Purging NPR.

Totalitarian movements have a history of starting small, growing larger … and then purifying itself via purges of its ranks until its leaders are left with a steel core – a cadre - of true believers who are capable of virtually anything. The Nazis went through this phase; the Communists went through this phase.

It now appears that NPR is going through this phase. The political polarization in the US is worse than I have ever seen in in my more than 6 decades of life. On the Left we see what kind of a country we will have when it is in total control of the federal government. On the Right we see a popular uprising against the political takeover of ever more aspects of our lives represented most dramatically by the people who represent “middle America” via the Tea Party Movement.

To counter this populist reaction, the Left is purging its ranks of those who are not totally committed. NPR is composed for the most part of committed Leftist but there are some there who had a foot in both camps. Juan Williams is one; he is now purged. Mara Liasson is on the hit list if the arbiters of political purity at Media Matters have their way.

Professor William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection makes the point that FOX News, the press organ most hated by the Left, and which is accused of being the monolithic voice of the Right, is much more inclusive that the organs of the Left:

“No conservatives are trying to prevent people from appearing on NPR, but liberal interest groups and their media outlets are trying to prevent people from appearing on Fox News.”

(Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds)

It will be interesting to see if the purge has the intended effect; that is, to create a solid cadre of die-hard propagandists who will eventually dominate public information. That seems unlikely absent government intervention.  The Liberal hive once had that hegemony when there were only three TV networks and the Internet did not exist. It seems that the Left is now making the mistake that the military often makes, fighting the last war. The military learns from its mistakes because it lacks ideological blinders. Not so the Left.