I n his thoughtful contribution to the symposium on frum journalism in the Pesach issue Rabbi Avi Shafran makes the important point that alongside an unabashed commitment to Torah ideals in choosing which topics to cover and how to cover them it’s crucial for Torah-faithful media outlets to eschew chauvinistic reflexive identification with any one political party or ideology. As he put it “A mesorah-respecting medium must not adopt an attitude that conservatives or liberals or Democrats or Republicans or the United States or Israel or even observant Jews are always right or always wrong. Because they’re not.”
This is a topic that has been much on my mind in recent times as I’ve watched with deep dismay one American societal institution after another jettison ostensibly deeply held convictions in matters of policy politics and — most distressing of all — basic morality and decency. It happened in the political realm with elected officials and political thinkers in the media world with radio talk-show hosts and columnists and with astonishing speed and intensity among the evangelical leadership.
For some it was a willingness to be compromised to look away to downplay or offer mealy-mouthed rationalizations that to use Bret Stephens’s phrase “acted as bathroom deodorizer to mask the stench of” the truly odious. But for others it went far beyond a mere deficit of moral courage. It was instead an outright shameless selling of one’s soul for ratings for access and career advancement or a hoped-for seat at the table of power.
There has long been a disturbing tendency among some in our community and in certain corners of the frum media world to treat the right wing in American politics as “our side ” and the personalities who people it whether behind the microphone the halls of government or in some D.C. think tank as “our people.” They’re not.
