Great Juan Cole Rant Today

Professor Cole has a talent for making his complex area of expertise interesting and understandable.  But when he's pissed off he's very funny and--with apologies to the estimable Professor--extremely entertaining.

He first gives us an inkling of the mood he's in with this comment about the non-news of how dangerous the road from Baghdad to the airport is:

The supposed American manufacturers of Reality in other peoples' countries at the US embassy cannot travel it and have to be helicoptered in and out.

And then this gem:

Earth to the Kansas City Star: They don't speak Arabic in Afghanistan.

But he saves his best for his scorching smackdown of Matthew Haughey's dangerous threat to stop reading blogs that use the term "mainstream media."  Juan Cole to Matthew Haughey:

A news flash for Matt: We don't care.

We don't care if you read our web logs.

Professor Cole gives a sharp lecture to Matt, pointing out that, unlike the mainstream media, web blogs are not written with a corporate bottom dollar in mind.  One more quote:

If we were the mainstream media as Ashley Banfield was, our careers would be over if we mentioned a little thing like the replacement of journalism with patriotism in the coverage of the Iraq War.

Read all of "Mainstream Media and Bloggers" here.  Does anyone have other favorite quotes showcasing Professor Cole's wicked humor?

•  It was a great rant and right on target

  He fingered what has happened to the American press.  Everything is driven by the bottom line, which means descent to the lowest common denominator.  Adverse selection drives out educated viewers, which in turn pushes the media even further down into the slime pit that sells soap.
  He got it exactly right.  Matthew doesn't want to read.  Who cares?

  I was in Boston yesterday staying with a friend who was having lunch with the President of CBS over at the Business School.  I pushed him to ask the Pres why their news has gone so far down hill, and why nobody with access to a computer and endowed with some brains is bothering to watch it.  Haven't got the answer yet.

  by Knut Wicksell on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 08:02:11 AM PDT

  •  How much news is there

    in a half hour evening news report?  Take out the ever-lengthening commercial breaks, the teaser for an upcoming story, the required puff piece, the government provided infomercial and what's left? A 3 minute news story.

    They play to the lowest common denominator and don't waste any effort trying to truly inform the public.  Because if they did, it would end up looking something like the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (warts and all) and who watches that?

    As long as their profits aren't affected why should they spend time and money on providing a better product?  Thank goodness we can count ourselves in the group having access to a computer and being endowed with brains.  Unlike those limited only to computer access...

    by hazey on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 09:24:36 AM PDT

    •  The media...

      has done it to itself, so I don't cry for it as it ever-so-slowly and ever-so-painfully dwindles into "Inside Edition"-style irrelevance.  I do feel for the real journalists who must find themselves more and more lost within this new world of celebrity glitz and pseudo-news.  It's going to take more than an Edward R. Murrow to fix this mess.  In fact, I doubt it can be fixed.  It can, however, be replaced.

      by Black Max on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:21:34 PM PDT

•  re

  I love the guy. He's been on sam and jeninies(sp) show a couple of times.

  he has more wisdom in that area of the world then every member of the administration and all the rethugs in congress combined.

  by cookiesandmilk on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 08:03:00 AM PDT

•  A walking advertisement

  for the tenure of professors (as is Krugman).  I believe this is the next big push from the anti-intellectual, anti-education, anti-cosmopolitan admin.  Of course, somehow they would if they could manage to get tenure for professors they define as conservatives.

  by xanthe on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 08:18:45 AM PDT

  •  Juan Cole is smart, funny

    and brave.  In December 2004 he wrote about "Character Assassination":

    Yes, I'm aware that Daniel Pipes of the so-called Middle East Forum sent some puppy out to slim me over at David Horwitz's Frontpagerag. [...] First they harass you and try to have you spied on.  Then they threaten, bully and try to intimidate you.

    There is heavy pressure being placed on some professors trying to maintain a fine balance of impartiality  when teaching on the Middle East.  Daniel Pipes brought a lawsuit against a University of Oregon instructor, Douglas Card, accusing him of being anti-semitic and and leftwing extremist.  Card hit back with a libel suit that was settled out of court, but other academics may not have the resources or fortitude to pursue such a course.  

    So let them try to tenure their conservative professors.  But don't let them get away with shutting down any opposing views.

    by hazey on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 09:08:09 AM PDT

•  Good rant (n/t)

  by mlafleur on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 08:35:31 AM PDT

•  I love it when Juan gets riled

  Here's my favorite quote from today's bitch slapping rant:
  
  "We can't be fired. So if Martin Peretz doesn't like what we have to say, he will publish a hatchet job on us in The New Republic, seeking to make us taboo. If you can't shut people up, and you really don't want their voices heard, then all you can do is try to persuade others not to listen to them or give them a platform. The easiest way to do this is to falsely accuse them of racism or Communism some other character flaw unacceptable to polite society."
  
  I just admire the heck out of Juan Cole and read him just about every day. I'm glad you posted this diary... as long as voices like Juan's are around, I can allow myself to have hope.

  by Nag on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 08:37:04 AM PDT

•  Unclench, Prof! Unclench!

  I'm all for Juan Cole to unload both barrels on the cluelessness of neocons and journalists who are in the tank, but I think he overdid it with Matt (disclosure: he's a friend).  Wasting all that energy on a small fish not only looks petty, but it wastes ammo.  Save it for the big game, Professor, please.

  by RakDaddy on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 09:34:19 AM PDT

  •  J from VJ

    But Matt thinks he is a big fish!

    (As someone who's been a MeFi member since it first started - although I don't spend much time there anymore - I was very disappointed to see Matt's attitude and apparent ignorance on this issue...)

    by J from VJ on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 09:42:41 AM PDT

    •  Good gravy, he was *joking*

      Check out the MetaTalk thread about this kerfluffle.  Matt says, very clearly, he was a) joking and b) more honked off about the use of "MSM" because the people who use it are usually wingnuts with an axe to grind.  Using "MSM" means legitimizing a wingnut POV that bloggers will be the One Voice Of American Truth; they fail to mention that that One Voice will come from the jackholes at LGF or Powerline.

      Matt and Juan Cole are on the same bloody side of the fence; they're just separated something metaphorical that I can't think of right now 'cause this whole thing is silly anyway.  They're separated by a herd of Guernsey cows.  There.  Mat and Juan Cole are on the same side of the fence with relation to their feelings towards blogging and journalism, but about three hundred head of Guernseys are in between them, so their meanings are garbled by the mooing and bell-clanking and the manure.

      I need coffee.

      by RakDaddy on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 10:48:51 AM PDT

      •  SCLM rather than MSM?

        I think that Matt's interaction with Juan Cole was over the top.  That said, he may have good reason for concern about blogs on the left using "MSM" if it gets us lumped in with winger blogs.  On a few occasions lately, I have heard commentators on NPR talking about blog critique of reporters on Network news.  They basically do a "split the difference" defense: "if we are being criticized from the left and right (derided as MSM on all sides), then we must be balanced."  So perhaps SCLM is a more effective meme.  After all, we are really claiming that their news is becoming infotainment where the content is too easily influenced by marketing and advertising concerns and the funding for real journalism has been slashed so much that staff has little time to do real investigative pieces or even check out propaganda put out by the administration for facts.  The SCLM has become a conservative mouthpiece because they are too cheap to investigate information before they repeat it.  Such fluff is not an adequate news diet for the reality-based community.

        by Rusty Pipes on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 12:13:31 PM PDT

  •  When I first read

    today's Informed Comment, I thought "Matt who?"  Of course, the world of blogs is huge, so I wasn't surprised that I hadn't heard of "a.wholelottanothing.org".  But Matt is going to be denying himself a lotta interesting viewpoints if he sticks to his guns on this:

    ...here's a new personal rule: If you use the term "MSM" in a unironic way to denote the "Mainstream Media" I will write you off as a quack, unsubscribe from your RSS, and stop reading your blog.

    That's quite an ultimatum.  But, hey, I can sympathize--don't we all get frustrated and fed up with the lazy use of labels and loss of focus on who the real enemy is once in awhile?  Haven't we all walked away from our favorite web blogs for a break from the insanity?  But I'm not sure if being the target of Professor Cole's rant is such a bad thing for your friend.  I read his blog for the first time today.  Heck, I might even go back and read some more.  I wonder if he'll get more hits today than usual, and if he can get some drive-bys to return.

    Matt says:

    You are the media. I am the media. Blogs are a fixture in the mainstream. So when you decry the "MSM" as an imaginary villain, I know I'm done with your site.

    I'm guessing that Juan Cole has his reasons for believing that the "MSM" is not the world of blogs and that it has contributed to selling the war in Iraq and minimizing its costs in lives and suffering.  And maybe it is unfair that he took out his frustration on a small fish like Matt.  

    Cole may look petty to some, no doubt he has his fair share of enemies.  But the ammo isn't wasted--at least not on me--because I enjoyed the reminder of what journalism really is and why it's missing in mainstream media.

    by hazey on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 10:29:32 AM PDT