Here Comes the Darkness

 

The Washington Post greeted the beginning of the first Chaos administration with a bold new slogan: Democracy Dies in Darkness. They weren't going to let things go dark.  They were going to shine a light.

The Washington Post is greeting the beginning of the second Chaos administration with a new slogan--though they couldn't replace the old one entirely without facing an even greater editorial staff revolt than they are already experiencing.  The new internal slogan is "Riveting storytelling for all of America."  It comes with a further intent to greatly increase the amount of "conservative" commentary.  

Once upon a time the Washington Post braved powerful pressure from an established administration--the first one known to make Enemies Lists--to expose the corruption of President Nixon and his administration.  

In 1972 I documented (for the Boston Phoenix) ways that the Nixon administration was already pressuring news media, with some success, especially at TV networks.  But in the early 1970s, the Washington Post led a journalistic outpouring of exposing administration lies and corruption. 

 Though the New York Times beat them to the Pentagon Papers (which also exposed lies from the Johnson administration), it was the Post that broke the Watergate story and kept after it.   Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the reporting, but courageously backed by editor Ben Bradlee and publisher and owner Katharine Graham.  Nixon officials attacked the Post directly--and Katharine Graham personally-- as the story evolved, but the Post did not stop..

The 2017 slogan--Democracy Dies in Darkness-- was in line with that tradition, and no wonder: it was a line from a speech given by Bob Woodward.  Though it was Post owner Jeff Bezos who heard it and selected it, it clearly has the sound of an editorial origin.  

The 2025 slogan has the tin-eared sound of origin in the marketing department.  That alone suggests what's going on at the Post.  The refusal to publish an unflattering political cartoon as well as deep-sixing the endorsement of Kamala Harris for President are part of the pattern.

Katharine Graham was in the newspaper business, and she had a sense of responsibility.  Jeff Bezos has other business interests, and like other tech billionaires he is bending the knee to Chaos in the hopes that those interests will be served, particularly (I would guess) his aerospace business, where he is in direct competition with Elon Musk for government contracts. 

People like Bradlee and Graham were motivated in part by a sense of shame.  They would be ashamed of themselves if they had bent the knee to Nixon.  A sense of shame seems to have disappeared entirely from public life, however rare it had been.  Chaos, Elon Musk and MAGA supporters prioritize lies and hate--especially lies that inflame hate.  This is not compatible with a sense of shame.

The darkness of a Dark Age is specifically the loss of knowledge, of the truth or the sincere search for truth.  Opposition to that is implied in the Post's old slogan.  Its commitment to living up to it is in serious doubt.  Without it, hate and corruption spread, and so eventually does chaos.

It's already part of a pattern.  The ABC network surrendered to Chaos by quickly settling an absurd lawsuit, and apparently now CNN is sending its most popular correspondent to the news day equivalent of Siberia, because Chaos considers him an enemy.  Hate and lies are spewed unrestricted now on the major social media platforms, such as Facebook and its Meta offshoots, TikTok and of course X.

Tech and other corporate billionaires line up to flatter the king, who has the distinction of heading the most corrupt administration in American history even before it takes office. There will be a resistance, but right now the big show is cowardice, capitulation and appeasement.  For one thing, only Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi have announced they will not honor the criminal Chaos by attending the coronation.  They--and they alone so far--have my respect.

Invitation

 

Oh do you have time
        to linger
                for just a little while
                       out of your busy

and very important day
        for the goldfinches
                that have gathered
                       in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
        to see who can sing
                the highest note,
                       or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
        or the most tender?
                Their strong, blunt beaks
                       drink the air

as they strive
        melodiously
                not for your sake
                       and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
        but for sheer delight and gratitude—
                believe us, they say,
                       it is a serious thing

just to be alive
        on this fresh morning
                in the broken world.
                       I beg of you,

do not walk by
        without pausing

 to attend to this
                       rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life

--by Mary Oliver

The goldfinches in this poem are probably American Goldfinches (photo above), seen in the eastern United States among other places.  They are different (ornithologists insist) from the goldfinches in Europe, where in medieval times (according to poet W.S. Merwin) they were symbols of eternal life.

  The American goldfinch was a familiar and always happy sight in the western Pennsylvania of my childhood, and is still a visitor to my sister Kathy's backyard there. Sightings of an American Goldfinch here have been recorded in the nearby Arcata community forest, along with the Lesser Goldfinch, but even though I'm entirely unqualified, I question them.  The most likely goldfinch here is the Lawrence Goldfinch, which is not mentioned.  The truth is that these other species, along with the female and immature American goldfinches all look very similar to the Lawrence goldfinch pictured below.  The American goldfinch male is apparently the only one dominated by the brilliant yellow and black (as above.)  I've never seen one here, though I have seen occasionally flocking in our backyard as well as individually in the neighborhood these small birds that could be goldfinches. 

 Still I miss the bold gold and black of the goldfinches I knew, though I can't say I saw more than one or two at a time, and so missed this collective song, though I too am alive in this broken world.