Some supporters of Greenwald, who think he does, more often than not, speak Truth to Power, can be caught out by some of Greenwald's own opacity and hypocrisy regarding the value of documents, their sources, and interest to the public. I recall, back in 2012, when Greenwald was calling out the intended October Surprise film, Zero Dark Thirty, for being a vehicle of propaganda, going so far as to compare it to the work of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Originally scheduled to be released just before the 2012 presidential election, the ensuing controversy stirred up largely by Greenwald forced the film's release to be pushed back to December.
I was a member of his commentariat back then, I used to be among the crowd he's in with, and introduced "proof" of Kathryn Bigelow and the ZDT producers's collusion with the Obama administration in framing the message of the film, including the premise that "torture works," and that the Abbotabad raid went as smoothly as was claimed. My proof was a pdf describing conversations between the WH and ZDT people about the film, including access to classified information about the raid. The Pdf was offered to the public by the right wing Judicial Watch which had obtained the document through a FOIA. Same as the Left does. The document bolstered Greenwald's case. But his white blood cell gangsters came at me, gats and bats -- inferring I was a crypto Righty (me!) -- and telling me what to do with the Pdf. Greenwald never used the document -- because the source was politically incorrect. I felt like I'd had an encounter with Napoleon's fascist mutts from Animal Farm; I got out before I went the way of working class hero Boxer, formerly known as the glue of society. It was a Hurt Locker I opened: BOOM. My heart to smithereens.
There are tough choices ahead for readers: 'coward' vs 'activists.' Conspiracy Fearists versus Conspiracy Theorists. The phony 'objectivity' (even Keller says there's no such thing as objective, only suppression of the subjective) that shields corporate journalists who hide stuff from us vs. out-there types like Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange and John Pilger, whose personas we need to sometimes accommodate in order to get to 'the revelation' in a meaningful way. Edward Snowden paints the picture well when he describes his relationship to Assange:
It's true that Assange can be self-interested and vain, moody, and even bullying-after a sharp disagreement just a month after our first, text-based conversation, I never communicated with him again-but he also sincerely conceives of himself as a fighter in a historic battle for the public's right to know, a battle he will do anything to win. [p. 228]
I think this moves toward describing a non-Kool-Aid drinker's observation of the doings of Greenwald and his minions. We're just going to have to put up with the thit, if we want to see the swinish epoophany embedded in his caca. He, like Assange, is an enema of the state. It's best to think of the mess they make as the loamy loam out of which will grow the fresh new roses of our tomorrow, new scents for new senses, today's stench tomorrow's Mensch. And Laura, too.
It's not entirely incomprehensible why his acolytes come at one fiercely defending the 'integrity' of their Zen master because their whole shtick depends on his/their being perceived as Speakers of Truth to Power types. Intrepidity is laudable, and Greenwald's has that, but it can go the other way toward cultism. When knowing what to believe comes to which flavor of Kool-Aid you prefer, drinker beware, remember Guyana. Lest We Forget.
Ultimately, the notion of Truth sits uncomfortably with us in the so-called post-Truth era; it can feel awkward believing in Knights of the Round Table, who yearn (lust) for the Grail, like watching countryside bumpkins get a load of Don Quixote as he gives the Windmill the finger. As we apply Truth to journalism we may need to lower our expectations, because as wonderfully liberating as postmodern relativism is (they tell me) it means that a lot of our idealistic rah-rah look at my undies about a whole lot of things needs to change. Probably we haven't reached the end of our delusion's rainbow as a culture, and a period of collapse and depression, akin to Quixote's, is awaiting us, these growing symptoms of our madness a sure indicator of our imminent colonist collapse. In the meantime, let's food fight over politics, cue the soundtrack of a hungry world audience laughing at out hijinks about
(Article changed on Sep 29, 2021 at 7:51 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Sep 30, 2021 at 1:19 AM EDT)
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