Amidst the general perplexity about it, Paul Krugman offers a theory of why Froomkin was fired from his blogologalog at the WaPo. (It strikes me as analogous to a theory of cost-irrelevancy under regime change.)
Here's another. In a way, but not completely, it has to do with how deep Krauthammer's bowl of depravity reaches (remember, Charles is the one who believes -or writes- that torture is a duty, not a mere right or prerogative of the state; and that failure to embrace it, even in the absence of results, is a disqualification from leadership).
The truth is that people don't like freedom of speech, especially of the kind Froomkin was offering on torture, the kind that bucks up against a "consensus lie" in Washington.
Sooner or later, in polite society, someone walks by someone and asks, "Are you really paying that guy?"
Now, you might ask why that doesn't happen to Rush Limbaugh.
We've already explored that oddity and discovered The Economics of Rush Limbaugh. He's a giveaway, and that's the kind of "free" speech, apparently, worth having ... (Of course there is even more to that story, given the way the CEO backstopped Rush on apologies that were owing, at one time ...).
Friday, June 19, 2009
Firing Froomkin, A Meme for Our Times?
