Was reading this and this follow-up (and the first comment on that follow up is also worthwhile). Then went onto a different article (same basic topic). Followed up with a couple (not so racial) articles about the right's anger and its misplacement.
That's a lot of reading, but the sum total starts to get at what is a complex, somewhat disturbing, and very anti-democratic trend. But what I see as the most important part of this has to do with the coverage and attention to protests directed at Obama. Protests which are completely devoid of reason (or compassion); which are purely emotional, with that emotion being rage. So what I would like to know is: why this rage is driving the media?
After Bush was granted the White House by the Supreme Court in 2000, and then again in the run up to the invasion of Iraq, there was quite a bit (maybe as much or more) rage and anger on the left. I would argue that there was a hell of a lot more factual basis upon which to pin that anger (in the end Gore was proven to have won Florida; Iraq has been shown to be a huge waste of time and money and a diversion from actually tracking down Osama bin Laden...). The media throughout Jr's administration, however, was far more a champion of the administration position, and those angry protesters were by and large described as fringe and crazy, when even mentioned at all.
It is disturbing to me that the right wing is given far greater credibility than the left by our "liberal" media. People's perceptions are altered by this strange dynamic, just look at how the news organizations are perceived: MSNBC (with Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan) is frequently described as the equivalent of Fox news (which boasts no liberals) for the left but they are really a CNN for the left (left 1 to right 10: Fox is an 8.5, CNN a 6 MSNBC a 4).
Crazy left wing that called Bush Hitler and worse: largely ignored by media, denounced by liberal politicians and pundits.
Crazy right wing calling Obama Hitler and worse: displayed on tv/newspapers incessantly, and pandered to by conservative politicians and pundits.
Facts and common sense have a left wing bias.
2 comments:
Jacob,
A few thoughts. Most people on the right see it the other way. Some "crazy" protesters are used to indict opposition to the president. Indeed, Carter calls them "overwhelmingly" racist. Even Obama distanced himself from those comments. As far as attention, I think the media painted left wing protests (think Cindy Sheehan) more favorably then the right wing ones. That is until she started opposing Pelopsi, then she was nuts.
It would also help if the Democratic leaddership didnt draw attention to the protests (Pelopsi, Gibbsey, etc).
That being said, anytime the public expressed its opinions (weather or not they "make sense"), I think its a victory for representative democracy. They dont have to "make sense" for people opinions to be as valid as mine. If they dont make sense, its your job to tell people why you disagree.
But, Michael, my point is actually that the opinions of right wing protesters are far more represented by the media and heard by their politicians.
More, while Cindy was/is probably a little out there, she was protesting against a war many saw as unjust, oh, and that *killed her son*. It was specific, founded on a reality that was both emotionally and rationally sound, and was still largely ignored or treated as a novelty. Politicians did not come to her defense, news organizations did not talk up Bush (at the time) as "losing the support of the people." That meme didn't come out for Bush until his approval ratings dropped into the 30's, and the 50.1% of the popular vote was a "mandate."
The Carter thing is further proof of my point. After he said that all these left wing politicians and news organizations are distancing themselves and saying how wrong it was for him to say that. That is a conservative media bias. That is the problem.
Conservatives are allowed to be taken seriously even when they are crazy idiots. Liberals can only be taken seriously if they distance themselves from crazy idiots on the left and respect those on the right.
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