And the Times reporter adds:n”James Stewart still believes, quitensimply, in God and America. He nonlonger swims in the winter, because,nwith the energy crisis, he thinks it isnunfair to heat his pool.” DnTournalistnnHistory by WSJnTo inaugurate the 1980’s, the WallnStreet Journal ran an editorial by itsnpublisher, Mr. Warren Phillips, innwhich he informed his readers that, andnThe Afghan FolliesnThe newest liberal musical hasnopened in towns and on campuses, andnit’s going strong. Here is a samplingnof the choicest numbers, arias, songsnand dances of death (wish):n—Nation: “And there is no way . . .nthat the Russians could have abandonednthe country altogether to a triumphantnhorde of Moslem insurgents,nwho would, in all likelihood,nhave fallen to fighting one anothernfor years to come.”nLiberal Culturenwe quote, “The editors and staff of thenWall Street Journal are acutely consciousnof our responsibility to providenyou with information and insights . . .nand to do so accurately and fairly. Wenare dedicated to being worthy of yourntrust and confidence.”nPrior to this pledge, we could read anpuzzling sentence that went: “Whennthe Founding Fathers provided for a freenpress, when Jefferson and before himnJohn Milton and John Stuart Mill arguednfor press freedom…”nOh my! We were always rather trustfullynconfident that the peak of JohnnStuart Mill’s argumentative powersncame roughly three-quarters of a centurynafter those of Jefferson. DnIn other words: Finally, there’s progressnand order in Afghanistan; the mad religionistsnare under proper control withnthe full blessing of the Nation’sndemocrats.n— Village Voice: “It may be trueasnmany sincere leftists in the U.S. andnEurope argue—that the U.S.S.R. hasnbeen the worst possible champion ofnrevolutions all over the world. Thenfact remains, however, that it is thenonly possible source of support in thenworld of real possibilities.”nIn other words: Let’s do everything wenPhilosophy in American”O philcsophy, thou guide of life;, O thou explorer of virtuenand expellcr of vice!” ^. ,, „ ^n—Cicero, 45 B.C.nA mind-boggling revelation in ontology, perhaps even in the philosophy of creation,nas articulated by a certain Mr. Schmeck, a science writer for the New York Times,nand conveyed to us as the ultimate in syndicated wisdom by the Chicago Tribune:n”It is widely believed that aging has been an integral characteristic of life atnleast since the first multicelled plants and animals arose on earth.”nMost people have noticed by now that the Times, in lieu of reporters, employsnexperts, advocates and investigators, while the Chicago Tribune makes do withncritics. Both towers of knowledge are dedicated nowadays not to informing, but tonforming our Weltanschauung. They do not spread obscurantism and ignorance asnthe yellow press once did, but enlightenment. One wonders which is worse. DnnnPersuasion At Work—o. Ill,nNo. 3, March 1980 “A COM­nMENTARY ON NADER’SnOMINOUS SPRING OFFEN­nSIVE”n”Many of the forces which arencooperating in the Big BusinessnDay project have come up throughnthe training grounds of ideologicalnfanaticism. They have an utter disregardnfor facts, logic and civilizednnorms. They are motivated bynideological fervor and they arenengaged in psychological warfarenwherein distortions and lies arensimply tools of the trade.”nAvailable from the RockfordnCollege Institute.ncan to destroy America’s potential tonoppose the only possible source of supportnfor the Village Voice, its politics,nits ideals, its clientele. Junkies, homosexuals,nfreaks from Eighth Street unitento defend the workers’ paradise, so hatednby our own working class!n—Nation: “The United States . . .nshould not further destabilize the regionnby selling arms to neighboringnPakistan.”nIn other words: The good, decent, conscientiousnliberals of the Nation’s stripenare asking us to behave like those peoplenwho heard Kitty Genovese scream innagony and decided not to help her sonas not to destabilize the neighborhood.nIt’s not the Russian henchmen who arenthe troublemakers, but the Pakistanis,nwho may decide to defend their lives.n—Princeton University students, whonare supposed to be learning how tonthink, carried antidraft demonstrationnslogans: “There’s Nothing WorthnDying For” and “We Won’t Fight fornExxon.”ni41nMarch/Apr 111980n