You hear a lot of criticism [as well as praise] for the young filmmakers who outed ACORN. My feeling is that the First Amendment has found its voice and roared. Of course there are those who are not happy with that development. David Simon, who wrote for the Baltimore Sun muses:
"I am offended to think that anyone, anywhere believes American institutions as insulated, self-preserving and self-justifying as police departments, school systems, legislatures and chief executives can be held to gathered facts by amateurs pursuing the task without compensation, training or for that matter, sufficient standing to make public officials even care to whom it is they are lying to," Simon testified before a Senate committee in May of 2009. "Indeed, the very phrase citizen journalism strikes my ear as nearly Orwellian. A neighbor who is a good listener and cares about people is a good neighbor; he is not in any sense a citizen social worker. Just as a neighbor with a garden hose and good intentions is not a citizen firefighter. To say so is a heedless insult to trained social workers and firefighters."
Obviously Mr. Simon is from a large city. Guess what, a lot of our county firefighters are volunteers! They take their own time to train and cross-train. The good listener is often very theraputic. Ever heard of support groups? But let me digress and tell a story that takes the point a little further.
It was the day my front lawn caught fire. I was working in the studio when I heard a loud sound like an explosion. I ran outside and didn't see anything. Soon I smelled smoke and ran around to the front of my house only to find the grass around one of the electric utility poles blazing wildly.
I grabbed some shovels and the neighbors and I fought the fire just like Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about in Little House on the Prarie. We attacked the fire as it tried to blow across the dry lawn and hooked up enough garden hose to slow down the advance of the flames. My motivation was to save the Bradford Pears by the road. It paid off.
Of course we had called the fire department but by the time they arrived we had the fire stopped. The damage was limited to the scorched lawn. The power company made sure there was no juice coming to the pole and then the firefighters soaked the area so that it would not reignite.
My point should be obvious. Both 'amateurs' and professionals were instrumental in providing a far better result than if we'd all stood around after making the call. If we had been unsuccessful with shovels the professionals had more resources, training and equipment. But if we did nothing there would have been far more damage. Structures might have become involved. As dry as it was, unthinkable tragedy could have been a possibility.
Citizen Journalism, Orwellian? Mr. Simon fails to see the Orwellian spectre of a monolithic 'professional' news media. Charlie Gibson has helped my argument by his not knowing about the ACORN situation. When hundreds of thousands of citizens descended on Washington wanting to be heard he "went sailing." If Glenn Beck and others didn't tell us about the views of Van Jones and Cass Sunstien we would have no way of knowing they were radical leftists. I just heard Michelle Malkin talking about FCC Czar, Mark Lloyd, his views, and the agenda that would naturally proceed from them.
Here's a great quote from Winston Churchill:
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
Without alternative voices it might just become the law of the land.
Real grass burns.
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