkness at bay?
They’re nowhere.
We have more important things to be bothered about, apparently.
Shame on us.
Image credit: Daniel R. Blume
Thanks, Andy, for telling this story. I would have missed this had you not written about it. Gianforte’s apology included the line, “I’m sorry that we had to go through this.” Unbelievable. Shame on him and his supporters.
I would not be surprised in the least if we found out that he beats his wife or some such. If someone can lash out like that in public there’s no telling what one will do in private.
Integrity is the character we demonstrate when no one else is watching.
You’re right, Andy. My brother said he voted for Trump because he trusts the checks and balances in our democracy, so how bad could it get? We are seeing how bad it can get.
Yes, we have three branches of government to provide checks and balances, but there are more. The media are essential to that process, as are the values and morals of the people. We the people stand for this. As you pointed out, there are people who cheer this behavior on. They don’t get it; they don’t see the cost.
So Gianforte gets away with this and his fans tell him they expect it. Do you know that Gianforte means “Iron John” in Italian? I guess he feels he has something to live up to…or down to.
NPR junkies will have noted that promos are using a new phrase: “Stand with the truth.” That’s the ultimate check and balance.
I have read comments from a few Montana residents that they voted early, and if they still had their ballots, he would not have gotten their vote. Trouble is, they are few and far between. For the most part, I’m seeing what you’re seeing–approval. It blows my mind.
Damn right we need the free press, and I hollered about that all through the primaries. I couldn’t believe the latitude they showed Trump, by allowing him to spew lies and twist the truth without ever calling him on it. Now it’s darn near too late.
Still, it seems many journalists have seen the light, and I’m behind them all the way.
I have always said that the free press/first amendment is the ONLY thing that keeps us free. ( Certainly Not the stupid firearms) Restrict our press snd tomorrow we become Germany in 1948. No exaggeration. All Americans must support and defend a free press from tyranny.
Typo Correction: 1938 of course.
Well said Andy. I used to be a head-in-the-sand kind of person, avoided the news as much as possible. Now I can’t get enough. We subscribe to our local paper and a couple of others, plus online and TV. there’s too much crap going on that people are trying to get away with. We have to remain vigilant and call them out on it.
You’re the solution, then.
I am so distaught and worried about our country’s national character; a character exemplified by voters that would eagerly vote for nothing less than schoolyard bullies! My friends, my family, and myself are subscribing to & constantly reading the major newspapers, watching national news, trying to understand the political events & agendas that will affect our lives. We all need to stand up for freedom of the press!
There is something very disturbing coming out of the right. It used to be that I could dusagree with a republican, but still respect the person. Lately I am seeing less and less that is worthy of my respect. With many of them praising and even encouraging violence to the media or anyone who makes them uncomfortable, they have taken their deplority to a whole new and scarier level.
I would like to hear how some of those from the right feel about the man killing those two men for attempting to defend a couple of Muslim women he was harassing. My fear is the incident won’t bother them all that much. I hope I am wrong. It’s probably not their fault though, considering how Foxnews barely touched that story and luckily today had a story about a black man in Mississippi to pump and scare their audience with.
In other news, the Philippines president yesterday, told his soldiers that if they rape any women during his operation against his own people, he will back them up. This is someone trump openly praises. How do our right wing commentors feel about that? I would really like to know.
You could have expressed thankfulness for our fallen armed forces members on this Memorial Day weekend but instead, you just continued with your liberal hate.
I would have hoped for better but, it is you….
Memorial day is tomorrow. How about giving a crap about the rest of the country and its 320 millon citizens?
And with your logic I have to assume you are equally offended by how trump took to twitter this morning to bash the media and nothing else (yeah…nothing about our fallen from trump yoday either). I m looking forward to your reply, but you will probably avoid replying as usual because you know you are in the wrong.
Our fallen soldiers sacrificed their lives for a free press so I’d say Andy was correct in bringing this issue to light.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day. And isn’t defending the press also defending the principles of this nation? Why, yes it is.
For sure it is.
Very thankful for the media and press. Someone has to try and keep shining light on the darkness of “corporations and self-serving politicians,” along with the mortifying things that are going on.
What’s happening bothers the heck out of a lot of us, Andy.
Working Dad, you are a jack-ass. What a dopey thing you wrote!
Working Dad, your comment had nothing to do with what we were discussing. The fact that our discussion had nothing to do with Memorial Day is not important. You could have joined rationally in our discussion, but you chose to try to brand us all as unpatriotic, instead. You are a silly little person. Please try actually to contribute thoughts, ideas, jokes, rather than just giving gas.
Who comprises the “us” you seem to believe I addressed? It was directed at Andy Heller. Unless you are a fake account created by Andy, used to agree with his “articles”, it was not directed at you.
What a cowardly thing to say. You are proving me right every time.
Gosh, you got me, Dad. I’m so desperate for approval I set up 100 or so fake sites so I can feed my own ego with comments that agree. Just so I’m not caught, I also throw in a couple that disagree. My favorite alias is Working Dad.
I don’t at all condone what Gianforte did. He asked the guy first thing to talk to one of his aides. But the reporter kept sticking in his face.
At least he “fought his own battle”. The Dems and Hillary send out their henchmen to fight and destroy property when things don’t go their way. That way they have nice clean hands and don’t offend anyone personally.
They just leave property owners to clean up after them.
This reporter just had broken glasses.
Like the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz? A serious issue..his position on the health care bill,budget proposals. No filters thru PR people, I want my candidates to speak for themselves, on the record. I think our founders knew without a free press, there would be no fledgling republic and that’s why they began our constitution with this as the First Amendment.
Ann – What you wrote is extremely odd. What the heck is your message? People still want information. We are not content with implied weirdness. What do you want to tell us? Please write a straight sentence.
This is what I dont get about the far right. That they dont understand the very thing the accuse the liberal media of, is exactly what their media does to them–just in a manner they find agreeable
They know it. They couldn’t not. It’s just a tactic: I’m rubber, you’re glue. It’s like arguing with a particularly stubborn child. At night, when it’s just them and their conscience, though, they know they’re putting their side “winning” over the truth. That makes it worse, of course.
Thank goodness for the fourth estate! Our forefathers did a great job drafting the Constitution and creating this great country. With Congress and The Executive Branch controlled by one party, if they misstep, or worse, are corrupt the only lines of defense are lawyers and reporters. I believe that is what we are seeing now.
Let me recommend the book “On Tyranny” written by Timothy Snyder, History Prof at Yale. It’s a small book (quick read) that he’s written comparing what Trump is doing to former dictators did. It’s truly scary that Trump has learned valuable lessons from Hitler and other dictators. The U.S. better wake up and small the coffee!
Andy, I agree with you most of the time, (except for your views on March and winter – you’re originally a Yooper for crying out loud), but when I read this article I wanted to give you a hug! No one could have said it any better…thank you!