Longtime US Senator John McCain, the Republican from Arizona whose pro-war record includes aggressively pushing for the illegal invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003, has died. He was 81.
US media worships, above all, US militarism. It’s our civic religion. John McCain is the most prominent avatar of this militarism. Note what he focuses in on here: There are partisan “differences” but so long as we all got together and protected US imperial interests all is well. pic.twitter.com/cBueMxanDF
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 25, 2018
While major news outlets broke into programming to bring viewers word of his death on Saturday evening, a few journalists like Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone offered accounts of McCain’s life that went beyond myopic hagiography.
Anti-war activists like CodePink’s Medea Benjamin, who knew his policy record well and stood proudly against it, offered their condolences:
.@SenJohnMcCain called me a low life scum. I took it as a compliment coming from a man who bombed Vietnamese, pushed for war in Iraq, called for bombing of Iran and supported the Saudi destruction of yemen. RIP
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) August 26, 2018
But journalist Jon Schwarz took note of the many millions of people in countries where McCain waged or advocated for war who had reasons not feel warm, fuzzy, or instinctively mournful by the news:
It’s easy to feel great respect and admiration for John McCain as long as you believe that Vietnamese, Iraqis, Yemenis, etc., etc. aren’t human
— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) August 25, 2018
Meanwhile, media critics Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson offered this pre-spin news brief—titled “Don’t Let the Media Erase McCain’s Far Right Legacy“—as a warning against the inevitable narrative that will dominate the coming days in which efforts to venerate the lawmaker will steadfastly ignore the sizable and documented damage his political career left in his wake:
“McCain has passed,” Shirazi and Johnson write. “Don’t let the media forget the thousands of Arabs and Asians he helped displace, injure or kill. Their lives mattered too.”
Defying Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One
Inauguration Day is coming up soon, and at Truthout, we plan to defy Trump’s right-wing agenda from Day One.
Looking to the first year of Trump’s presidency, we know that the most vulnerable among us will be harmed. Militarized policing in U.S. cities and at the borders will intensify. The climate crisis will deteriorate further. The erosion of free speech has already begun, and we anticipate more attacks on journalism.
It will be a terrifying four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. But we’re not falling to despair, because we know there are reasons to believe in our collective power.
The stories we publish at Truthout are part of the antidote to creeping authoritarianism. And this year, we promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation, vitriol, hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please show your support for Truthout with a tax-deductible donation (either once today or on a monthly basis).