Much less trust them to inform me of important world events. Or any events for that matter.
I mention that because I see, on internet websites, news of a WaPo poll that found the vast majority of Americans oppose altering the bodies of minors in the name of 'no gender that we can see.' Most Americans also hold the old timer view that gender is a thing where the male and female of the species is concerned.
Not a single network news station I follow, either national or local, mentioned the poll. I've found few national level press outlets in general - apart from the WaPo - that have mentioned it. Do you really, really, really believe that if the poll found overwhelming support for transgender activism, it would have been passed over by the press? My guess is it would have been a top of the first hour, headline story for days.
As it is, the facts don't support the lies, therefore they are ignored. Again, how many times do you have to be lied to in order to stop believing the source that keeps lying? What's the old saying, fool me once? At this stage, if you believe the moderns press it's on you.
“He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21.7-8
I always liked that. Somehow just throwing in 'and all liars' makes it all the more emphatic. As if to say all those who practice such horrible things will not enter into the New Jerusalem. Oh, and that includes all liars.
It's even more noticeable in the Greek. In the Greek, the cadence is 'the cowardly, and faithless, and polluted, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars.' Get that? And this and that and this and that and all liars. The word 'all' (Greek pas, meaning 'all' or 'every') is put here, and here alone, to modify liars. The importance of Truth being one of the most important parts of life.
Which is why that line from the movie Excalibur is a favorite of mine. When Arthur asks what the most important virtue of knighthood is, Merlin responds that it must be truth above all. After all, Merlin says, when a man lies he murders some part of the world. Given that standard, I'd say the modern news media more than deserves its place among history's greatest mass murderers.
(Tom New Poster)
ReplyDeleteFreedom of the press was never about truth: as per Milton's "Areopagitica" (1640s), it's about the right to advance a narrative not approved by the powers that be. Journalists have always had a dubious rep, whether in the London of Johnson or Chesterton, the Paris of Balzac, or the America of De Tocqueville, Twain or Mencken. During the mid-20th century, that rep improved for a time (justifiably or not). There seemed a more professional separation of reportage from editorializing 1930-1980 (although the editorializing was always liberal). That has disappeared and old habits have returned, and now rather than challenging the powers that be, the press aligns with them.
I think one of the contributors over at GetReligion (maybe Mattingly?) once pointed out that journalism was never 'unbiased' as we think of the term. Everyone sees things a certain way. I think you're right that, for a time at least, there was an attempt to be more objective. But even when not, the big difference was that the variety of press outlets often had differing biases. By the post-war, late-20th Century, however, increasingly they all shared the same biases, thus you were only getting a shrinking amount of information since there were few standing outside of the herd think.
Delete(Tom New Poster)
DeleteThe point you make about a variety of outlets was observed also by De Tocqueville. It still seems truer of the British press. But a new factor is education: the old gumshoe reporters replaced by kids with a BA (or BS) in Journalism, especially from Big Name U. The old gumshoes did not kiss up to the powerful, in the name of "access".
There's a reason for the meme: "however much you hate journalists, you don't hate them enough."
ReplyDeleteSemi related to your point.
https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1659949247641395202?t=ULxCKEYQZRrXhYU7Vbbsrw&s=19
Oh, it's amazing to watch the press become full blown propaganda organ. I've actually seen a little less of the hype going into June as before. Not that I haven't seen it. I think partly because now Asian heritage month (this month) has taken up more space than in the past, mostly with how Asians endure the horrors of American racism to do great things. There is only so much space in a paper or time in a broadcast after all. Though I imagine promotion of Pride will also have to fade toward the end in order to celebrate Juneteenth, that special day when the last slaves miraculously became free.
DeleteNote that "gender affirming care" is always used to discuss the various in vogue surgical mutilations, particularly in relation to children. Even "sexual reassignment surgery" takes a position that sex can actually be reassigned, but at least you can argue that it is a "neutral" term while keeping a straight face. "Gender affirming care" is blatant and ridiculous propaganda, but it has been universally adopted by all mainstream news briefs. (This is part of what makes it obvious that Fox News is controlled opposition; they use this term too. Just like how Fox News will describe abortion as "reproductive rights," President Trumps ban of travel from unstable regions with high incidences of terrorism as "a ban on travel from several Muslim-majority nations," etc.)
ReplyDeleteIt's been noted how the press has, in almost complete harmony, adopted the 'gender affirming' label in preference to the older 'gender transformation' or similar labels. That's because every attempt to find Americans in full favor of performing such things on minors has fallen flat. Note also that the great objection is now 'it's a lie, nobody is performing surgeries on children'. Only a year or so ago, it was 'nobody is performing surgeries on minors.' Note the change in terms. This also goes along with the assurance that nobody would ever seek to influence children's gender identity without parental involvement. Now, more and more are openly saying parents should never be able to prevent their children from doing what they have to do to survive (for this, like the broader LGBTQ movement, must always end in suicide if society doesn't affirm and conform). I can't imagine what else this movement could do to say 'hey, look at this, it's evil!', but there probably is something.
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