New York Times Will Never Appreciate the Fourth of July

by Chriss W. Street

The Fourth of July weekend is a time when we Americans expect our 1400 newspapers to take a reprieve from their endless ridicules and criticisms to dutifully celebrate all that is good in our nation. We look forward those beautiful front page pictures and stories about patriotic parades down Main Street and glorious fireworks displays. We appreciates the Op Ed letters that express heart-felt thankfulness for the sacrifice of our troops serving in harm’s way; uplifting stories of the values that unite us as a beacon for freedom, and tales of rugged individualism that define our spirit. But there will always be one tabloid that will stand alone in failing to appreciate the true meaning of Fourth of July; the New York Times.


When the Times refers to itself as: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”; the paper expects all the unwashed proletariat must show subdued homage to the superior intellect. For this July Fourth weekend, they have achieved a new pinnacle of negativism and defeat. In contrast to joyous patriotic faire; the Times offers a despondent middle-aged woman bowing to a symbolically torn American flag forlornly fluttering in the total desolation of tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri.

Having established a morose mood; the Times stifles our spirit with Front Page headlines; American Folly”, “Declaration of Endurance, and “Fears of Declining”. Having sufficiently documented America as a despairing empire; Times Op Eds indict our moral decay with: “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt”, “It Gets Even Worse”, and “Corporate Cash Con”.

“The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt” introduces us to the “absurdity” of U.S. military veterans who often suffer pangs of “survivor guilt” for leaving their combat units when they return home from war. The writer analyzes “just how irrational those feelings are” with the help of 19th Century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; who is most famous for his belief in existential nihilism that confirms life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value; consequently God is Dead. Nietzsche describes such military self-doubt as due to a “bad conscience” for what “I ought not to have done.” Having thoroughly defamed our military; the Times offers no fair and balanced opposing writer to extol the virtues of our sons and daughters who risk the ultimate sacrifice to answer to the high moral callings of honor, duty, and valor.

“It Gets Even Worse” viciously slanders the success of Southern states, whose voters have become so disgusted with the lack of Federal law enforcement against Mexican drug cartel violence, they are expelling illegal aliens on their first felony. The Times derisively refers to this will of the voter enforcement of laws already on the books as: “do-it-yourself anti-immigrant schemes”. Preaching from their imperial high floor perch in their Manhattan tower; the emancipated Times editorialists have expunged the racist term “undocumented workers” for “people without papers”. The Times is extraordinarily frazzled over the success of local law enforcement initiatives that “make it impossible for people without papers to live without fear”. Examples of these fearful acts include use of federal E-Verify database to screen for legal workers, issuing moving violations to “coyotes” engaged in human trafficking, and efforts by rural politicians and farmers to recruit and train hard to employ ex-convicts for agricultural work.

But no Times holiday edition would be complete without Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman lecturing on the evils of tax cuts. In the “Corporate Cash Con” the Professor snarls over Congressional negotiations for a “repatriation tax holiday” to encourage half of the $2 trillion in after-tax profits held by American corporation’s in off-shore subsidiaries (including Apple’s $12 billion, Google’s $17 billion, and Microsoft’s $29 billion) to flow into America at a reduced tax rate. Krugman dismisses this type of business incentive as “primitive” trickle-down economics; even though such a move would generate tens of billions of taxes and dramatically stimulate capital investment. As Jim Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy stated: “For every $1 billion that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly.” And therein is Professor Krugman problem; he squandered his Nobel credibility to justify the $5 trillion in deficit spending that savaged America’s credit worthiness, but failed to generate job growth. The Professor continues to stridently argue: “What our economy needs is direct job creation by the government”; but he laments: “trickle-down is clearly on the ascendant — and even some Democrats are buying into it.”

As I sit here with family and friends enjoying a dazzling fireworks finale I know there are two constants in our nation on this Independence Day; the indomitable spirit that has made America the greatest nation on earth continues to flourish and the New York Times will once again have missed the message this year.

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Posted Jul 5th 2011 at 11:25 am in Media Criticism, News, Politics | 55 Comments