I found this link to a post by Jay Rosen at Instapundit. It's a good post and I recommend you read it. For posterity, here's the comment I left after reading Oliver Willis' comments:
Your decision to interpret the problem as one of religion is interesting, especially considering that most of Big Media's problem isn't skepticism, which is understandable in any system of belief, but cynicism. Skepticism is expected within the church and much effort is expended to deal with it, but cynicism is hopelessly nihilistic. When it comes to belief, it's one thing to state, "I don't understand." It's entirely another to state, "What a load of crap you liars are peddling."
If I may, I'd like to trump Mr. Franken's (and many others) statement that they are a citizen of the world by noting that I am a citizen of the universe! I mean, why be limited by mere planetism or galaxyism? But seriously, the problem I have with such a statement is that it assumes one can divorce oneself entirely from one's historical and cultural context. I'll leave aside for the moment whether that is practical, but not the question of what form such a detached state of "enlightenment" might be. What exactly is a citizen of the world? And what is the basis of its morality?
There seems to be a serious epistemological question underlying Mr. Franken's desire to question the veracity of all sides equally. How does he know what he thinks he knows? I am profoundly skeptical of official sources, but I have come to learn that even official American sources can be trusted to a point on almost everything. What level of trust can we assign to anything the terrorists say? Does Mr. Franken truly believe they operate on the same plane?
I must admit that I find the hubris associated with being a self-proclaimed citizen of the world somewhat incongruent with the humility displayed in every news report that mentions the reporter's name at least three times. Such detachment!
On another point, I almost pity Oliver these days, thinking that yelling the loudest somehow equates to being right. Jeez, I guess might really does make right, huh? But, perhaps that is a good stance for a cynic who has abandoned all pretense to objectivity to take.
My apologies for rambling a bit.
I do most of my work in comments these days. Is it a good idea to post them here like this? Or am I unfairly abusing the goodwill of my betters?