"Calling these folks 'conservatives' is a huge misnomer given their actions are antithetical to democracy. Perhaps that is why they are blamed, shamed and ostracized. Please give us back GOP Classic." - John W. Thomas in letter to Denver Post, 4/24, p. 3D
"The US isn’t one country. The more we believe it is, the less sense our politics makes. By insisting on “the truth” when the truth is diametric from “the truth,” we end up doing a helluva lot more work. We end up doing all kinds of mental acrobatics to make sure “the truth” is true.
Once we drop the idea of America being one country, things make more sense. We do less work, too, because on seeing the US isn’t one country, the source of our problems – our national problems – becomes clearer. That source is the politics of the American south."= John Stoehr, Alternet, How the American South Is Punishing Crimes of Thought and Restricting Freedom of Movement
In their Sunday Denver Post column ('Conservatives Feel Blamed, Shamed, Ostracized', p. 1D, Perspectives) Doron Taussig and Anthony M. Nadler bemoan how assorted conservatives they interviewed feel misunderstood and cast as "pariahs". Well, one wonders what planet these two have been living on the past two plus years, because it sure hasn't been this one. That is the only explanation for how they get the perceptions of this faction of fools so wrong. By which I mean bestowing on their opinions way too much gravitas, and for an academic paper at that.
The two columnists and researchers (out of Ursinus College- a small liberal arts school in PA) insist it needs to be reckoned with because conservatives' trust in media "is low and dropping", oh, and "much of the American Right is hostile toward the press." Anyone figure out how these two might be connected? Come on now, this is not a Mensa admissions question. At the forefront of response we would have that this faction inhabits a different universe, a different reality - from the one the rest of us live in. Which explains why the content we see as facts emerges as fiction to them, or let's just say it, "fake news." That, plus the fact these unfortunates are constantly brainwashed by FOX News, to which they are addicted.
The two authors are correct that "the alienation of conservatives from journalism presents a problem for a society where people are supposed to gov ern themselves using shared information". But let's be frank, the very media universe in which these conservatives dwell is at odds with the reality the normal citizens of this nation experience. Must I give examples? OK, let's start with this entry:
by Bob Burnett | April 18, 2022 - 6:37am | permalink
This is but one piece among a string recently of how FOX home boy Tucker Carlson has been singing the praises of Putin even as he's been laying waste to Ukrainian cities like Kharkev and Mariupol. So we on the side of reality are wrong for backing news - like in the NY Times and WaPo - that rightly castigates Putin? Give me a break. Need more proof? Try out this one:
And this one here, which puts the kibosh on the assorted Concervative claims they are being "marginalized" by the mainstream media.
by Robert Reich | April 15, 2022 - 6:49am | permalink
How can that be when CBS hired one of the biggest pro- Trump blowhards who even referred to Covid as “media hoax” designed to bring down Trump. Which coincidentally is exactly what these delirious conservo dimwits - many or most - believe. And we are supposed to feel sorry for them? Thus you might understand my indignation and even rage when I read this choice codswallop:
"Our interviewees expressed animosity toward the press. But they were not primarily upset that the media got facts wrong nor even that journalists push a liberal policy agenda."
Get facts wrong? Give me a break. Trump Repuke conservos wouldn't recognize a fact if it bit them in the ass. The only thing evidently matched by the columinists- interviewers is their cluelessness in talking to the asswit Trumpers. At least Comedy Central top star Jordan Klepper (yesterday) was shown to have kept his wits about him when questioning autocrat lovers in Hungary and at CPAC. E.g.
Watch CBS Mornings: Daily Show's Jordan Klepper visits Hungary - Full show on CBS
Give Klepper an A when he confronts the douche in the cowboy hat and asks him why he's so enthralled by the likes of Orban. He says: "He's a guy who talks like Trump and that inspires me!" Inspires you? Does a fried cow pie crackling over a TX barbecue also "inspire" you? But the Ursinus duo seem to take everything said by the Trumpers they encounter seriously. As when they asked one:
"Why did the press continue to sound the alarm over Covid-19 with similar fervor after Biden was inaugurated?"
Apart from the fact this was a leading question - almost begging the Trumper to spew garbage, we see this lame answer:
"I wish I knew. That's the ultimate question I don't have an answer for. There's no reason I can see, statistically, legitimately, factually for keeping up that narrative now."
Huh? Is this dolt not even remotely aware of the variants that emerged and kept piling up bodies like cordwood, especially in the moronic red states which refused vaccinations? E.g.
Virus mutations add urgency to vaccination effort as experts warn of long battle ahead
The two interviewers from Ursinus ought to have been ashamed to ask such a dumb question which almost anticipated the spiel of ignorance that issued from the Trumper's pie hole. After Biden's inquguration? What does that have to do with the times of virus mutation or variant emergence? In other words: "Since Biden and the press were hyping the virus to take down Trump, didn't y'all find it funny it didn't stop after he got inaugurated?" That's the real question the two dunderheads asked. This is followed by the genius deduction:
"The views of the 25 people interviewed we did find consistent with the key themes in the conservative media, including the general notion of anti-conservative animus and the specific story line that Covid 19 was overhyped to bring down Trump."
Of course the views and themes meshed, you dimwits! That's given that the Covid overhype bunkum is 'Big Lie 2'. second only to No. 1 - that Trump really won in 2020. Are the mainstream news media outlets part of liberal institutions dedicated to making conservatives into pariahs? Not at all. They are totally doing that to themselves, the centrist (not liberal) media is simply reporting it, from the Jan. 6th insurrection to the extolling of the likes of Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. As well as spreading QAnon horse manure that the Dems are all pedophiles and new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is "pro-pedophile". In other words, if the shoe of the pariah fits, wear it, like you all love to do anyway to piss off the libs.
As for the Ursinus writers, they appear to be as lost at sea as their interview subjects. When I read twaddle like:
"If there's a chance of improving the situation journalists will need to develop strategies for challenging these emotionally powerful stories that portray professional news media as disdainful of conservatives and their communities. Journalists may not see conservative estrangement as their fault, but if their goal is to inform a wide swath of the public they will need to convince more of the public that in fact is their goal."
Obviously, but the trouble is that a firm segment of Trump's cult will NEVER be convinced that is their goal. That's because these Trumper misfits inhabit an alternative reality of craziness, lies and humbug. "Emotionally powerful stories"? How about powerfully, brainwashed memes and toxic lies and brain rot? In other words, these conservative kooks and "pariahs" have chosen to live in an alternative universe of lies, bunkum and conspiracy ideations.
It isn't the job of professional journalists, or bloggers or anyone else to try to get to the root of the disturbed mental states governing these forlorn people. They need to address that themselves, and maybe get on a de-programming schedule, as most cult followers (like those at Jonestown) had to do.
See Also:
by Jason Sattler | February 11, 2022 - 9:11am | permalink
And:
by David Badash | April 12, 2022 - 7:37am | permalink
— from The New Civil Rights Movement
And:
by Meaghan Ellis | April 15, 2022 - 7:38am | permalink
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