Slow Summer News Day

Or What Happens When the Band Stops at a Party

Last night I did a tour of maybe a dozen news sites of various persuasions, and I discovered that there is essentially zero agreement between them about what is important today. I mean, pretty much zero overlap, even among sites with similar known biases.

This is remarkable, even allowing for the fact that we're approaching August -- when DC basically shuts down for vacation and NFL training camps (or what they call training camps nowadays) heat up.

At least for today, it appears that no talking point memos are directing narratives or counter narratives. Organizations are left adrift to set their own priorities. It must be unsettling. And so we get milquetoast, ideologically predictable, lightweight propaganda, until something sexy pops up, to support or oppose on thinly-disguised ideological grounds -- and, once again, talking point memos can do all the heavy lifting, removing the pressure of independent thought.

It's like when you get into a conversation with someone who is clearly outside of some well-worn safe zone, afraid to draw conclusions from core principles, grasping for some non-controversial thing to say, for fear of saying something stupid or self-refuting. Just looking for a life preserver -- typically the bar or the bathroom.

This is what passes for journalism today -- a series of banal, random conversations, until the band starts filling the dance floor again. and people can once again dance to the beat set before them.

Or maybe it really was just a slow news day.