John Carney’s Ridiculous Anti-Cronkite Essay
I think this is Joe’s attempt at getting on Mediaite, but whatever, this is good stuff. Especially how much it pains him to disagree w/ John.
2 years agoIt pains me deeply to disagree with something put forth by my good friend and colleague John Carney (Generally our thoughts on various matters are 99.5% alike [we’re like man and chimpanzee that way, just .05% apart!]). But his essay “Walter Cronkite Meant Nothing To Me” was as ludicrous as it was annoying.
That Cronkite meant nothing to Carney would be fine if it were true.
Indeed when I first saw the news in a breaking email alert over dinner with extended family, I was the least moved of anyone I was with, as I really knew next to nothing about the man. I had a few vague images of him reporting on Kennedy’s death rattling around in my brain.
But Carney wasn’t indifferent towards Cronkite, he was contemptious. First he admits as such, suspecting that he wouldn’t like him very much, and then he ends with:
I’m sure his family and friends will miss him, and if I knew any of them I’d be sorry for their loss. And maybe I’d tell them to say thanks to Walter for me. Like I said, it’s rare that the death of a public figure makes me suddenly feel young.
Sorry, but even the Carney I know — who would deck a bum cold for looking at him the wrong way; who would dropkick Jason Calacanis — wouldn’t say this to Cronkite’s family’s face. It’s too sociopathic.
Contempt masquerading as indifference is incredibly annoying. I’m not sure why, exactly that is, except that it’s usually the attitude taken by spurned high school boys who say things like “I never cared for that slut anyway!” Contempt masquerading as indifference.
Beyond that, Carney has to strain to find fault with Cronkite. He cites something about Cronkite being too trusted or whatnot.
But if only because Cronkite opposed the Vietnam War, and if that opposition to the war had even the slightest sway on the American people, hardening their attitudes against it moving war opposition from the fringe into the mainstream, then Cronkite’s objectively a hero. In this world of Keith Olbermann-type news characters, we’re used to the idea of the split pundit-reporter role, but Cronkite had to break with journalistic tradition to express his concern with the war.
In what world does that not make him an impressive person, or at least someone who’s death makes him worthy of discussion and consideration? Not this one, gladly.
