Jan 12 2008
Disturbing news about Matt Taibbi
Some of you who follow politics are probably familiar with journalist Matt Taibbi, whose gonzo journalism I admire quite a bit. I’ve written before about his takedowns of 9-11 conspiracy theorists and John McCain. Now, although I’m not following the WGA strike as much as others do, I’m a pretty strong supporter of the labor movement. So, naturally, I was a bit bugged by the news that Taibbi’s crossed the picket line to appear on the Colbert Report. From Scholars and Rogues:
For Taibbi, a guy who has made his career slaughtering sacred cows and speaking truth to power, to cross the line is a serious jab in the eye to the writers and their supporters. It doesn’t bother me if some no-name actor or D-list celeb does it, because these people are about nothing but promoting themselves and hawking whatever crappy movie they’ve got going anyway. But someone like Taibbi should know better. He may not care about it, but to every writer that’s refusing to play the game any longer and doesn’t have the spotlight like he does, his appearances say “Yeah, I don’t give a fuck about you and what you’re doing. I got mine, and that’s all I care about.”
Harsh, indeed, and perhaps it’s not as big of a deal as S & R makes it out to be to some, but it bothers me a little. But you know, there was something in the comments of that post that was quite spot-on:
Dear Entertainment Writers on Strike: Recently returned to so-called civilization from the canyons of Utah, I had the opportunity, after long hiatus, to enjoy the product of some of your writing as it gets shoveled into the American maw via television (no TV in my house). What a feat, this writing. It evidenced so much that was stale, false, crass, violent, foolish, salacious, gimmicky, irrelevant, sycophantic, complacent, compliant -it was, in short, the perfect distraction in a dying republic fast on its way to tyranny, the gift that keeps on giving to a government that would hope to turn the screw on free-thinking citizens. In other words, writers-you keep on striking!
Behold: The entertainment will grow cold and grey as the corpse that it already is, with no new cadavers to puppeteer for the newness of each season, where nothing is as new as the recycled dead from the last season. Like Plato’s chained slaves in the cave of shadows, let the viewers wake up, walk into the light, starved for reality-oh writers, let no new entertainments issue from your minds! You may just save the Republic.
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I was dismayed that Colbert and Stewart were on TV at all. I watched one of the Colbert episodes to see what was up (they made fun of the whole situation that they’re in with no writers), but I’ve been boycotting watching anything new where I know there’s strike-breaking going on (the late night TV shows, etc.). Someone’s gotta wise up out there and negotiate something before this ends up very badly IMO.
I don’t have a tv, so this really isn’t affecting me personally, but I definitely support what the strikers are striking for.
>> Harsh, indeed, and perhaps it’s not as big of a deal as S & R makesI agree.I don’t know what Taibbi’s deal is but I support him in this tough situation. It’s not like he’s anti-union or doesn’t support the strikers, or is telling a proverbial F-U to them. I bet there’s something we don’t know about his decision, what pressure he may have face from Rolling Stone, Colbert may have been under pressure for something and MT wanted to help, who knows! I’m just guessing. All I’m saying is Taibbi is smart and not a dickhead to labor. There’s gotta be something else we don’t know. At least S & R coulda found out.
Oh, you’re giving him way too much credit. Either he crosses the picket line or he doesn’t. Taibbi hardly seems like the kind of guy who’s gonna let someone else call the shots for him or make him go against principle. I think it’s more likely he found self-promotion more important than solidarity with the strikers. Not really that hard to see.
Hey, it’s a blog reporting on Taibbi’s "alleged" actions. There’s always more to the story and until I see the evidence, he’s innocent until proven guilty, especially for a classy guy like Taibbi. Go see Sunday night’s episode of Bill Maher’s "Real Time" and watch Taibbi pick apart the media AND Tony Snow. Superb!
Did he show up on the show or not? There’s nothing "alleged" about it, bro. He fucked up. I’m not saying he’s a bad reporter. Just hypocritical.
Taibbi’s a pretty refreshing voice during this 2008 election blitz. Check out how he jabs both sides of the political aisle:
http://hamptons.plumtv.com/videos/matt_taibi_2008_election
KC… I love Taibbi’s writing and am plenty familiar with it. I just don’t like what he did here. Thanks for the link.
JD, what/who was the blog’s source about that picket line cross?
I don’t know. Was he not on Colbert the other night? Why is this so hard to believe?
This is horrifying. Last month Taibbi wrote about how we should support Obama because he offers hope against cynicism. Then he cynically crosses a picket line to promote his new book, because it will help move units. As KC points out in the comment above, Taibbi is also hanging out in the Hamptons, presumably because he lives there, giving interviews to a VIP channel for rich people. In other words, Matt Taibbi ain’t no punk rebel Hunter Thompson. He’s just a rich New York aristocrat (his dad Mike Taibbi is a rich NBC news hack). Poor Hunter Thompson. To think that he fought so hard just to provide a good job for a pampered, cynical plagiarist like Taibbi.
He’s no Hunter Thompson. I don’t know why people keep comparing him to that. He’s his own unique self. But if you did want to compare him to someone I’d say H.L. Mencken would be the best. But the truth is Matt’s unique in his own ways.
If you’re going to go after Taibbi at least go after Colbert and Stewart as well, right?
Hey, I don’t think what they’re doing is cool, either. But they’re entertainers, not journalists who have made a career of good, hard-hitting lefty journalism. Taibbi is and should be held to a different standard- a higher one.
[...] construe my posting of this as letting Taibbi off the hook for crossing the picket line. He’s still a great [...]