Any One Surprised?
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Such a story MIGHT have been a surprise around 1988.
Three problems:
1. The decline in the revenue stream adhering to media outlets means lower salaries for those who produce the text. Which means they have to hire lower calibre people.
2. In our time, people drawn to and remaining withing word-merchant occupations tend to have a particular worldview. The effect of this is enhanced by systematic efforts to exclude others from the profession (see Fred Barnes on the mechanics of that) and by the practice of writing stories with templates (see John Leo on that).
3. See Jonathan Haidt on the left v. the right. The left has a smaller set of foundational concerns and is systematically impaired in understanding their opposition. Most leftists can only caricature the opposition and typically respond to them with non sequiturs.
For these reasons, actually providing fair coverage to disputants is outside their skill set, even when they’re not deceitful people (as they often are; same with faculty members).
Now do truth and facts.
Translated headline, “Professional Liars Lie.”
It’s been this way at least since 1968 when Uncle Walter told Americans we lost the Vietnam War after American Airmen, Marines, and Soldiers defeated the NVA and VC in Tet.
Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Wondering how many of the faux journalists produced by the propaganda factories known as “J-schools” in the last 10-20 years or so will be forced to find real jobs when publishers start using the new AI systems to produce most of their content. The carnage could be significant. Get the popcorn. 🍿
TV: Thank the 24 hour news cycle and the need to put out a never ending stream of “breaking news stories”. They’re bound to make stuff up or skew the facts in order to fill content.
Print: they have to sell papers. Ir rather, get the reader to “click” on the story. It’s a numbers game
Very true, Ezabelle. And played these days, for the most part, by people who lack the ability to think for themselves. As do many, if not most, who read and hear them. A real head-shaker.