Before I explain why, here's the history behind the phrase "the fourth estate"...
The term Fourth Estate refers to the press, both in its explicit capacity of advocacy and in its implicit ability to frame political issues. The term goes back at least to Thomas Carlyle in the first half of the 19th century.
In On Heroes and Hero Worship (1841), Thomas Carlyle writes:
Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or a witty saying; it is a literal fact,--very momentous to us in these times. Literature is our Parliament too. Printing, which comes necessarily out of Writing, I say often, is equivalent to Democracy: invent Writing, Democracy is inevitable.
The written word is as much a part of the political landscape as the three traditional branches of government. It would be a shame if the press started censoring people.
Like my good wife Beth.
She likes to read the news from a plethora of sources. One of them is ABC News, which means some from ABC Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper, and she noticed that Jake was dedicating an awful lot of time to the "bitter" comment. Three days of blogs for one word, in fact.
Even when Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Kentucky, said "I'm going to tell you something, that boy's finger does not need to be on the button", Tapper ended his blog on this issue with a sentence beginning: "[a] reminder that no matter how elitist Sen. Obama's 'small town' comments may have seemed..."
So my wife went onto one of the blog entries (this one) and said:
This is the most important issue facing America? Not the war? Or the economy, but this? Really? If this actually turns the election, we deserve everything we get. Whatever happened to the proud tradition of the 4th Estate? There was no cursing. And her spelling was impeccable.
The comment was removed. But not before someone called Belle Starr commented:
Those who aren't well-fixed mobsters or miscellaneous zillionaires certainly deserve something better than Obama.
...using Beth's last sentences. Zillionaires like ...Hillary Clinton, perhaps?
So Beth posted that it was a shame the comments were removed, considering they were in the best nature of reasoned debate.
Those comments were removed too.
A third time, Beth made her point. And said it was a shame the first two comments were removed.
Guess what the "Path To 9/11" Network did. Go on. Guess. Yep, erased from the record too.
Two points come to mind here.
First: anyone that wants to say 'the media' is Liberal can suck my dual-national balls. My wife would invariably say it with more panache and without quite so much bitterness, but seeing as this isn't Cuba (yet) I'll say what the fuck I like, because at least here I won't get censored.
Second: follow the link to the ABC News blogs. And post your own comments. Maybe just one post per blog, two if you can spend the time. Let's show them the blog equivalent of Obama donations. Let's see if they can keep up, or if their delete key wears down to a useless nub. Because at the moment, this corner of the fourth estate may as well just roll over, show its belly to its corporate masters and piss all over itself.