For ordering his men at Gettysburg to keep firing at over
10,000 Virginian infantrymen in what is now known as Pickett’s Charge, Alonzo
Cushing—who died in the battle—was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by
President Barak Obama on November 6, 2014. As a result of that charge, Pickett
lost his entire division. In the 1984 film, Gettysburg,
General Lee tells Pickett after the battle to look after his division. “But
General Lee,” Pickett counters, “I have no division.” Suddenly Lee is
confronted with the true magnitude of his military blunders at Gettysburg. From
this point of view, Cushing’s military honor looks rather different than from
Obama’s point of view. As conveyed by the media, that vantage point enjoyed a
virtual monopoly, and thus the interpretation could easily be taken as true
rather than relative. I submit that much from the political discourse as
sourced or conveyed by the media is projected as truth when it is highly
subjective and thus subject to question and debate.
The full essay is at "Narrowing Public Debate: Political Narrative as Fact"
