“Gonzo” journalism.
The argument goes…be as loud or obnoxious or brash or whatever is necessary to be overt in the exercise of one’s rights.
When anyone asks what happened to the Free Press in the era of notorious President Donald J Trump, this explains it all, except instead of “under the cover of darkness” it is “under the cover of Freedom of the Press.” In the late 19th century, “yellow” journalism gave way to investigative journalism, but while history may repeat itself that doesn’t mean that it always repeats itself in the same way, and our age’s brand of muckrakers gave way to the revival and resurgence of Hunter S Thompson riding side-saddle with President Donald J Trump with a gun touting cat riding a unicorn in fashionable anarchist flourish leaving all traditional thinkers questioning everything. Difficult to define but a reality noine the less, what other explanation is there? As 1984 sweeps American imagination complete with Elon Musk leading the charge with AI, quantum computing, automation of everything, including human existence being prepped for a real life version of The Matrix, America has continued to find its voice and expression in new ways defiantly, demanding and asserting itself through every influence to the contrary. As history reflects, suppression or oppression in America only has one ultimately predictable reaction every time: the opposite, in any way, shape or form, dedicated to inherent rights and freedoms irrespetive of…well, anything else. No compromise. No negotiation. Don’t tread on me, Live Free or Die, all the regular rhetoric plus the reinvention of it. Granpa would be proud, and so would Grandma standing next to him with a wry smile and shotgun in hand. As American as Apple Pie.
I take this all tongue-in-cheek. I’m a more cautious rider and observer, even if moved by the modern American Spectacle at times. I believe in a bit more prudence and balance, and would argue wisdom, but that only reveals me as a prude to many more than it does prudent. Still, like Justice herself, I carefully weigh the scales and consider. Not that she’s around to consider. Lofty Justice, great lady, high and mighty, just for a moment, could you tip in my direction, only a little so that I might touch your graces and experience them for myself? The great majority, the unwashed masses, understand this point and so much more. Far from being dumb Americans, America teaches repeatedly not to underestimate its intelligence, because it is less important how it is said and more the questions that it asks with the heart that pounds beneath it and defends it. I am an observer. A writer. A freelance journalist. A member of the Free Press. Simply reporting. Over and out. Roger? Roger.
When they come to your great city on The Hill and look confused when they see Christ sitting at the table with the Anti-Christ, aged hippies with neo-nazis and ma and pa ranting with tribal elders, black panthers and a black Grand Wizard and homeless people urinating on the sidewalk nearby because of the lack of bathrooms while everyone present seems to take it as par for the course, and then ask what hedonism and heathenism this can possibly be, and say “We must have Order! Order!” this only betrays what they cannot perceive of, do not understand and haven’t appreciated about the American social fabric that refuses to be anything but liberated. No invading force could ever understand or has yet to date, including the British. They can have Edwardian England, our standard is far more dynamic, radical and diverse just on a regular day. I won’t tell you what my politics are, simply trust that I disagree with you. Our disunity miraculously unifies insensibly by every global standard. American people’s rights are survival itself and they must breath and take new breath, without question, always rising to that occasion. You don’t have to approve, and you don’t have to agree, but being American is enough. Irrespective of our differences, when they come to The Hill, what they “see” and what they see is easily resolved by one answer: they are Americans, and we are all Americans. Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World, America.
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What’s a doctor who got a D- average all through med school?
Answer: STILL a doctor.