While right-leaning opinions have always been available, the mass media has been predominately lefty for the past half century. People on the right think it’s more lefty than it is, but that’s understandable – where you stand on the political wheel determines your perception of the other sides’ position.
But the ever efficient marketplace changed all that, and moved to fill the near vacuum of conservative viewpoints in the media. It started when Reagan removed the fairness doctrine from talk radio. The right moved in and took it over. This incensed the left, who, for a long time, have pushed to reinstate the doctrine to silence the other side. Much to their dismay L.M. Obama declared he has no intention of bringing it back.
Then came Fox news, which proceeded to suck away a huge percentage of the news watching public, people who were delighted that someone was finally catering to their political POV.
There’s a lot to dislike about Fox, of course, but not as much as the left would have you believe.  In my experience most of the lefties who continually bitch about it have never really watched it. The rest of them watch it with the sole goal of discrediting it. Which is fine, it beats working for a living, but you don’t see them focusing that kind of attention on the lefty media outlets, who are just as dishonest, biased, and hypocritical. Of course, that would be a full time job.
The latest round of whining is just pathetic. Any thinking person, even those who are “pro-life,” agrees that the murder of Dr. Tiller was evil. Yet the left is now declaring that the right wing media, all of it, is indirectly (or even directly) responsible. The dumbest diatribe I’ve seen so far (and the competition for that title is huge) comes from Paul Krugman’s latest column in the New York Times.
Using the Chomsky method of strongly implying things without actually saying them, he first acquits Bill O’Reily of being guilty of directly inciting murder, then blames the right wing media for the recent violent actions by right wing extremists.
He says: “And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.”
Let’s count the plethora of violent incidents that proves this point, shall we?
One: Someone murders an abortion doctor.
Two: A crazy old fart goes nuts in a holocaust museum.
Three: There is no three. Or four or five or six. Hardly a plethora, is it?
Note the weasel words: “seems to have been virtually erased.” Old Noam must be so proud.
But this paragraph really points out his extreme dishonesty:
“Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian†agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).”
Glen Beck reported the rumor, sparked by a viral video, specifically saying it was a rumor and that he’d look into it. He didn’t just “eventually concede;” his reporters did a rather through report about the video making the claim. They tracked down the real buildings in the video, visited them, and proved it was bogus. They thoroughly debunked the claim. That’s just a bit more extensive than “eventually conceding.”
He continues: “The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.”
We are now major stockholders in GM and most major banks. Banks who want to pay back TARP money are being told they can’t. How dare the RNC get it right? (Technically, they’re off a bit. Government ownership on this level isn’t socialist, it’s communist. You might think Krugman, having won a Nobel prize for economics, would know the difference. You would be wrong. What does that tell us about the validity of the Nobel prize?)
The lefty mass media is getting increasingly pissed at any media that leans to the right, and is using these incidents to lump all conservatives – the slightly conservative, the moderately conservative, and the very conservative – in with the tin-foil-hat wing-nut crowd. We can expect more and more of this desperation as they continue to lose their influence and market share.
But we should be delighted that Krugman and his ilk are going off like this. While it will induce bobble headed nodding among some lefties, those with functioning brain cells may finally begin to see their spokesweasels are every bit as clueless and dishonest as many commentators on the right – maybe even more so.
for Father’s day.
