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Streetcar Line
Profane Losers
Last week's column on the anti-religious bias of the establishment media still didn't satisfy the need to vent about the subject.
Consider these examples of, well, at the very least insensitivity to (if not sacrilegiousness or profanation of) the deeply held beliefs of some 200 million-plus Americans. They come from samples collected by the Media Research Center for their ballots for "Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The Twenty-First Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting."
-- "I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an ever larger child-abusing religious cult. Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America…. If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you 'Pope.' It's like, if you can't pay your mortgage, you're a deadbeat. But if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're Bear Stearns and we bail you out. And that is who the Catholic Church is: the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia…. The Church's attitude: 'We're here, we're queer, get used to it,' which is fine. Far be it for me to criticize religion." – Bill Maher, HBO.
-- "Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope…. Barack Hussein Obama…won because at a very dangerous moment in the life of a still young country, more people than have ever spoken before came together to try to save it." -- Nancy Gibbs, TIME
-- Speaking of Hillary Clinton: "This woman, as we said, forged into determination and purpose her whole life. As someone said, 'No thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown'." -- Diane Sawyer, ABC, quoting a 17th Century discourse about Jesus Christ.
-- About Obama's Democratic National Convention speech: "You
know, in the Bible they talk about Jesus serving the good wine
last, I think the Democrats did the same." -- Chris Matthews,
as MSNBC host.
Then, of course, there are the less-than "mainstream" but still
influential (and respected by the establishment media) leftist
press, such as this recent screed from the Nation
columnist Katha Pollitt, who the Washington Post called
"the best place to go for original thinking on the left": "One of
the less-examined but needs to be examined issues in the
religious right is their tolerance of wife-battering. Not that
they approve, but they think that it's not something that women
should really stand up to. There's also a strong victim-blaming
streak in religious right literature about this, suggesting that
wife-beating is the natural response of men whose god-given
authority has been questioned."
This is all just, well… uh, nuts. There is no respect for faith, no sense of proportion, no understanding that people of faith, or at least of conservative faith, aren't utterly alien and somewhat dangerous creatures.
Conservatives ought to be accustomed to this by now. But one thing conservatives have not quite figured out is that the disconnect between establishment media and the public on matters of faith is part of a broader disconnect that could do long-term damage to the republic less by harming the faithful public than by harming the media institutions themselves.
The fault is in the media institutions that are failing, of course -- but maybe our warnings can save them from doom.
Here's what I mean: I contend that the desperate decline of print media nationwide is a result not merely of competition from the Internet and of shortened attention spans and lighter reading habits of the public, but also of a growing disgust by the public with what the newspapers and wire services offer.
As the Washington Post significantly cuts back its news staff and as the New York Times loses more and more money and as the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune (and other Tribune Co. papers) face possible bankruptcy, the tendency of conservatives is to say "good riddance." It is no coincidence, I think, that the papers having the most high-profile problems are also the papers that most often are accused of a liberal bias. The bias is so obvious and palpable that it destroys the trust the readers have in the papers, and without trust there is no good reason to read them.
The disconnect evident in the establishment media's botching of religious matters extends, quite clearly, to a disdain by the media of many other cultural aspects of "middle America" -- and middle America reciprocates by not reading the papers.
In the short run, this might be a good thing. Seeing the New York Times' Sulzberger family sweat is a sight to send warm fuzzies through conservative ranks. Seeing the Times fail would feel like sweet revenge for all the double standards, hypocrisies, and meannesses shown by the Times toward conservatives through the years.
Still, I contend the culture suffers if the newspaper industry falters or dies. All around the country, smaller papers are getting smaller -- still profiting, perhaps, unlike the big papers, but only by running thinner issues and cutting other corners, too. And as they do so, they contribute to the dumbing down of American life and to the unfortunate text-message attention-span that terribly mars today's society.
There is something about good citizenship that is far more difficult to form when there isn't a common culture that includes regular readership of common newspapers in which communities can take pride, newspapers that honestly strive for objectivity, fairness, and a good semblance of balance. And because newspapers strive for uniformity of grammatical standards, and for consistent standards of prose and accuracy, they provide a forum for solid information and for reasoned discourse that is usually not matched in the hurly-burly of blogs and websites addressed to discrete audiences and with less-than-uniform standards.
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saleboter| 1.8.09 @ 8:09AM
No one likes to pay to be insulted.
stephanie| 1.8.09 @ 8:12AM
The sad part of this is that alot of the public actually believe the pap that comes from the pages of these liberal rags.
The sooner their demise, the better. IMHO
Robert Rosencrans| 1.8.09 @ 8:23AM
Part of the problem lies in the way newspaper reporters and journalists are trained. They are breed in liberal institutions and rewarded throughout their careers by becoming ever more part of the flock.
Conservative students and employees who would tend to be white males, are weeded out either in the educational process or in the employment process.
As a result of this phenomena, the wrong cows get milked and you end up with curdled cheese for what passes for news.
Rush Limbaugh has coined a term which describes the situation aptly, The Drive-By Media.
Like the ruthless gangsters against that truth that they are, they rush up to an event, shoot off unreliable falsehoods, then drive away, leaving it for others to report the actual news.
These people are simply high fiving themselves on the way to the bottom, not understanding the importance of relaying facts as opposed to liberal spin.
Many of these so called journalists secretly hate America and everyone in it. They are the sub-prime of elitism.
Bill| 1.8.09 @ 8:38AM
Article is on spot. I canceled our subscription to the local paper months ago due to its extreme positions taken during the election cycle. They have called to offer the paper to us free for six weeks. Obviously they need to show circulation numbers to drive advertising dollars and without the revenue from advertising their cash flow starts to dry up. The result is cutting expenses and more questionable reporting.
In order to find reporting that is accurate and balanced I have turned to cable net works.. and not CNN.. as well as web sites such as this for commentary on news.
Middle American values are still strong and ignoring them by the media is a fatal mistake.
Part of the problem is that those of us who grew up in the 60's and the ones who fell into the disconnect of that generation are now in positions of influence in the media and politics. Things may not change until this generation moves on.
Ryan| 1.8.09 @ 8:46AM
What fascinates me most is how often the left appropriates Biblical language and ideas either completely out of context and meaning (as shown in the above quotations); and how poorly they understand the diversification of Christianity in the United States (I have yet to see one who really knows the difference between Calvinism and Armenianism), lumping us all into the dominionist (which is a bit of a fringe idea nowadays) sect. I can't think of the last time a non-"mainstream" Protestant (Baptist, Presbyterian-PCA, Assembly of God, etc) was accurately portrayed in Hollywood (if ever).
Much less a true and accurate understanding of the Gospel and Christ's atoning work on the Cross.
What's neat, though, is that there has been some recent breakthroughs in popular media - Walden Media has taken the Chronicles of Narnia and its ideas VERY seriously, and has put out some pretty good movies lately; not to mention the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its success.
And, of course, crazy Mel Gibson and the Passion.
J David| 1.8.09 @ 9:35AM
A "notebook" laptop with more computer memory power than was on board the first spaceship to land on the moon,that is smaller and lighter than a Sunday paper, and with WiFi can be read anywhere in the big cities, as well as affording workspace on the spot, email, ability to talk to people on the other side of the earth, access to the stock market - live, and with the multi-use phones can even fit in one's shirt pocket...Will continue to render worthless fishwrap obsolete. At least, until an authoritarian government finds it necessary to greatly limit individual access for a variety of nefarious reasons, which they can do at any given moment with little more than a manufactured "crisis" and the push of a couple of buttons...
Jeremiah| 1.8.09 @ 9:47AM
All of you people celebrating that you read you less -- from fewer sources -- need to take a breath and get a grip.
There are people spending millions on this project to discredit the so-called main stream media.
You should ask yourselves why some people want you to have less access to information.
Robert Nowall| 1.8.09 @ 10:41AM
I can live without the New York Times. I can do somebody else's crossword puzzles.
Robert Rosencrans| 1.8.09 @ 10:45AM
Liberalism is it's own religion with all it's subtexts. Any Godless subject you can find, statism, abortion and global warming are just three religious subtexts of liberalism. The liberal media are simply fellow devotees to the biggest secular movement there is, liberalism.
Heather| 1.8.09 @ 10:46AM
Yep. Paper media is not the issue. The ridiculous and laughable level of bias is. Filtering it out while keeping the subscription is no longer an option as it was in the past. A garbage can is the only reasonable filter. I am sure the media feels that the public is simply too low-brow to comprehend this new type of 'journalism'...
Dennis Koziel| 1.8.09 @ 11:13AM
If I ask a journalism student why they are studying journalism, and he/she answers that they want to uncover the truth by reporting facts, I wish them good luck and God speed. If they say they are in it to "make a difference," I tell them to start by mowing my lawn and washing my car. Makes a much greater difference to me and they'll develop better character.
Appleby| 1.8.09 @ 11:16AM
Toronto is fortunate to have The Toronto Sun, a "New York Daily News" type conservative paper (with Eric Margolis, the foam-flecked America-Hater, for balance) to counter the two liberal (Globe and Mail, also known as the Mop and Pail, and National Post) and one socialist (The Toronto Star, known locally as The Red Star) papers. The only paper that calls me, generally speaking with an almost incomprehensible foreign accent, to beg me to subscribe for practially nothing, is the Red Star. It's easy to get them to hang up. I just say, "I read the Sun." End of line.
The newspaper is a big part of my life for two reasons: the sports pages, and those articles I cut out and send to my friends in America to remind them how lucky they are not to live up here.
Ryan| 1.8.09 @ 11:36AM
Hey Jeremiah - I'm actually pretty broad-based in what I read, as are many conservatives. We just don't want to fill our heads with anything that is blatantly left-wing, but tries to have the pretense of "objectivity" that modern journalism tries to front.
Gerard E.| 1.8.09 @ 11:54AM
My Bachelor's Degree Diploma clearly states- Journalism. I have been a news junkie since yea high. I labored in the newsroom's of two network affiliated TV stations in my city. And during the holidays, the Philadelphia Inquirer and I parted ways. I was tired of the unspoken message, delivered daily and effectively on Page 1- Read Our Paper, We'll Make Your Day Gloomy. Tired of its biased and ignorant coverage of any economic trend- up to and including regular features on salaries of local business executives. Tired of an unspoken bias in virtually any so-called news story. Tired of having the occasional conservative- including former Senator Rick Santorum's bi-weekly essay- limited to the Op-Ed ghetto, surrounded by libs. Tired of lifestyles for which I do not support celebrated in both news stories and columns. Tired of having my brain and money taken for granted. I am now virtually an Internet creature, with the occasional tune-in to our all-news radio station- where liberal bias also comes through loud and clear on occasions. Cause of my divorce- irreconcilable differences. Newspapers are like the people who refuse to see that their chronic drinking will lead to an early grave. They push more of the same- with fewer people on payroll pushing it, of course. There may be moments where stories are so dominant, so juicy, that .75 automatically comes out of our pockets- the Phillies' World Series run in Philadelphia, the Blagojevich Follies in Chicago. But day in, day out- no dice. Have a nice life, Inquirer. If you can sustain it.
Brian| 1.8.09 @ 11:57AM
The Washington Post is pleading with readers to come back. I reluctantly subscribe to the Sunday edition because I like the crossword puzzle and the sports section, but we are constantly asked if we want the weekday editions as well for no extra charge.
Not no, but hell no.
When I was a child I was reading the newspapers by age 9. The last thing I want is my child to get a hold of that rag, with the sex columns polluting the "Style" section, the smutty comics and the other trash in that paper.
You want to appeal to hip 20-somethings and geriatric hippies, don't be surprised when normal people drop you.
Trotter| 1.8.09 @ 12:16PM
Um, Jeremiah, your logic (sic) is a tad bit flawed. Because of the internet, people are reading MORE and getting their information from MORE sources. According to you, I guess that not reading the comics section equates to reading less. Hmm, is that how liberals define "anti-intellectualism"?
tony| 1.8.09 @ 12:29PM
What Jeremiah and his ilk fear is not less reading, but access to alternative sources of information. That's why the left will look to impose the so called "fairness doctrine." No matter where you look in the world, you will find that leftist regimes always seek to limit access to information. Witness the latest leftist hero, Hugo Chavez, and how he has clamped down on the flow of information in Venezuela.
In the meantime, here in the US, leftist-approved sources of information such as the NY Times have been exposed as liars (Jayson Blair, Maureen Dowd) and propagandists (the front page). I'm sure we will now be exposed to a Fox News, or "faux news" as clever liberals call it, diatribe. But note that we will not be given any evidence, just assertions and invective.
Richard| 1.8.09 @ 12:37PM
Not to worry....the Democrats will not let their national enablers collapse. If required, the NY Times and Washington post will be delivered to your doorstep free of charge whether or not you want it. Well not exactly free of charge as more "bailout" money will be used to prop them up.
Liberals need stories like Joe Wilson's false tales and Seymour Hersh's anti-American essay's force fed to the public to stay on top. Propaganda that other liberal media work to legitimize and label as the ultimate sources.
Joe B| 1.8.09 @ 1:09PM
I look forward to the day when Rupert Murdoch buys the NYT and the LAT at auction. Then fires all the editors, who can all go off and write webzines nobody reads.
ruth| 1.8.09 @ 2:45PM
Let the major newspapers die. I have faith that better publications will rise to replace them. Actions have consequences, and I fervently hope the NYT, LA Times, WaPo, etc. take the brunt of our outrage at their fecklessness.
Michele San Pietro| 1.8.09 @ 5:22PM
It's really disgraceful how the American media is dominated by the Liberal traitors. It's high time to do something serious about that before it is too late.
J.C.Eaton| 1.8.09 @ 6:00PM
Why the need to read liberal News-treacle for money when I can read Jeri's treacle for free? Best,
Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 7:33PM
anyone willing to say something in public is willing to be a fool.
and BTW all intellectuals are tricksters...
stmichrick| 1.8.09 @ 8:39PM
Jeremiah:
I am intrigued. Please tell me more about the project to 'discredit the so called main stream media.' Particularly, if you would name some of those who are spending millions to do this.
I need a bail-out.
DaveS| 1.8.09 @ 8:40PM
Journalists are bottom-feeders at the university - and yet fashion themselves as near-lawyer quality. [Note: perhaps they are.] The sophomoric biblical references would earn C's at the local college.
Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 9:35PM
Ds not Cs, Dave.
unless grade inflation has gone farther than we know.
Maher's potshots at the Pope is freshman, not sophomoric,
and it always gives me to wonder if some brave soul pointed out that Michael Jackson had fun with TWO boys on TWO separate occasions, and predictably he bought the first one off, then... well never mind this is a family-oriented site. Anyway how has the media positively contributed to adult sexual behavior.
See, this is why I've become tired of hearing about sex, it used to be mysterious and exciting, now it is not even shocking, not even disgusting, it is just boring, nothing can shock anymore.
The only taboo today is to suggest that a taboo ought to exist. And Maher might even be somewhat aware of that, somewhere beneath his brutally professional veneer maybe something of it seeps into his mind. Maybe its mostly just a game for him, like Howard Stern, just a business. He vents a few laughie-laughs, then the script is thrown into the dumpster and he turns out the lights in his office and goes to a restaurant to forget the silly day.
A. Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 9:39PM
pardon,
the potshots at the Pope WERE freshman, not 'is' freshman.
public skool upbringing, sorry.
Anthony| 1.8.09 @ 10:10PM
Gee Jeremiah, why don't you ask your fellow leftist travelers the same question? And was your last sentence a joke on your part? Why indeed do some people want less access to information? Perhaps you can ask your facsists friends on the left that want to tear up the 1st Amendment and impose the "Fairness Doctrine" on us, or haven't you heard about that?
Ran| 1.8.09 @ 10:24PM
"The fall of the daily newspaper is a sad part of the balkanization of the greater society, and that is definitely not a good thing."
Mr. Hillyer,
Balkanization? A more optimistic note... Is it not rather a 'good thing' to have broad diversification across an increased spectrum in the marketplace of ideas? Far more viewpoints are free today to offer themselves to public consumption. Talk radio serves a popular Conservative need, sure, though the Internet serves just about every flavor of political taste imaginable.
It is a dyslexic notion that the demise of certain left-leaning media companies is somehow diminishing media resource access misses the point that there are now more varied resources than ever before beating them in the marketplace.
On the one hand, may we savor a little schadenfreude as Pinky Sulzberger ponces himself off as the heroically self-destructive newspaper magnate Citizen Kane? (Where's my Srad?)
On the other, it was Pinky's failure that drove us (by way of example) to cancel our Times' subscription and to read the New York Sun, wherein we found Mr. Tyrrell, thus TAS and from there a wealth of web-based conservative and libertarian resources.
In other words, failure of the profane and 'elite' establishment is leading to constructive success of those respecting market demands. For those who value liberty and religiously-based moral self-discipline, the market hasn't been this accommodating since perhaps before our lifetimes.
We still don't have a single truly conservative broadcast medium. Fox is about as close as it gets - which accounts for it's success. Gimme broadcast Balkanization! Better, Competition.
Alan Brooks| 1.8.09 @ 10:25PM
Maher calling the Pope a former Nazi.
Does anyone call Gorbachev a former Communist? and Leader at that.
alrighty, Maher is supposed to be asinine, right? that's the whole point? he's just a clown? i should know, Dad used to bring these sort of people over to dinner.
ruth| 1.9.09 @ 12:08AM
Alan, sounds like you had a rockin' childhood--at least you weren't bored.
Alan Brooks| 1.9.09 @ 10:25PM
hipsters, beatniks crawling all over, sometimes on all fours in the cellar.
Alan Brooks| 1.9.09 @ 10:29PM
maybe not boring, but stale
epater le bourgeois is the oldest game in politics
Bob Montgomery| 1.11.09 @ 11:21AM
Not only do they deservedly lose readership, they should also lose Constitutional perks, and if that requires amending the Constitution, so be it.Whenever liberal bomb throwers throw bombs, its laughed off, but Harry Smith and Co. actually hate Ann Coulter. She never physically assaulted anybody in her life. Nowadays, the poor weepers physically attack the Mormon church with no editorial repercussion, but God forbid a terrorist killer gets slapped around.
Alan Brooks| 1.11.09 @ 1:27PM
illiberal oscillation causes inexperienced-- some fresh out of college-- to write less restrainededly than more steadfast cons.
thats their chief flaw. they can have the minds but not he emotional control and, naturally, experience.
Michele San Pietro| 1.11.09 @ 6:11PM
Thank God, there is Ann Coulter. She's one of the very few true Americans left.
Alan Brooks| 1.11.09 @ 9:17PM
and why?
because Coulter doesnt oscillate, she is a conservative who has stood the test of time; about a decade now?