Greg Palast a crank?

[Barrett808]

Check out this story in the otherwise commendable Seattle Weekly:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0336/arts-miller.php

Nothing epitomizes this homogenizing, self-marginalizing trend like the “American Voices” series that Seattle’s Foolproof Performing Arts is launching this fall. The series promises “a forum for ideas, people, and viewpoints that are underrepresented or excluded from the national political and media mainstream.” And who are these marginalized, unheard, orthodoxy-challenging voices? Garry Trudeau, Molly Ivins, Tony Kushner, Janeane Garofalo, crank “investigative journalist” Greg Palast, and other heroes of the self-congratulatory left.

What could possibly make him call Greg Palast a crank? Is there "debunking" that's occurred of which I'm unaware? I'm sending an LTE, but I want to know what's up with this first.

[quinnox]

1. It's probably another conspiracy

n/t

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. He'll love it

 

[terryg11]

3. do you think it was meant that negatively?

I love Pallast's stuff but I could see how someone might call him a crank, his writings seem so angry (which isn't a bad thing). So maybe it was an affectionate crank?

[GregW]

4. I think it's a typo ... should be "craCk"

[roughsatori]

5. I think of it as a compliment when I am called a "crank."

Here is part of the Merriam-Webster definition: 2) : an annoyingly eccentric person; also : one that is overly enthusiastic about a particular subject or activity

The "crank" comment is the only thing in the article I would not try to refute.

[Catherine Vincent]

13. "I"

Are you Greg Palast??

[redeye]

15. In scientific context...

...a crank is not only someone who holds unusual views, but also refuses to defend them logically. Creationists are cranks because they rarely publish in biological magazines and journals and try to get their paradigm accepted thru a stealthy takeover, but people who believe in unusual evolutionary theories such as punctuated equilibria are not, as long as they defend their views in peer-reviewed journals and don't resort to tautologies.

[quinnox]

6. I wanted to thank

you for pointing out this link, it was very funny! I saved it to my bookmarks. The writer obviously has a dry sense of humor and irony. (I always like this type of humor)

[JHB]

7. It's not a typo...

...witness his condescending tone towards the "self-congradulatory left".

Of course, I can't find out anything else about Miller except that he's the Film and Books editor for the Seatle Weekly, not an investigative journalist. Frankly, I'll trust the BBC's, The Observer's, and Guardian's judgement on that score over Miller's.

[rman]

8. typical RW accusations without argumentation

they couldn't explain how Palast is a crank for instance wrt his investigation of the Florida election fraude. (that Katherin Harris type anfd her gang essentially admited things there went the way Palast reports)

[Terwilliger]

9. You know why he's a "crank"? Because he's right.

TPTB don't like people who do actual journalism...too much to be known.

[Barrett808]

10. I sent Greg an email alerting him

He'll be amused, I'm sure.

[bpilgrim]

11. the lame stream media makes it easy to make a reading list...

whomever they start smearing with code words and 0 facts they get added to the list :evilgrin:

peace

[Q]

12. In case you missed it: The Brown Stuff

From: [e-mail]
Date: Thu Sep 4, 2003
To: Q
Subject: Greg Palast: The Brown Stuff

THE BROWN STUFF
by Greg Palast

September 4, 2003

I couldn't make this up. This morning, the US Department of the Interior is turning over the Mall in front of the Washington Monument to Pepsi-Cola Corporation to promote their new "Pepsi Vanilla."

This has gotten the Washington Post's liberal columnists' knickers in a twist. But they don't know the half of it.

Beyond renting the Monument grounds to Pepsi, President Bush has agreed to re-name the looming recession, "The Pause That Refreshes."

Furthermore, as part of a larger "re-brand America" campaign, the National Institute for Health has announced that the fourth new food group in the 'nutrition pyramid' after dairy foods, meat and fiber will be, Fizzy Brown Stuff.

The Bush Administration has moved swiftly to respond to objections to the commercialization of the nation's heritage sites. The complaints, from Pepsi rival Coca Cola, will be addressed by re-naming the Bill of Rights. Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to announce today that, "those ten outdated amendments will be called 'Bill of Rights Classic,' while the post-PATRIOT Act version will henceforth be called, 'New Rights Lite.'" A spokesman for Mr. Ashcroft added that Anne Coulter will be renamed, simply, "Lite."

Mr. Dick Cheney, the nation's Vice-President for Marketing, has angrily rejected accusations that photos released by the Defense Department of Saddam Hussein drinking Diet Dr. Pepper were fabricated for the purpose of winning public support for our entry into the cola wars. Cheney has turned down repeated requests to produce notes of his several meetings with soda-pop executives.

A spokesman at the Park Service indicates the agency has nixed proposals for a monument to the "Spirit of the Pioneers" - referring to those who have given more than $100,000 to Bush family electoral campaigns. However, the plaque at the Lincoln Monument has been updated "for accuracy" at the request of the National Association of Manufacturers to read, "this government of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists shall not perish from this earth."

There was a muted response from Senate Democrats who did not want to be seen as disagreeing with the popular president's rent-a-star program replacing the American flag's former design with peel-off coupons for a Pepsi, McMuffin and a large fries..."

[Oilwellian]

16. I have another Pepsi story

A friend of mine recently received a postcard in the mail from Pepsi. If she filled it out with her name and address and sent it back to Pepsi, she'd get a complimentary 12 pack of the nutritional liquid. It' seemed like a harmless promotional tactic until she read the fine print at the bottom of the card. If she sent the card back, it would be giving permission to take her name off of the No Call List for future promotionals. Cute, huh?

[SaintLouisBlues]

17. Lame-Stream media

Good one!

[gratuitous]

14. It's so much easier than citing stuff and building arguments

You know, call someone a "crank" or "self-congratulatory" and those adjectives become the story. You don't have to back them up with any citations; the mere fact that you said them makes them true.

Besides, actually reading what someone wrote or listening to what someone said would require a lot more work than making smart-ass off-the-cuff remarks, and Happy Hour starts in seven hours or so, and I'm a busy guy, so don't confuse me with facts and logic. Gotta go.

[Barrett808]

18. So nobody's heard of any Palast "debunking"

That would get him labelled a crank? My LTE can just extol his virtues without refuting any claims against him?

[Barrett808]

19. I'll post my LTE tonight

Suggestions are welcome!

[Barrett808]

20. Here's the LTE

To the Editor,

In Brian Miller's otherwise commendable critique of our local book culture ("On the Same Page"), he refers to BBC/Observer reporter Greg Palast as a "crank 'investigative journalist'" (sarcasm quotes his). Why a crank? Has Mr. Miller never seen the amazing footage of Palast's BBC interview with Clayton Roberts, Kat Harris's Director of Elections? You know, the one in which Mr. Roberts literally runs away when confronted with Palast's evidence of the election fraud? This scene alone should cement his journalistic creds in anybody's mind. Get a copy of Counting on Democracy and see for yourself.

[Barrett808]

23. I'll let ya know if the Weekly prints it. n/t

n/t

[BevHarris]

21. Understand that Jack Anderson was called worse than a "crank"

One of the all-time original investigative reporters, who broke many of the Watergate stories, broke the Savings & Loan Scandal, and many more...

Now he is considered legendary, but in his prime he was considered dyspeptic and a muckracker. He then decided to OWN the term "muckraker" -- when I worked with him, which was only a short time, about a year, before he retired, his business entity was called "The Muckrakers" and he turned right around and wore that term like a badge of honor.

Maybe being called a "crank" is a sign that history will remember Palast in very complimentary terms.

Perhaps we should turn around and make the words "conspiracy theorist" into honorary praise titles. Hey, what would we do if we met an actual "conspiracy" and were afraid to say anything because people might say we are "conspiracy theorists?"

Methinks whoever did the marketing on that term knew what they were doing. (Perhaps there was a marketing "meeting" to disuss talking points, and "call them conspiracy theorists" was one of the talking points they came up with.) OMG! The meeting itself would be a conspiracy. Conspiracies don't exist, therefore there are no meetings.

You see the power of skillfully marketed words?

[Generic Other]

22. Jack Anderson didn't take any shit from anybody!

I remember him taking on the Establishment many times. Didn't he even have a brief television show? Did you ever appear with him on tv, Bev? My foggy memory keeps thinking he had a young blonde protege before he retired. Maybe you?

We need a whole new generation of "muckrakers" just like him. I'm impressed that you worked with him.