Paul Cantrell on Nostr: On even days, the institution I’m most disappointed in for crumbling in the face of ...
On even days, the institution I’m most disappointed in for crumbling in the face of nascent authoritarianism is the courts.
On odd days, it’s the press.
I’m pretty cynical about businesses and markets — and don’t even get me started on elected politicians. But the press, the courts…for all their flaws and all their rot, for as awful as they’ve always obviously been, they’ve also been vessels of idealism, institutions that attracted people who wanted to bring down tyrants.
The press gave us the “superpredator” scare and aluminum tubes, but they also broke Watergate and broke McCarthy. The courts gave us Plessy and Shelby, but they also gave us Brown and Obergefell. I truly believe both •could• have risen to this moment.
And both are now just a wasteland. The courts slow-walked us into oblivion; the press went into full ostrich mode in 30 seconds flat. Both have far fewer spines than people. https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic/post/3ljkz3aabjk2r
On odd days, it’s the press.
I’m pretty cynical about businesses and markets — and don’t even get me started on elected politicians. But the press, the courts…for all their flaws and all their rot, for as awful as they’ve always obviously been, they’ve also been vessels of idealism, institutions that attracted people who wanted to bring down tyrants.
The press gave us the “superpredator” scare and aluminum tubes, but they also broke Watergate and broke McCarthy. The courts gave us Plessy and Shelby, but they also gave us Brown and Obergefell. I truly believe both •could• have risen to this moment.
And both are now just a wasteland. The courts slow-walked us into oblivion; the press went into full ostrich mode in 30 seconds flat. Both have far fewer spines than people. https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:c7ozmxoc5b2ky4iam2o36uic/post/3ljkz3aabjk2r