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Dec 11, 2021Liked by Parker Molloy

This seems to be a very widely applicable human trait. Even at the ridiculously low level of a hobbyist group: several times over the last couple of decades, a member of the cat fancy has passed away after being widely criticized for years for their mean-spirited behavior and yet, all of a sudden, now they are dead, those very same critics praise that member for being such a wonderful, warm-hearted person. Drives me up the wall! And it's orders of magnitude worse when it's the mainstream press heaping praise on someone who spent much of their life trying to make things worse for others.

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I'm finally catching up on your excellent writing and want to say, "Bravo!" There's no upside to journalistic whitewashing the legacy of public figures who, as you say, have laid the foundation for the present. And it's not "speaking ill" to report facts and context; that's the job.

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Hear hear. “Warts & all” is what we depend upon the media to deliver.

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I often think people do because they are reminded of their own mortality. There are other motivations too obviously.

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That Harwood tweet. The assumption is the same one the elite press always makes - Social Security always needs to be cut (bonus points for ‘to prevent cutting it in the future’) because it’s bad. Unfortunately the unwashed masses like it so cutting it is brave and tough

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