Reply #2: Excellent post. Well said.

[sakura]

It's dangerous to consider oneself-- or one's group-- as intrinsically better than another. Perhaps what such posters mean is that we're supposed to try to rise above our baser instincts. But you are absolutely correct-- the fact that we may try doesn't mean we will succeed.

As for Tim Russert, right now our media is going through an extended bout of navel gazing. I really don't think their comments are about him so much as they are about themselves. But that's not surprising. For at least the past twenty years, events have been filtered more and more through the eyes of those presenting the story, and they eyes of those paying for it. The victors have always been the ones to write history, but the media does this one better-- they get to decide what will be considered for the history books.

It's not just an "inside the beltway" viewpoint for these guys. It's a penthouse suite, private car, reserved seats at the finest restaurants and hobnobbing with celebrities viewpoint. They lack the objectivity and varied points of view (not just politically, but demographically) to give an accurate portrayal of the world around them.

It makes me sick to watch and listen to them, so I've stopped. I'm tired of hearing what people in their very narrow slice of society are doing, I'm tired of hearing who is friends with or married to whom (Alan Greenspan? WTF?), and I'm tired of getting their take on the classes below them (David Brooks comes to mind here).

We are lucky to have the internet. For the moment, anyway, it's free speech, and anyone with access to a computer and a little patience can participate.