David Sirota Moving On?
I was a bit shocked to see this David Sirota posting sounding like he is contemplating whether or not to continue political journalism. It will be a big loss for the progressive cause if he moves on. Sirota: "There is no time to waste on endeavors that do not -- or cannot -- make things better."
David Sirota
November 11 at 8:22am (Facebook)I went into journalism because it seemed it could be an impactful force for good. Cynical though I am, I had always bought into the profession's mythology about holding power accountable, afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. Today, though, I'm not so sure -- which raises a lot of gut-wrenching questions for me right now.
Over the last few years, I've had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the country's best journalists and editors -- and the work we've done has gotten attention and won big awards. I'm grateful for that success -- but after this 2016 run of investigative journalism that felt like sprinting a marathon, I am reminded that unto themselves, audience size and professional recognition are not metrics of true "success" in a world that is in genuine crisis.
At the end of your life, it doesn't matter how many people retweeted your stories, how many cable TV hits you did or how many awards a dying-yet-still-self-important media industry gave you -- the only thing that matters is whether you used your life not to fulfill your own need for approbation, but to actually make things better for your community and future generations. I can no longer say with as much confidence that journalism can do that.
Realizing that gives me no joy -- it is, in fact, depressing to even consider. I'm certainly not making any impulsive moves right now (and truly: this off-the-cuff meditation isn't some fishing expedition for encouragement). But, at 41 years old, with children relying on our generation to not absolutely destroy what's left of the world, I'm at the point where I know it is better to wrestle honestly with painful reality rather than denying it.
I may hope that idealistic mythology about journalism's value will once again ring true -- but I'm also old enough to know that our lifespans are finite and our world is in peril. There is no time to waste on endeavors that do not -- or cannot -- make things better.
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Link to the Facebook post if you want to read Facebook comments.
A few personal thoughts on this uncertain moment, journalism and, I guess...the meaning of life https://t.co/ajAKoOTinb
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 11, 2016
Comments
It must be difficult for even a mild leftist like Sirota to
make a living in this country these days. It must be disheartening to have an important tale to tell that shows how the government adversely impacts part of the population(say) and have it ignored. I hope he stays with it but he's the one to determine if it's worth it in this age of hyper-corruption.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Yup, not many true left journalists remain
A ton of the fake lefties were exposed during this cycle. And good riddance.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Indeed
When one looks at how the "left" press acted during this campaign, i can count on my hands the reliable sources for fair and insightful journalism. Sirota, Hedges, Goodman, and Taibbi are the only names that come to mind. The disgraces that The Nation, The Atlantic, and (most shameful of all) Mother Jones are truly saddening. I wouldn't give them a dime if it would save them from obliteration.
Not Taibbi.
Or at least, not the person claiming to be Taibbi.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Crap, the Body Snatchers got Taibbi
Crap Crap Crap.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
Heh
I wasn't aware of that, consciously at least. I paused before including Taibbi because I had an inchoate reservation, but went with it because the list was so anemic. Serves me right. That was an incredible load of shit he was selling there.
In These Times & The Progressive Populist need to be added
to your shameful list.
Ted Rall, columns and cartoons, did very well.
The site World Socialist Web Site was excellent both for USA coverage and internationally.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Ted Rall has been great --
too bad that his syndication appears to have been shut down since the election (no essays since November 4, when he proclaimed that "Win or Lose, The $hill (my term) is Finished"
Ted always is a good read, and soundly reasoned --
When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.
Just one of the many things I liked about Ted Rall was that
he went alone to Afghanistan to gather facts for his books. He was never one of the embedded fake journalists who wrote administration approved BS. He was brave to do that.
I think his syndicate is in the process of dropping him which would be a blow to the First Amendment because it seems only capitalist-approved writers are allowed.
He was firm in his criticisms of both Clinton and Trump.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
It would be a shame
Perhaps he is crispy fried? It has been a long election and he worked like the devil. Wait. Didn't he just take a few days off? Maybe the rest has shocked his system & is causing him to be so morose. Too much time for reflection after a long period of stress and adrenaline.
"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." Stephen Hawking
NEW: http://www.twitter.com/trueblueinwdc
sad but true commentary on the world of journalism
How depressing it must be for a guy like Sirota trying to do the right thing (and succeeding) having to watch the endless parade of circus chuckleheads on MSM.
I'd like to see him join the Intercept.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
I can only imagine how ineffectual he and
other true journalists must feel.
We are all wondering how to fight the oligarchy, new party, reform the Democratic party, just grow our own food in our back yard garden...
I can only wonder how he feels about the proven futility of fighting the crooked MSM, and realizing how few people are even aware it is nothing but propaganda.
Nothing has worked on behalf of the 99% thus far.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Wonder if wife's loss to big money played a part
In 2011 Sirota's wife Emily ran for a non-paying school board position in Denver. She was suddenly faced by an investment banker with tons of money. This local education board election became a battle ground for big anti-teacher, pro-charter school monied interests. Emily was the pick of the teacher's union. She was smeared for not having any kids in the district. Well, she only had one kid at the time who was about 1 year old. The elites have even made local elections big money events to buy off government.
Emily lost by big numbers. Propaganda works. And money can buy propaganda.
Maybe Sirota rather do something different that tilt at corporate funded windmills.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/12216/the_school_board_battles
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/w_enters_my_wifes_schoolboard_race/
Didn't Sirota break this story?
http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hilla...
This was the story that equated "Clinton" with 'quid pro quo." Didn't he break it?
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Sirota was the go-to reporter for Clinton Foundation/DOS overlap
I wrote an essay based on that fact: Sirota Provides Clinton Foundation Study Notes
There he is, slogging away at IBTimes, doing great work which should have provided the foundation and impetus for other journalists to pick up facts he had unearthed and to run with them in a larger forum with more investigative bucks - yes, like YOU Washington Post and New York Times, which both showed a strange lack of curiosity in pursuing the CF/DOS nexus and cash flow.
I understand his frustration, he's like Fox Mulder on the X-Files, finding that The Truth Is Out There, but consigned to a basement office. I hope he doesn't give up. He was/is a beacon of light for a lot of people - he probably doesn't know the breadth of his true influence.
And, sorry to say it, but in this day and age, you have to wonder whether he is being threatened or harassed into silence but people who prefer that some topics and subjects never see the daylight.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Wow, That is a damning article for Clinton Foundation
I knew some of that but Sirota, put the whole puzzle together in that piece.
And Hellery may have lost the election but Clinton Foundation is still out there.
Can't help but notice that Obama the Peace Prize winner was quite the gun runner.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
I used to believe in data
That presenting information properly would convince people of the truth. I spent a lot of time working with climate data to convince myself of the direness of our situation. Theni moved on to advocacy among the techies I hang with. I hoped that we could get a carbon tax passed here in Washington. I hoped that we could finally elect a president that would deal with some the issues that threaten us.
This election taught me that fear is a stronger motivator than knowledge. Fear of the other, fear of losing wealth, fear of losing power, fear of being ignored. I've spent so much time over the past year trying to push hope - real hope - for my children and the suffering of the world. It didn't do a damn bit of good: A climate denying man-child is in office with no brakes and the fools who he defeated haven't changed.
So I can understand his despair. I'm not sure where I am going next, but I do know that human beings need hope more than anything else. Trump took less than 24 hours to start betraying his constituents and that has to hurt.
Now I am taking cold comfort in the inevitable cycle of empire. I am a child of the last empire and now a citizen of the current one. This one will fall apart like all the others and the moneyed interests will move on and leave us alone. I just weep for the misery that will happen in the meantime.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg