cafn8ed daily

Presidential Criticism

Recently several people have written to ask us about a viewpoint TR had on criticism of the presidency. This quote was part of an editorial he wrote for the “Kansas City Star” durning World War I.

“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.”

“Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star”, 149
May 7, 1918

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal tries to tell us how to succeed on YouTube and, overall, in online video. These things will not change. Popularity in online video will be determined to a great extent on the same criteria as offline video: production value, story, attractiveness. There are those who would eschew these attributes as outdated, and to them I say, then, you are not creating video with a mass market appeal, you are creating art. Videoblogging may be considered an art in this context, and as such, not specifically or intentionally popular. The long tail thing. Which is fine, for those who do not aspire to a mass market. As 99.9999% of artists are never popular, and sometimes only viewed by a single person, (the artist), or a small handful, they are the traditional, quintissential long tail. It has been said that there have been no new story lines since Shakespeare, and that may be true. It is also true that online video is not a ‘big media-buster’, it is merely another means of distribution, and as such, is useful for the long tail as well as the popularity-seekers.

The first time is always nerve-wracking. Saying just the right thing….provocation, or thoughtfulness? So many possibilities. I don’t write, so this will all be new. Perhaps I will hold forth on current events, perhaps on historical, maybe on my mundane existence. We’ll see, I guess.