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When journalists worship violence

Speaking of violence, as we were here just yesterday, there was a remarkable letter published on the Romenesko journalism website that explains an important reason -- although not the only one -- why the devastating Wikileaks disclosures about the conduct of the Iraq war have not been as big story here at home as it has been overseas. The letter is from John Parker, a former military reporter who now teaches journalism at the University of Maryland:

The career trend of too many Pentagon journalists typically arrives at the same vanishing point: Over time they are co-opted by a combination of awe -- interacting so closely with the most powerfully romanticized force of violence in the history of humanity -- and the admirable and seductive allure of the sharp, amazingly focused demeanor of highly trained military minds. Top military officers have their s*** together and it's personally humbling for reporters who've never served to witness that kind of impeccable competence. These unspoken factors, not to mention the inner pull of reporters' innate patriotism, have lured otherwise smart journalists to abandon – justifiably in their minds – their professional obligation to treat all sources equally and skeptically.

That's an important reason the Wikileaks story has been mostly ignored, but far from the only one. America has become a nation that is almost structurally incapable of self-examination, and that is something that will only make us weaker --not stronger -- down the road.