Yesterday: I wrote a polite message to my representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene, on her website, urging her to support ongoing funding for NPR and PBS because “they model a saner mode of discourse that promotes the ongoing civic health of our fine republic.”
Also yesterday: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene accused NPR and PBS of having a “communist agenda,” of being “one of the founders of the trans child abuse industry,” and of “sexualizing and grooming children.”
Also yesterday: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene told a journalist from the UK, “We don’t give a crap about your opinion and your reporting. Why don’t you go back to your country?”
I cannot pretend I’m overly confident that my representative will find my commendation of sane discourse especially persuasive.
Two quick addendums:
First, plenty of public-spirited and principled people hold that the federal government has no business funding media sources when so many alternatives exist. Plus, others argue, any fair construction of the Constitution suggests that media funding falls outside the federal government’s proper scope. These are not unreasonable arguments, and they deserve our consideration even though I finally do not find them ultimately persuasive. My point in this salty little post falls under the umbrella of commentary on the state of our civic discourse rather than whether the Constitution cannot abide funding Elmo.
Second, MTG’s website imposes a 500-character limit on constituent messages. Characters, not words. For context, this very brief post has well over 1,500 characters. This may be standard for our nation’s representatives’ websites; I can’t be sure. Regardless, 500 characters is far too little space to convey one’s thoughts meaningfully. I’m quite sure I’ve had pre-coffee morning yawns of over 500 characters. Clearly, the purpose of MTG’s comment section is not to engage with constituents’ reasoning but simply to register a binary opinion—yes or no. Because that’s the world we choose to live in at the moment.
