Shame and Accountability

Rachel Maddow got it wrong

Rachel Maddow is back on MSNBC weeknights for the first hundred days of the fascist regime. Last night, she talked about the importance of leveraging “shame” as an avenue to affect change in elected officials. There’s no way to show the video here, but you can link to her site here and look for “Republicans choke on defense…”.

From what I’ve heard, a lot of you who used to watch MSNBC are no longer doing so because you’ve abandoned the mainstream media, both on television, as well as the printed press. Y’all fall into two camps: those who are angry at the MSM for not doing enough to call out the Orange Menace, and those of you who just can’t watch, can’t read.

What Rachel talked about is important. I disagree vehemently with her conclusion, but her theme made me think of something else. Her point was that it was important to continually ask elected Rethuglican officials about things like the release of the Jan 6 criminals, to the end of shaming them into making appropriate statements, and potentially taking action. Her conclusion is wrong because NO SINGLE ELECTED RETHUGLICAN HAS ANY SHAME. NOT ONE¹.

To feel shame, one must be able to feel guilty, to be willing to admit to themself that they made a mistake, and basically to FEEL. These people feel one thing, and one thing only: fealty to a convicted felon.

Therefore, the whole shaming thing will have no impact on any elected Rethuglican. But it is still a worthwhile thing to undertake for a different reason: namely, that VOTERS will see the Rethuglican elected officials squirm, dither, and look mighty uncomfortable. And THAT will help as we rally people to stand up against the fascist regime and their toadies.

Two points here: first, while it will get no airplay, YOU should write to your elected officials, and call their offices, and let them know that YOU, a VOTER, is holding them accountable. On each and every bad vote. On each and every idiotic thing that comes out of their mouths. On each and every issue on which you hold a position counter to theirs.

Second, we need to support the press, the journalists, the mainstream media. Don’t get me wrong, I understand your reticence. But it was Manu Raju of CNN who got John Thune to say, on camera, that his feeling about the release of the seditionists was that it was “time to move forward”. Other journalists also got a lot of great recordings from other elected Rethuglicans.

These journalists are the ones with access, the only ones who can send out information to the world. Everything else is secondhand. If you’ve ever played the game telephone, you know how that turns out.

There are a lot of great analysts out there, who are independent of the mainstream press. We need the analysis, the framework, the context, but we also need facts, and that includes what we hear and see from the horses’ mouths².

In addition to being a blogger, I am a political activist. By definition, this means that I work to bring about political or social changes. What most helps all of us political activists is that the greatest number of people see the truth, and we rally a percentage of them. Historically, it takes 3.5% of a population to affect change. To get to those people, we need media. Free press, not propoganda³. Knowledge, not blather.

Yes, the MSM has corporate overlords, and therefore, you’ll have to pay to play. Once you do, embrace the opportunity to call out the individual journalists who kowtow and appease. And yes, avoid those specific journalists collaborators. But there is a core of GOOD journalists: on MSNBC, on CNN, at the NYTimes, at WaPo, who are still doing the right thing. Daily.

They will get the word out until the fascist regime tries to shut them down and jail them. Support them.

1. I am vacillating on whether to also include the elected Democrats who have voted with the Rethuglicans.

2. Apologies to all real horses, who are magnificent. It’s an expression.

3. If you missed my series on this, you can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.