I stopped watching the evening news years ago, so the resignation of Dan Rather is somewhat academic to me. I guess I figured because of the incessant self-regard of journalism, the shame of the forged-documents scandal would be punishment enough. But he was pushed, or maybe he jumped, and even I can agree that it's not much of a windup to a long and visible career. Twenty years ago, as a high school journalism student assigned to read The Camera Never Blinks, I didn't forsee this kind of ending (although, for incessant self-regard, how about that title?). My journalism class also didn't cover the ways journalists can add weirdness to popular culture as Rather did, from the "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" meme to his perky recitation of "dying of a heart attack, dying of breast cancer, dying of a japanese nuclear bomb" in the notorious ECC single of a few years ago. (This record was not well received by CBS, unsurprisingly, but the point was made.) What can I learn from this? Well, I will add to my list of Things I Hope Never Happen to Me:
1. Never wind up on "E! True Hollywood Story" and
2. Never be referred to publicly as "Nixonian." Ouch!