110
NYT Opinion: Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe
(www.nytimes.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
110 points (100.0% liked)
Not The Onion
12272 readers
997 users here now
Welcome
We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!
The Rules
Posts must be:
- Links to news stories from...
- ...credible sources, with...
- ...their original headlines, that...
- ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”
Comments must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.
And that’s basically it!
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
You know what would keep us safer? If the most prominent news agency in the US actually did its job and did critical journalism instead of acting like RT news.
For example, more intelligence gathering power given to intelligence agencies would not have stopped the Iraq war. If anything, the more power given to these agencies, the more official they sound when they make boldfaced lies because people assume they most know something actually substantiative with all that intelligence capacity.
We would have just launched even faster into the Iraq war.
Which of course is the point
This is a guest opinion essay that many disagree with but find interesting. I don't think it represents NYT's views.
It's an opinion article, so I don't think NYT has committed any malpractice here. They published an op-ed from Pence last week about Trump not being harsh enough on abortion, but that absolutely does not mean they dislike abortion. There are people who wanted FISA renewed because they are in intelligence services and see the benefits directly. I'm also skeptical of mass surveillance laws, but I'm glad NYT posted this article so I could read an opinion from someone who disagrees, and I don't think this establishes an opinion or stance on the part of NYT at all because it's not what op-eds are for.
Op-ed pieces are about establishing the Overton Window, not establishing a news agencies position on anything. The fact that the NYT considers this part of a reasonable overton window is embarrassing and honestly revolting.
...right, so you're asking for all media orgs to selectively choose stories in an attempt to make the Overton window (one of the most overused and abused concepts in online political discussion right now, to be frank) what you want. I'm not cool with that, regardless of the underlying validity of the stance you want to push. You can call it fighting fire with fire or whatever, but I call it losing every principle you have in the pursuit of protecting those same principles.
End of the day, I want the news I'm reading to tell me the opinions of the citizens I share space with. It doesn't matter if I like it or not, it is out there and I need to know about it. The news is responsible for reporting on where the Overton window is, not where it should be.
Edit: I also wanted to add this. This conversation was on my mind as I was reading some of my news feed today and I saw the following articles posted by NYT just in the last few days, that are also discussing the left or their points of view.
How ‘The Squad’ and Like-Minded Progressives Have Changed Their Party
The Small-Business Tyrant Has a Favorite Political Party
Rural Voters Are More Progressive Than the Democratic Party Thinks
And here are some rather right-wing perspectives, from actual conservative politicians, although Cheney is certainly no longer a darling for them.
Liz Cheney: The Supreme Court Should Rule Swiftly on Trump’s Immunity Claim
Mike Pence: Donald Trump Has Betrayed the Pro-Life Movement
I think it's completely reasonable to share these views with everyone. We need to know what our fellow citizens are talking about and believing, even if it's completely bonkers.