Sunday, July 22, 2007
What a Load of Shift
Good morning, class! And welcome to Neocon Deceptions 101! Today's lesson: Subtly Encouraging Ideological Shift.
One recent trick that has been pushed for all that it is worth is the media's newfound desire to find "balance" on an issue. In many cases, the media will try to find balance on an issue that most people realize already tilts to one side due to such things as facts and evidence. Be it evolution, gay adoption, or giving girls a vaccine against HPV, "both sides" must be heard out, no matter how flagrant the lies of one of those sides is. This is how we got to the point that Soledad O'Brien not only considers it appropriate, but politically relevant, to ask John Edwards his views on evolution.
But now that we've gotten to this place, there are those who try to alter just where on the sliding scale of political opinion those two opinions lie. Case in point: Bill O'Reilly. Recently, Bill found out that JetBlue, which is really, really supportive of conservative causes generally, gave a minor donation to YearlyKos, the annual convention held by DailyKos. And according to Bill, you know what DailyKos is like...
But I say this. There's no difference between the KKK and the Nazis, who have websites, than the Daily Kos. Because the Daily Kos is basically saying, "We're allowing this kind of thing to come on. It's good that Tony Snow has a recurrence of cancer; we hope he dies. We're sorry the assassination attempt against Dick Cheney failed; let them try again." And on and on and on and on.
I mean, this is the stuff that they have every day on this website, and they revel in it.
Now, am I overstating this? Because I think hate is hate, no matter where it is.
Now, first of all, that "hate speech" is random comments left by random nutbags on a rather popular blog. Now, John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory says that a popular website will occasionally attract raving nutbags like honey attracts Pooh. Second of all, keep in mind that the man calling DailyKos a "hate site" is the same man who said that all of Air America should be rounded up and jailed.
Still, as O'Reilly says, hate is hate. So, when he gets challenged, who does he hold up as an example of hate on the right?
Could it be Ann Coulter, who said at a political conference that our national policy should be, "Raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences?"
Could it be Michelle Malkin, who's suggested that Muslims should be rounded up and interred, and who specializes in paranoid rantings against those damned Mohammedans?
Or could it be Michael Savage, who thinks nothing of encouraging genocide on his radio program, and refers to transgendered individuals as "freaks" and "psychopaths"?
Why, no! It's Fred Phelps, the man who even the entirety of the religious right views as an overblown, fanatical nutbag. And of course, Bill has his ideological buddy-boy, Bernard Goldberg, saying that hate is 20-to-1 on the left compared to the right. Tell me, Bernard, does Kos get his own TV show? Does John Aravosis? Does David Neiwert?
But of course, you see what O'Reilly's doing here. To be considered "hate" on the left, you need to run a popular website that attracts its share of idiotic commenters, which basically makes nearly every major message board on the net an example of "hate." To be considered "hate" on the right, you need to protest the funerals of soldiers and be looked at with utter repulsion by anyone who values their soul. And then you repeat it enough times that you hope someone buys it.
And that concludes today's lesson. Join us next time for Putting Your Hands Over Your Ears and Going "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA" Until The Media Goes Away.
One recent trick that has been pushed for all that it is worth is the media's newfound desire to find "balance" on an issue. In many cases, the media will try to find balance on an issue that most people realize already tilts to one side due to such things as facts and evidence. Be it evolution, gay adoption, or giving girls a vaccine against HPV, "both sides" must be heard out, no matter how flagrant the lies of one of those sides is. This is how we got to the point that Soledad O'Brien not only considers it appropriate, but politically relevant, to ask John Edwards his views on evolution.
But now that we've gotten to this place, there are those who try to alter just where on the sliding scale of political opinion those two opinions lie. Case in point: Bill O'Reilly. Recently, Bill found out that JetBlue, which is really, really supportive of conservative causes generally, gave a minor donation to YearlyKos, the annual convention held by DailyKos. And according to Bill, you know what DailyKos is like...
But I say this. There's no difference between the KKK and the Nazis, who have websites, than the Daily Kos. Because the Daily Kos is basically saying, "We're allowing this kind of thing to come on. It's good that Tony Snow has a recurrence of cancer; we hope he dies. We're sorry the assassination attempt against Dick Cheney failed; let them try again." And on and on and on and on.
I mean, this is the stuff that they have every day on this website, and they revel in it.
Now, am I overstating this? Because I think hate is hate, no matter where it is.
Now, first of all, that "hate speech" is random comments left by random nutbags on a rather popular blog. Now, John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory says that a popular website will occasionally attract raving nutbags like honey attracts Pooh. Second of all, keep in mind that the man calling DailyKos a "hate site" is the same man who said that all of Air America should be rounded up and jailed.
Still, as O'Reilly says, hate is hate. So, when he gets challenged, who does he hold up as an example of hate on the right?
Could it be Ann Coulter, who said at a political conference that our national policy should be, "Raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences?"
Could it be Michelle Malkin, who's suggested that Muslims should be rounded up and interred, and who specializes in paranoid rantings against those damned Mohammedans?
Or could it be Michael Savage, who thinks nothing of encouraging genocide on his radio program, and refers to transgendered individuals as "freaks" and "psychopaths"?
Why, no! It's Fred Phelps, the man who even the entirety of the religious right views as an overblown, fanatical nutbag. And of course, Bill has his ideological buddy-boy, Bernard Goldberg, saying that hate is 20-to-1 on the left compared to the right. Tell me, Bernard, does Kos get his own TV show? Does John Aravosis? Does David Neiwert?
But of course, you see what O'Reilly's doing here. To be considered "hate" on the left, you need to run a popular website that attracts its share of idiotic commenters, which basically makes nearly every major message board on the net an example of "hate." To be considered "hate" on the right, you need to protest the funerals of soldiers and be looked at with utter repulsion by anyone who values their soul. And then you repeat it enough times that you hope someone buys it.
And that concludes today's lesson. Join us next time for Putting Your Hands Over Your Ears and Going "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA" Until The Media Goes Away.
