When integrity and decorum no longer contain civil discourse

CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

I heard a visiting pundit on MSNBC observe that we now get our news when we want, from whom we want, saying what we want. (Surprisingly candid given MSNBC is among those outlets that specialize in editorializing.)

If you're my age, you'll recall there once was a time when you made time for the news, and most broadcasts went to great lengths to distance themselves from op-ed formats that sounded a lot like news but were not.

News divisions ran at a loss at many networks (especially CBS), and were philosophically independent from network and station ownership.

A long time ago, a news anchor named Walter Cronkite questioned our role in Vietnam. Newscaster opinions were so rare that historians now regard that as a turning point in the war. It wasn't protests and music that turned the tide (though certainly that was some of it), but the power of a trusted establishment voice devoid of hyperbole and full of sense.

Walter Cronkite says it's time to reconsider the Vietnam War  (<1min)

When integrity and decorum no longer contain civil discourse, and we can't impose it, it's only a matter of time before the line between truth and whimsy is so blurred that we find ourselves twisted into knots over trivial matters while the real problems become insurmountable and we start our descent into a historical footnote.

In other words, let's put on our big girl pants, be aware of what's going on around us, and use our heads for something besides a hat rack.

[2014-12-11]

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