John O. McGinnis, Poetic Truths are Everywhere

John O. McGinnis is the George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law at Northwestern University. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also has an MA degree from Balliol College, Oxford, in philosophy and theology. Professor McGinnis clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. John is the author of Accelerating Democracy: Transforming Government Through Technology and co-author of Originalism and the Good Constitution.

John discusses his recent article for Law & Liberty entitled, “’Poetic Truths’ are Everywhere.” This is a comparison of the hit show “The Crown” and a documentary called “What Killed Michael Brown?”. Both were trying to assert their views, both with two different approaches. “The Crown” used historical events mixed with fabricated occurrences to express their views. It is a hit series with many believing how events were portrayed are actually true. By comparison, “What Killed Michael Brown?” is a documentary that presents the evidence and providing commentary. This was initially resisted by Amazon as “controversial” (as if they avoid controversy or something). It is as if no one wants to hear the truth, but want to live in fantasy. 

Philip Sharp in his essay talks about the one voice of persuasion. Ever pay attention and notice that there is practically one message and it is injected into every form of media and entertainment? This is more like collusion than expression, and is indicative that maybe the land of the free is in trouble.