Shot in the Dark

This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like

Rebecca Brannon may be the best reporter in the Twin Cities.

Not “journalist” – reporter. Someone who goes out and gets the who, what, when, where, why and how of a story. Comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, as Nick Coleman used to say (but never do).

Speaking of saying but never doing reporting? The Twin Cities mainstream media is doing its usual job; serving as a PR firm for DFL officials:

This is “journalism” with all the heft of a Beanie Baby. Wonder if that interview came with a hot towel?

Brannon, on the other hand, is afflicting the politically comfortable, and someone doesn’t seem to like it:

https://twitter.com/RebsBrannon/status/1475285607677001730

Trying to intimidate reporters?

Why, isn’t that what authoritarian states do? What’s the term – we heard it all the time during the Trump administration, from reporters big and small…

“Chilling Effect on reporting and transparency?” (Whatever did happen to that term, anyway)?

Aren’t there groups of “journalists” dedicated to keeping the press free? Like the “Society of Professional Journalists of Minnesota?”

Oof. Not a whole lot.

Read Brannon’s whole thread, by the way.

Posted

in

,

by

Mitch Berg

Tags:

Comments

11 responses to “This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like”

  1. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Not authoritarianism, totalitarianism.
    Which American institution supports unbiased journaism?
    None. Zero. Not congress, not the president, not the judiciary, not academia, not the unions, not the entertainment media, not big business, not pro sports, not amateur sports, and of course, not journalism.

  2. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Not authoritarianism, totalitarianism

    You gonna explain what you mean and why it makes a difference or just pointlessly assert?

  3. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    To which institution is Brannon supposed to appeal to for relief, JDM?

  4. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    The goal of the Progressive Project is to control or eradicate all the mediating institutions between an individual and the state. That way any resistance is atomized, it is always the individual versus the sate, not the individual and the church against the state, or the individual and the press against the state, or the individual and his church against the state.
    For some reasons Libertarians also think that this is a great idea. Who, exactly, they think will keep the State in Libertarian chains is not explained.
    We don’t have free trade unions in the US — if the members of a trade union decided to exclude minorities or women from membership, it would be destroyed by the feds, and the feds would create a replacement union that would do as the feds ordered.

  5. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    You aren’t a Zen master and this topic isn’t interesting enough to be a Zen koan. Just explain your point. Or not.

  6. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    Uh . . . I did, twice, JDM.
    Perhaps you think that there is a robust journalistic institution that will back up Brannon? Or maybe the courts will step in and deliver the Medina cops a stinging rebuke?
    What authority here is abusing its power? The Hennepin County Sheriff’s office? The Medina police?

  7. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I don’t think anything, I just reported it (in response to a different post). You’re the one drawing conclusions.

    OK, I’ll be specific. Why not authoritarianism, but rather totalitarianism? And why does this difference matter? I mean, are you going to define and then distinguish the one from other so it matters?

  8. Mammuthus Primigenesis Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenesis

    “I mean, are you going to define and then distinguish the one from other so it matters?”
    Authoritarianism is rule of a society’s institutions by an authority. In totalitarianism, these institutions are part of the authoritarian system, they are not ruled by it.
    You can look up the definitions of each if you like.
    Put simply, in an authoritarian system, a journalist might get in trouble for acting against the interests of the authorites. In a totalitarian system, a journalist doing the same thing would get in trouble for acting against the interests of journalism.

  9. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    That’s what I wanted. Thanks.

  10. Like Fourth Grade, All Over Again | Shot in the Dark

    […] By the way – I’ll be talking with Rebecca Brannon on the show this Saturday about this story, including the blowback she’s gotten from local cops. […]

  11. Paddyboy Avatar
    Paddyboy

    Sorry Mamm,

    I think your definition is personal opinion.

    Authoritarianism (def): he enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
    lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others

    Totalitarianism (def): a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

    One is a concept (or philosophy) about subservience to authority, the other is a system of government which may well implement an authoritarian philosophy.

    They are not distinctly different forms of government – not hardly.

    Further, totalitarianism has no relationship to whether a journalist acts against the interests of journalism, unless you (fatuously) believe journalism at it’s core is never independent and it’s tenets always subscribe it to the “state.” A concept easily disproved.

    Super glad you express yourself so well. I’m not trying to exactly tweak you but seriously..that’s how you’d define totalitarianism?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.