Rightwing stridor

Kevin Myers recently weighted in on the Deep Throat outing (bolding mine):

"Whatever the motive, the project was utterly disastrous for Nixon, and nearly as disastrous for journalism. For contrary to what most members of my profession believe, we journalists are not a particularly courageous or morally gifted species and, moreover, are pathologically inclined towards group thinking. And so, inspired by the Watergate example, all over the English-speaking world, young journalists got it into their not very imaginative heads that their primary duty was to expose corruption in government."

Heaven forbid that reporters, instead of simply reporting what the President or Pentagon spokesman tell them, actually try to investigate or analyze information. To do so, would be to be "disloyal." I've gotta tell ya, if I hear this word "loyalty" just one more time, I'm gonna scream (and the sound of Karlo screamin' ain't purdy.) Any perusal of rightwing blogs will find the word loyalty bandied about like a klansman's secret handshake. But loyalty isn't the first word that comes to mind when I think of democracy. For democracy to survive, it needs investigation, accountability, independent thought, dialog, and debate. Loyalty is a fine virtue in certain circumstances, for example, if you're a lapdog or a foot-soldier in a fascist state. Or if you're simply too intellectually and morally feeble to think for yourself. The rest of the time, we get by just fine without it.