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The Quatto Zone
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Only Thing I'll Write About This
Sometimes you can be too close to something to write about it well, so I'll encourage you to continue reading better pieces about the resignation of General McChrystal from pros who have a good grasp of the basic situation, like David Brooks or the BBC's John Simpson. But here goes.
The most striking fact of this incident won't be found in the pages of Rolling Stone, although I won't blame you if you buy it for the cover (right). What is most significant is that media hype drove admirable policymakers to decide to change leaders in less than 48 hours. Perhaps that's a demonstration of decisiveness, but -- if so -- media owe the deciders and the public something better than what they got in this case.
Readers of the blog will know that I'm critical of media failures but I'm no enemy of the press -- at least, I wasn't a few days ago. The degree of transparency afforded to journalists covering the war in Afghanistan has been unsurpassed. I would like to believe that the public's understanding of the war has been improved as a result of this access; however, it's much tougher to believe that now. Looking back, I see too many similar cases where access has been manipulated to pursue predetermined agendas, caricatured to emphasize its most sensational aspects, or squandered by lazy instincts to follow the herd. It may be too early to tally the effect of our media culture on national security policy and its implementation in Afghanistan. This week, the human cost, to our shame, is all too evident.
The reporter has made a show of professing his integrity, mostly by pointing out that he hasn't been challenged. Maybe that's simply because, for a dwindling number of people on this planet, there are more important things than covering your own ass. When you've given offense to those you serve and admire, apologizing and taking responsibility for mistakes come first. Righting wrongs done to you in the process comes second, if it ever comes at all. Sometimes staying true to yourself is more important than having the right PR strategy, even in the face of a hatchet job.
The most offensive comments appearing in the Rolling Stone article -- by what I believe were a few people of relatively low rank and limited experience with reporters -- were inappropriate and deserved rebuke. They should not have been made in the presence of a reporter, regardless of the ground rules in place. But no extended exposure to staffs at any level of government could have failed to produce the kinds of comments reported in the piece: comments made not out of ingrained malice toward the Constitution, but out of a kind of sour humor that emerges under conditions of intense work and constant scrutiny. That doesn't justify the remarks, but it puts them squarely in the realm of the forgivably human -- which is to say, somewhere below the level at which senior military and civilian leaders must keep up appearances.
In the end, no unanswered questions about the quality of the article or the nature of the offense impeded a rush to judgment everywhere at once, which is fairly damning evidence of how much media have conditioned us to react before we think. The article that prompted General McChrystal's resignation did not even hit the stands before media personalities arriving on scene with promo copies of the piece in hand decided that he had to go. It did not need to happen this way. With the rapid rise of Rolling Stone and the sudden fall of General McChrystal, journalists and public servants who consider their positions a sacred trust have made it harder for themselves to hold out against the barbarians of secrecy, superficiality or sleaze. Once we stop to breathe on this story, we need to ask ourselves why.
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