Well before we even get to the changed landscape between now and the 70’s — there’s the issue of THE TAPES. Nixon taped himself doing all this shit. Without that unique dynamic, Nixon would have stonewalled and survived.
But as to the video — 70 percent of Americans trusted the MSM back in the 70s. Was that a ‘good‘ thing? Good ole days of trusting the corporate media?
I agree with the commentator that things are a dumpster-fire now. And i agree that things have changed with the rise of the rightwing-lie-machine.
But things were not good in the olden days either. It was a different kind of dumpster-fire back in the 50’s, 60s, and 70s, etc. Back then i was listening to TV-MSM and i was being mislead every night. (Now, with the internet I have at least a small chance of finding my way toward the light.)
I think the vid makes some good points about the change, but where I’d disagree is that he kinda tries to make the case that the MSM was more truthful back in the 70’s — because there was hardly any rightwing media. But i think the MSM has always been in the pocket of the Corps, as Chomsky talked about in the 80’s in Manufacturing Consent. Its just that now we have the Right-MSM lying to us from the right, and the Dem-MSM lying to us from the ‘left’. What do we do with that?
Its also been my experience that Tucker Carlson (wacko that he is) is sometimes way more insightful on some issues than the Dem-MSM. On Syria for example. What to do with ‘that’ ?
To me the voters are staggering toward catastrophe because they DO trust EITHER Fox OR NPR/MSNBC. They ought look at both behemoths as Factories-Of-Lies. But they trust one or the other. They ‘say’ they dont trust the MSM but they do — they trust one of the lie-machines. Or the other.
Used to be we had one lie machine. Now we have two. So yes, things have changed.
Just my opin-yun. Call me Mary Sunshine.
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Yeah, that went through my mind, too, after I watched the video. But upon reflection, I think the 60s and 70s journalism was better because – although it was limited by cultural assumptions, the 5 filters – there was at least a value placed on “objective journalism.” So while it wasn’t objective in a leftist perspective, there was at least some honesty on the part of the journalists, and hence, some ability to engage in discussion.
Journalism today – particularly FOX and the entire right wing radio and internet subculture – deliberately lies. I’m sure many of those people have rationalized their lying as being in the “best interest” of the country, or whatever, but now we have a tremendous portion of the news landscape that has crossed over into blatant, conscious propaganda. That’s worse than unconscious propaganda, imo. Before now, journalists were the victims of propaganda. Now they are the architects of propaganda. That’s worse.
But that’s not the main point of the video, anyway. I think the point is that Nixon was impeachable because there was a majority of public consensus within the public that he had crossed the line, and that there was a political expediency to impeaching him. Now because the Republican base literally believes that Trump is doing a great job, and believes that this entire investigation is nothing but Democrat dirty politics with no merit whatsoever, the Republicans have no need to respond to it. Republicans are so completely misinformed that there is no political cost to publicly supporting a grossly incompetent politician who is certainly violating ethics standards and probably guilty of numerous crimes, as well as terrible errors in policy. I mean…his base believes he’s great and that Obama’s presidency was the Dark Ages. So when they see libruls going apoplectic at Trump all the time, they just laugh and feel empowered.
