Objectively, A Good Thing

George Neumayr points out that when journalists like Dan Rather bemoan the loss of "objectivity" in reporting, they're really expressing nostalgia for the days when their point of view masqueraded as objectivity.

It's the same way when journalists and politicians deplore the lack of "civility" in "public discourse." What they're really deploring is the fact that they now have to compete in the marketplace of ideas (after all, no one's ever accused the left of being overly fond of capitalism, ideological or otherwise). When there was "nobody home but us liberals" in the press and in Congress, there was plenty of civility -- well-mannered Republicans like former Republican House leader Rep. Bob Michel (R-IL) understood that his party's place was in the minority.

Things have become fractious only since uppity Republicans who didn't know their place came along -- like Newt Gingrich -- and since riff raff from Fox News to the blogosphere emerged to question the received wisdom (and sometimes the reporting) of the established MSM.

Shame on them for corroding the beautiful, prelapsarian world of "objectivity" and "civility."