Since switching my satellite television provider last year, I don't get MSNBC news in my channel lineup--not that I ever watched them. In fact, I only know that because I was looking for it during the Olympics so I could catch some hockey.

Nevertheless, I still hear about MSNBC regularly for the most ironic reason--MSNBC has become the news.

The conservative interest probably revolves around the Conanic philosophy of what is best in life--to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of the women.

Not that Keith Olbermann is a woman, but he does exhibit a certain 'bitchiness' which gets worse as his world crumbles around him.

My interest in this slow-motion car crash revolves around the group dynamics. Here's an interesting development.

For those who might be interested – and you have every reason not to be – I am no longer with MSNBC. Three months short of my current contract I sent the following to the boss, Phil Griffin: “Phil, Just wanted to give you the heads up that my situation with MSNBC has become so unrewarding for me that I’ve decided to move on. — Craig”

Craig Crawford was a mainstay at MSNBC, and while decidedly left-wing in his perspectives, apparently not sufficiently orthodox to earn the trust and confidence of his paranoid, hard-left colleagues.

i simply could not any longer endure being a cartoon player for lefty games, just gotta move on to higher ground even if there’s no oxygen

My guess is that the only two things keeping MSNBC intact at this point--NBC's need for a foothold in the cablenews business and the absence of anyone in the cable news business willing to undertake the thankless task of cleaning up the mess and enduring the long climb back into some sort of competitive position.

..or just as likely--no one has a clue on how attract an audience.

So the ship is sinking, careers are going into the toilet, people's worldviews are being challenged in ways not seen since Jehovah's Witnesses saw the calendar tick over to 1915 without witnessing the Second Coming.

This my friends, is how evil--real, horrifying, how-is-this-even-possible evil, begins. It begins with fear of the unknown, develops into paranoia and becomes extreme to the point that everyone is under suspicion and the only way to avoid becoming a target is to demonstrate unflinching loyalty. In this dynamic, that loyalty inevitably gets tested by the demand to sacrifice members of the group. The paranoia spreads, the loyalty tests become more extreme and pretty soon you're calling out lists of people to be shot.

Craig Crawford, his views (whatever they are) notwithstanding, is a man who valued his freedom more than he feared the unknown. Ultimately it is people with this same quality that make it possible to sustain a free society.

Crawford himself will still have to face many challenges--financial, professional and personal, but in the end, the character that allowed him to escape the destructive spiral of MSNBC, will allow him to create a good place for himself.

Good luck man.