KRUGMAN: The Texas columnist’s satire was only the means to an end: holding the powerful accountable.
THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND MORE
THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AND MORE
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Missing Molly Ivins
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 2, 2007
Molly Ivins, the Texas columnist, died of breast cancer on Wednesday. I first met her more than three years ago, when our book tours crossed. She was, as she wrote, “a card-carrying member of The Great Liberal Backlash of 2003, one of the half-dozen or so writers now schlepping around the country promoting books that do not speak kindly of Our Leader’s record.”
I can’t claim to have known her well. But I spent enough time with her, and paid enough attention to her work, to know that obituaries that mostly stressed her satirical gifts missed the main point. Yes, she liked to poke fun at the powerful, and was very good at it. But her satire was only the means to an end: holding the powerful accountable.
She explained her philosophy in a stinging 1995 article in Mother Jones magazine about Rush Limbaugh. “Satire … has historically been the weapon of powerless people aimed at the powerful,” she wrote. “When you use satire against powerless people … it is like kicking a cripple.”
Molly never lost sight of two eternal truths: rulers lie, and the times when people are most afraid to challenge authority are also the times when it’s most important to do just that. And the fact that she remembered these truths explains something I haven’t seen pointed out in any of the tributes: her extraordinary prescience on the central political issue of our time.
--MORE--
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/missing-molly-ivins-paul-krugman.html
Labels: activism, Bush, Iraq, journalism, News, PAUL KRUGMAN, Politics, The New York Times, war
Dangerous Weeks Ahead in the Middle East
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/dangerous-weeks-ahead-in-middle-east.html
U.S. troops kept Iraqi brains in fridge as trophies
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/us-troops-kept-iraqi-brains-in-fridge.html
And More
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/ New website
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/ Alternate website with unique articles
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
MARC PARENT
mparent7777
mparent
Missing Molly Ivins
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 2, 2007
Molly Ivins, the Texas columnist, died of breast cancer on Wednesday. I first met her more than three years ago, when our book tours crossed. She was, as she wrote, “a card-carrying member of The Great Liberal Backlash of 2003, one of the half-dozen or so writers now schlepping around the country promoting books that do not speak kindly of Our Leader’s record.”
I can’t claim to have known her well. But I spent enough time with her, and paid enough attention to her work, to know that obituaries that mostly stressed her satirical gifts missed the main point. Yes, she liked to poke fun at the powerful, and was very good at it. But her satire was only the means to an end: holding the powerful accountable.
She explained her philosophy in a stinging 1995 article in Mother Jones magazine about Rush Limbaugh. “Satire … has historically been the weapon of powerless people aimed at the powerful,” she wrote. “When you use satire against powerless people … it is like kicking a cripple.”
Molly never lost sight of two eternal truths: rulers lie, and the times when people are most afraid to challenge authority are also the times when it’s most important to do just that. And the fact that she remembered these truths explains something I haven’t seen pointed out in any of the tributes: her extraordinary prescience on the central political issue of our time.
--MORE--
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/missing-molly-ivins-paul-krugman.html Labels: activism, Bush, Iraq, journalism, News, PAUL KRUGMAN, Politics, The New York Times, war
Dangerous Weeks Ahead in the Middle East
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/dangerous-weeks-ahead-in-middle-east.html U.S. troops kept Iraqi brains in fridge as trophies
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/us-troops-kept-iraqi-brains-in-fridge.html And More
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/ New website http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/ Alternate website with unique articles CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
MARC PARENT
mparent7777
mparent
Homepage:
