No offense to Goldy, Atrios, Matt Stoller and David Postman, but after their Saturday night gig at Seattle’s Town Hall on media and politics, I find myself thinking mostly about Janeane Garofalo’s comments there. She’s an actress, or performing artist if you prefer, and she made the point that in the corporate media it is always easy to discredit such folks as her, since they aren’t official pundits and journalists.
Nevertheless, Janeane’s observations about language and how we need to be mindful of how we think and talk about politics hit home. The metaphor of counterfeit money and language goes like this. If everybody accepts the fake money (fake language and lies) it can be spent (used) just like real money (the truth). She said a lot more, but I am not smart enough to have written it all down and/or remembered it. So I will have to continue to stalk her when she next shows up around here.
In the meantime, here’s a short list of liars who peddle counterfeit language in the corporate media that were singled out for disdain tonight:
Cokie Roberts
Tim Russert
Thom Friedman
Chris Matthews
“Good night and good luck!”