The Ugliness of Journalists Celebrating the Deaths of American Politicians

Gabriella Paiella a staff writer at GQ posted a meme of a smiling woman captioned quotThinking about Donald Rumsfeld in hellquot She would be joined by Aamp237da Champ225vez The Nation39s DC correspondent who replied to Rumsfeld39s family39s statement with quotBye Bamp8212hquot The German journalist Tilo Jung would also weigh in quotRot in Hell Rumsfeldquot And these were just a few of the countless celebratory posts that graced social media in the immediate aftermath of Rumsfeld39s death being announced not to mention the accompanying vandalism of his Wikipedia page Unfortunately this outpouring of internet glee is hardly surprising with it having also taken place following the deaths of a number of political and media figures in recent years But even in our current age of gracelessness celebrating a person39s death is still startlingly low and it is especially beneath those in the press Modern journalists even if they rarely live up to this ideal are supposed to be covering our political figures objectively and just as importantly relatively dispassionatelyTo be clear one would be well within his rights to criticize Rumsfeld particularly for certain decisions he made during his second stint asamp160Secretary of Defense during the administration of President George W Bush from 2001 to 2006 Rumsfeld also served as President Gerald Ford39s second Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 However there is a time and place for such evaluations of a figure39s place in history and they are better left for later after the dust has settled and the family has had a chance to mourn in relative peace Further the tone of such criticisms when they do begin to emerge should keep to the facts and refrain from the sort of outbursts that littered Twitter throughout the day on June 30thNot all reactions to Rumsfeld39s death were negative CNN39s Jake Tapper tweeted a quotation from the man himself quotWhen I was a Navy pilot the rule if you39re lost is to climb conserve and confess Get some altitude Take a deep breath and get on the radio and say you39re lostquot In doing so Tapper helped to remind us all that there was more to the man than just his stint at the Pentagon he had after all been a naval aviator and flight instructoramp160long before he entered Congress became a confident to President Ford or was considered for the vice presidential nomination on the 1980 Republican ticketPresident George W Bush would also extend his condolences recalling that despite his high rank Rumsfeld quot ran into the fire at the Pentagon to assist the wounded and ensure the safety of survivorsquot on the morning of September 11th Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also issued a kind remembrance The Colorado radio host and former FEMA head Michael D Brown expressed his condolences quotDonald Rumsfeld was an incredibly decent human being While we may have disagreed on a few policy issues he was incredibly supportive of me during the Bush Administration I loved the man for his behindthescenes advice support and mentoring RIP Mr SecretaryquotAll of those who hold highranking government posts at least for any length of time in the United States have almost by definition mixed records the enormous role that the United States occupies in the world always allows for charges of incorrect action or inaction President George W Bush deserves enormous criticism for the War in Iraq yet at the same time he is nothing short of a hero in much of subSaharan Africa due to his administration39s efforts to curb HIV in the region The same might be said of current President Joe Biden he might on the one hand be hailed for his ability to negotiate deals between the White House and Capitol Hill while Vice President and also be rightly criticized for his role in helping to bring about passage of the Iraq Resolution in 2002 when he was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations CommitteeAs those who follow my writings know well I am no fan of the foreign policy of the Bush administration and have also been deeply critical of efforts to rehabilitate the images of neoconservative figures such as Bill Kristol and David Frum during the Trump years I also continue to view the War in Iraq as the most profound failure of American governance during the last halfcentury But that is no excuse for those who also share this view to celebrate a man39s death so shamelessly particularly if they are employed as journalists tasked with levelheadedly keeping the public informedOn September 14 2001 just three days after the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center the Pentagon and in Shanksville Pennsylvania journalism professor Robert Jensen someone I39ve since come to know well wrote a column in the Houston Chronicle arguing that though the attacks were quotreprehensible and indefensiblequot they were quotno more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism the deliberate killing of civilians for political purposes that the US government has committed during my lifetimequot Again there is a time and place to make an argument such as that one and to be clear I do not share Jensen39s view on this subject but it is not in the immediate aftermath of such loss of life while people are still so acutely mourning In a similar vein in the years to come we can evaluate Rumsfeld39s legacy his role in the unfounded claim of quotweapons of mass destructionquot Abu Ghraib and in so much of the needless loss of life that took place in Iraq in the early 2000sIn the meantime however it is only appropriate to allow his family time to grieve in peaceClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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The Ugliness of Journalists Celebrating the Deaths of American Politicians

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Erich J. Prince

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