The Sarah Palin Emails

OK, I'm a little late on this. But, for those who missed it, the Washington Post and the New York Times are soliciting for 100 volunteers to help them go through the 25,000 or so Sarah Palin emails when Palin was Governor of Alaska. As the Washington Post wrote: "That's a lot of e-mail for us to review so we're looking for some help from Fix readers to analyze, contextualize, and research those e-mails right alongside Post reporters over the days following the release."

Why does this bother me? Because the Washington Post and New York Times are exploiting the liberal proletariat, playing on their political ideology to extract free labor! In that statement I quote above, they are basically admitting that they do not have enough staff to do their job of reporting. Thus, people who have such skills should be able to demand a wage because they are in demand. Instead, they are providing their skill for free. It's part of an insidious plot by Capital that demands that people provide free labor before they get considered for a job. (A common problem in the current job market for recent grads.) The irony is that the WaPo/NYT plot is exploiting the very people that should have been well-schooled in Marxist thought and should be able to identify when they are being exploited. Instead, they are running like lemmings to offer their services. The first guy who volunteered on the WaPo page identified himself as extremely liberal and unemployed. Demand payment! The WaPo may be ostensibly liberal, but it is still part of the capitalist machinery.

In this, I agree with Rick Reilly, the evil sportswriter, who said to journalism school grads: "Don't write for free. Doctors don't doctor for free. Professors don't profess for free." And don't dig up evidence on Sarah Palin for free.