Whether it is click bait or an honest take, the bottom line is articles like today’s “The American Revolution was a mistake” by Dylan Matthews of Vox hurts the movement he is championing with his style of journalism as it shows a monumental level of willful ignorance by deservedly alienating the voters he supposedly would want to reach.
He is right that the treatment of African-Americans and Native-Americans to this day is a horrible tragedy, and maybe the parliamentary system has its advantage to stop gridlock, but it doesn’t mean the VAST MAJORITY of Americans are even close to wishing our nation had never been born as they watch fireworks and celebrate its 238th birthday on July 4th.
This story doesn’t deserve a full-throated defense of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy but let’s simply recall that the United States was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941 and also responded by destroying Nazi Germany’s hold on the continents of Europe and North Africa as a SIDE PROJECT thus saving a huge chunk of the human race from death and even extinction.
Then, in the 20th Century the nation ushered in the greatest era for freedom and democracy in the history of the world by establishing international policies and institutions like the UN and NATO. Meanwhile, the British didn’t relinquish their worldwide empire until after WWII...including the second largest nation in the world: India.
And despite some recent ups and downs, the United States also created the most successful middle class and home for societal innovation ever made. We even had a pretty good week when our black president and Supreme Court finally secured universal health care and marriage equality for ALL.
When respected progressive institutions associate with these kind of beliefs that their base doesn’t even believe in, we have handed our reputations to Fox News on a silver platter to be rightfully crucified. I’m sure they would love to deliver a “Top 238 Reasons Why We Love The USA” list this weekend as a rebuttal.
They could have written almost the same piece by saying these were the “3 Greatest Setbacks of American Independence” the same way Trump could have emphasized that an open border has risks for crime without saying that all immigrants were rapists. But both need to be held accountable.
Vox has been my most reliable for news analysis since Ezra Klein of the Washington Post launched it a year ago but it blew away most of its trusted brand in one article. So I unsubscribed from their email newsletter and facebook page but must admit i will follow their twitter for as long as humanly possible.
But the real problem is this is becoming a troubling trend in progressive storytelling.
Another example of this outrageous behavior came this week as Samantha Page of Think Progress, normally a thoughtful blog of the Center For American Progress that puts out lots of very good informational policy content, decided to troll Bill Gates for investing in clean energy!
I understand the point she made about the need to focus on the bigger battle over clean energy policy but i assume she realizes it's not an either/or proposition...Bill can afford to hire a lobbying firm too. And even if he didn’t because he doesn’t feel like he should politicize his work, which organization do they think will be providing solutions when changes in energy policy come that favor fighting climate change….Greenpeace?
On Saturday, probably about 99% of Americans will be celebrating our nation’s birthday and I think they’re “The 99%” that matters most….because if you don’t believe in the country you are “fighting for” then no one will believe in you.
These stories might get clicks but they’re discrediting the message.
But please click on these articles above to let the authors and their publications know this isn’t progressive journalism….it’s Grade-A Trolling.