Skulls in the Stars

Alberto Gonzales has resigned. I can’t say I’ll miss him, and it’s already been noted that there really isn’t anyone, outside of the president, and maybe Cheney, who’s sad to see him go. It’s important, though, as our brains flood with serotonin, to keep in mind exactly what sort of person we’ve gotten rid of:

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One of my major irritations in life is feeling like I know better than supposed ‘experts’ in a particular job or field of study — even though I know absolutely nothing about the job or field in question. A few years ago, I took my car back to the dealer because the power steering was crapping out every time I went over railroad tracks. The dealership listened patiently to my story, rebooted the car’s computer system and told me everything was fixed. The steering problem was clearly a mechanical problem, which was confirmed the very next time I went over the railroad tracks.

The reason I mention this? CNN reports that Bush is going to start invoking Vietnam when he argues against troop withdrawal:

“Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘re-education camps’ and ‘killing fields,’ ” the president will say.

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Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report notes that, over the weekend, Michael Skube, a professor of journalism at Elon University, wrote an op-ed in the LA Times blasting blogs:

There was something appealing about this argument — one that no blogger would reject — when Lasch advanced italmost two decades ago. But now we have the opportunity to witness it in practice, thanks to the blogosphere, and the results are less than satisfying. One gets the uneasy sense that the blogosphere is a potpourri of opinion and little more. The opinions are occasionally informed, often tiresomely cranky and never in doubt. Skepticism, restraint, a willingness to suspect judgment and to put oneself in the background — these would not seem to be a blogger’s trademarks.

But they are, more often than not, trademarks of the kind of journalism that makes a difference. And if there is anything bloggers want more than an audience, it’s knowing they are making a difference in politics. They are, to give them their due, changing what is euphemistically called the national “conversation.” But what is the nature of that change? Does it deepen our understanding? Does it broaden our perspective?

The answer, according to Skube, seems to be ‘no’. This seems to be the prevailing opinion of the ‘elite’ in journalism and, sadly, in academia: bloggers aren’t real journalists, they’re too rude and too partisan to have any integrity, they don’t provide any deeper understanding of an issue.

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