Left/Right Loons
Regarding the Mayor Nagin idiocy, here’s another angle that I hadn’t considered, but which does indeed seem spot-on: when Pat Robertson went bat-crap loony with his “God’s vengeance” spiel a couple of weeks ago in reference to Ariel Sharon’s health, the media went into overdrive, beating itself into a righteous, frothy lather, trashing him (and rightly so) soundly. But notice: when Mayor Nagin utters roughly the same hateful words — this time equating God’s vengeance with destructive hurricanes — he seems to be given quite a pass and the media instead focus all their energy on his “chocolate city” remarks. Well, sure, that was stupid, too, but at least he attempted to backpedal the black/white stuff, while allowing the God’s Wrath stuff to hang out there. Mayor Nagin even tried to link God’s Hurricane Wrath with America’s presence in Iraq. Earth To Media: it is hypocritical to roast Pat Robertson on a stick because he’s “conservative” and white, while allowing Nagin to get away with it because he’s black and a Democrat.
Also: great graphic!
While it’s tempting to pull the “biased media” card, I think it’s just a matter of our tendency to spotlight only one outrage at a time. Nagin invoked *both* divine retribution and racist ideolology in practically the same breath. While many people are easily upset by claims of holy insight, many more people are easily upset by anything having to do with racism. Even worse was that Nagin implied that a “chocolate” New Orleans is what God wanted, handily mixing both outrageous statements into one easy-to-target bit of lunacy.
Let’s face it - we expect Pat Robertson to say the things he says. He’s a television evangelist, and occasional controversial statements are part and parcel for his type. But a black politician advocating segregation because God wants it? Now *that’s* news.
Had he not said anything at all about the racism issue, I’m quite sure everyone would have cheerfully nailed him to the same cross that we used for Robertson.
Joe, “biased media” card? Are you saying the media isn’t biased? BTW, welcome to our planet.
I use the term “biased media card” the same way I use “the race card” - many people tend to play them on far more hands than they should.
This is not to say that I don’t believe in these things. I agree that we have instances of media bias and racism in this country. I also think that people are a bit quick to make those accusations when in fact it’s just a case of “you don’t agree with me.”
Thus is the life of the true fence-sitting moderate - I tend to take a skeptical view of anything that complains about the “stupid liberal media” or the “stupid conservative reactionary talk shows.” Not outright denial, mind you. Just a dose of healthy skepticism.
amen to that… but isn’t that always the case? republicans can’t get away with anything, and democrats can get away with almost anything. sad really, it would be nice if the media was actually fair.
I used to believe that the media was not biased — but ever since the 2000 Presidential election, I have been reading about media bias and watching much more closely, and have come to conclude that the mainstream media truly is biased to the “left” in most cases.
>>republicans can’t get away with anything, and democrats can get away with almost anything.
Stephen Colbert has just pointed out that the real “chocolate city” is Hershey, PA. Can’t argue with that! Mmmmmm…choooooocolaaaaate!