Diary of a Mad Editor

I just love how some people are only in favor of the First Amendment when it applies to them, but don’t seem too interested in extending that right to others. Case in point: Fox News wants to put the clamps on this small-time independent publisher, Wilder Publications. See, Wilder decided (stupidly, one might well argue) to stick a disclaimer on copies of the Constitution and various other writings about American democracy (Tom Paine). The disclaimer merely reflects the truth that there have been shifts in attitudes and culture since those early documents were written. You know . . . the end of slavery, the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, etc. and that some of those early writings contain passages that may offend modern sensibilities and one should view them in their historical context rather than through a contemporary lense.

Fox News has a problem with this "Un-American" publisher because it feels this disclaimer is a stab at conservative values. I think Wilder is pretty much a joke. The fact that most of their catalog is made up of public domain titles with amateurish covers and that their website is nothing but an Amazon storefront, is enough for me not to take them seriously. But, come on, Fox! Why pick on them? Who’s buying their books? Nobody. No one even heard of Wilder before Fox mentioned them. I certainly wouldn’t be mentioning them on this blog if Fox didn’t make a fuss.

And why is it, Fox thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to edit the history out of history books, but thinks it should be a federal crime to stick a legal disclaimer on a copy of the Constitution? If anyone can explain that to me in such a way that it makes sense, you are smarter and wiser than I am.