5 ms·

I still don't get your point. Many countries have good investigation press and LOTS of criticism towards their government and policies. How is the US any specia

by mijamo 8y ago

I still don't get your point. Many countries have good investigation press and LOTS of criticism towards their government and policies. How is the US any special in that regard?

DubiousPusher 8y ago
I don't think the OP is being genuine. Their point is an intensely cynical one. Basically implying that the American system which allows for cruelty abroad and then also allows revealing expsoses of that cruelty is well designed for maintaining international power. They are noting America's exceptionalism at self manipulation. They are sardonically praising the Machiavelian nature of our society.
- jancsika 8y ago
  > Basically implying that the American system which allows for cruelty abroad and then also allows revealing expsoses of that cruelty is well designed for maintaining international power. Except that the U.S. is losing out to China which builds out physical infrastructure-- everything from highways to supplying the digital chips, devices and firmware that provide internet access and control electrical grids. That system is vastly superior for asserting international power than OP's alleged system of U.S. "do-cruelty-then-expose-cruelty." (It's also more sustainable in the long run as evidenced by the Iraq war vs. say, China's current influence in Africa.) Given that reality, such journalistic exposés are perpetuating a system that causes the U.S.'s sphere of influence to decrease relative to another superpower. At the same time, the dominance of the U.S. "do-cruelty-then-expose" system in political circles makes it difficult to adapt and use soft power where it would be more efficacious geopolitically. The more exposés we get, the faster this vicious cycle diminishes the ability of the American system to use cruelty to gain power. Therefore I must conclude that OP supports these exposés as a way to decrease the reach of the U.S.'s cruelty. I don't necessarily support this cynicism train-- was just curious where it went.
  - DubiousPusher 8y ago
    Have some mercy here cause now I'm in the weird position of having to not just interpret but argue the OP's point. I think the OP's point is that these exposes are a kind of release that allows those who would otherwise agitate for change do nothing because they get a sense of justice merely from reading such a piece. So the OP is expressing a sort of smug disdain for 'The New Yorker' here because they are complicit in easing the America conscience. I personally do not believe this. I think this kind of breaks down because this creates a weird damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If the media does publish expose journalism then their creating catharsis that aids American human rights violations. If they don't report these things then citizens don't know there's anything to protest or attempt to change. Perhaps the OP is just generally fatalistic, I don't know.
dosy 8y ago
Just to be clear, I'm not saying "American is exceptional" in its press freedom. "American exceptionalism" is a concept (unrelated to press, I think it's origin is a political doctrine) that I'm referring to here. Strangely I think a lot of people here took that phrase "American exceptionalism" to mean US press is best in world. Could be a non-native English speaker thing, or could just be that the concept of AE is not that widely known (which if true, would be another sort of satire about AE, nice :)).

by mijamo 8y ago

I still don't get your point. Many countries have good investigation press and LOTS of criticism towards their government and policies. How is the US any special in that regard?

DubiousPusher 8y ago

I don't think the OP is being genuine. Their point is an intensely cynical one. Basically implying that the American system which allows for cruelty abroad and then also allows revealing expsoses of that cruelty is well designed for maintaining international power. They are noting America's exceptionalism at self manipulation. They are sardonically praising the Machiavelian nature of our society.

jancsika 8y ago
> Basically implying that the American system which allows for cruelty abroad and then also allows revealing expsoses of that cruelty is well designed for maintaining international power. Except that the U.S. is losing out to China which builds out physical infrastructure-- everything from highways to supplying the digital chips, devices and firmware that provide internet access and control electrical grids. That system is vastly superior for asserting international power than OP's alleged system of U.S. "do-cruelty-then-expose-cruelty." (It's also more sustainable in the long run as evidenced by the Iraq war vs. say, China's current influence in Africa.) Given that reality, such journalistic exposés are perpetuating a system that causes the U.S.'s sphere of influence to decrease relative to another superpower. At the same time, the dominance of the U.S. "do-cruelty-then-expose" system in political circles makes it difficult to adapt and use soft power where it would be more efficacious geopolitically. The more exposés we get, the faster this vicious cycle diminishes the ability of the American system to use cruelty to gain power. Therefore I must conclude that OP supports these exposés as a way to decrease the reach of the U.S.'s cruelty. I don't necessarily support this cynicism train-- was just curious where it went.
- DubiousPusher 8y ago
  Have some mercy here cause now I'm in the weird position of having to not just interpret but argue the OP's point. I think the OP's point is that these exposes are a kind of release that allows those who would otherwise agitate for change do nothing because they get a sense of justice merely from reading such a piece. So the OP is expressing a sort of smug disdain for 'The New Yorker' here because they are complicit in easing the America conscience. I personally do not believe this. I think this kind of breaks down because this creates a weird damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If the media does publish expose journalism then their creating catharsis that aids American human rights violations. If they don't report these things then citizens don't know there's anything to protest or attempt to change. Perhaps the OP is just generally fatalistic, I don't know.

dosy 8y ago

Just to be clear, I'm not saying "American is exceptional" in its press freedom. "American exceptionalism" is a concept (unrelated to press, I think it's origin is a political doctrine) that I'm referring to here. Strangely I think a lot of people here took that phrase "American exceptionalism" to mean US press is best in world. Could be a non-native English speaker thing, or could just be that the concept of AE is not that widely known (which if true, would be another sort of satire about AE, nice :)).