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Sun, 24 Nov 2024 17:15:24 GMT

Testing this amazing thread-writer app by @scripting.com by posting the full text of my recent open letter to Morning Joe:

Dear Morning Joe,

By now, you’re well-aware of the blowback in response to Joe and Mika’s trip down to Mar-a-Lago to “restart communications” with the man they (rightly) spent months warning their audience was an existential danger to American democracy and an autocrat

(and fascist)-in-waiting. As a long-time viewer of the show and a heartsick democracy-watcher, I’m writing to add my voice to the chorus of critics; to explain why it’s particularly disheartening to hear (second-hand, since I, too, refuse to continue watching)

Joe’s dismissive remark that people on social media are somehow less representative of the “real world” than the “very positive, very supportive” people who—I assume?—have enough clout and access to be able to call or text him directly.

I’m writing to assure you that we—those of us on the negative side of the massive disconnect he feels—are AS REFLECTIVE, if not more, of the real world than the supportive voices he heard from.

That said, my point of departure may differ somewhat from the voices on social media (and MSM) expressing unqualified outrage. Here’s why…

My starting point is that no one can truly stand in anyone else’s shoes. And because of this, third-party judgment has to be rendered…well…judiciously.

I read, for example, that Mika and Joe were “credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration.” And I think they had every right to be concerned.

My starting point is to feel SYMPATHY toward anyone now at risk of retaliation, because they dared to speak out against Trump publicly ahead of the election. And anyone who DID speak out is now potentially at risk—especially public figures.

Of COURSE Trump was going to try to go after them. Of COURSE they were likely to face legal and governmental harassment. Unfairly. Unjustly. Unmoved by any sense of principle or conscience or integrity on the part of Trump or his thuggish, might-have-been AG-as-henchman.

Because that’s how authoritarianism works. And that’s how malignant narcissists operate.

Mika and Joe had every right to be afraid. They probably still have, since one show of fealty is only going to get them so far. And only those born with an innate sense of invulnerability to physical or psychological pain are in a position to feel certain they would never buckle under authoritarian pressure. To that extent, those of us rendering judgment should probably take a moment to reflect on ourselves, and ask what might it take to make us break or cave?

If a mobster were to threaten to break your legs, or if you found a horse’s head in your bed, would you feel unmoved by fear? I wouldn’t. If someone were to threaten your children, or your family? I can’t imagine what that would do to me.

And if that person was about to have the power of the state behind him, to try to bend or break laws at his whim?

I believe we ALL are about to be tested, in ways large and small, in the coming months and years. We’ll each have to wrestle with our conscience as we weigh bravery and courage against our need for safety and security in the new reality we’re about to enter.

We’ll each have to choose the degree to which we go along, look away, conform to a new norm, or risk drawing attention to ourselves if we protest or push back too visibly. I hope I’ll choose what’s right, but I don’t know how much I’ll have in the way of courage, stamina, and concrete resources to be able to resist over the long haul. So HOW each of us chooses, and at what point(s), will matter.

And here’s where I think Joe and Mika—not to mention their MSNBC bosses—should have tried harder. In the words of Carole Cadwalladr, they should have WAITED FOR THE MEMO.

Joe and Mika have significant wealth and social standing. They have a huge platform that they can use to “model behavior,” or set an example, or establish a precedent for their audience and the watching world. Know your value, as I’ve heard someone say.

All of this helps give them a degree of power and strength to resist that MOST of us simply do not have.

For those of us who lack wealth, life is simply a different ball game. For those with minimal public profiles, we can scream and shout, but the universe of ears to hear us will be negligible.

Could Joe and Mika have afforded to lose their jobs and be fine for the rest of their lives, rather than preemptively rush to curry favor with the man who bragged about grabbing women by the p----, said immigrants were poisoning the blood of our country,

called wounded soldiers losers, and promised to be a dictator on day one?

Couldn’t they?

Am I wrong to think otherwise?

Okay, they’re not Jeff Bezos, who also “obeyed in advance” (to quote Timothy Snyder) and, I hope, felt some well-deserved backlash. They’re not billionaires. But let’s be real. They have a security blanket and access to resources that 90% of the country doesn’t come close to possessing. So, yes, their fears were warranted. But then — and here’s where my sympathy tends to dissolve — at least have the courage to say this. Be transparent with your audience.

Don’t try to gaslight us (or yourselves?) into believing that opting to kowtow so as “to have face time with a world leader” is a “no-brainer.” Don’t try to ask — as if it’s a rhetorical, instead of a genuine, moral question — “Why wouldn’t we?”

Because I can think of a lot of reasons why you wouldn’t. So to Mika, in response to that question, I ask this: What would your venerable father have thought?

He’s someone who I’m sure knew well how the grip of authoritarian pressure compels everyone to face a moral or ethical reckoning at some point. He’s someone who I’m sure knew that fear and an impulse toward self-preservation can test our courage and (understandably) make cowards of us all. We can’t all be a Navalny or a Kara-Murza or a Maria Ressa. But to capitulate before the horse is even out of gate?

And to Joe — who I know is a Beatles fanatic (it’s about the only thing I have in common with him) — in the words of one of your music idols, I ask, “How do you sleep?”

Sun, 24 Nov 2024 16:29:54 GMT