Thursday, January 04, 2007

From Rush's mouth to our ears...lies, lies, lies

This post is not about Rush Limbaugh, it's about cable channel commentators and lies delivered during almost any general news cycle.

I think about how easy it is for many who are aligned with the conservative agenda to lie (I know, a few Democrats lie too, let's get them too). Right now, there are far more lies being generated to make Democrats look bad in the media.

MSNBC and Fox News are the worst. They have people (I won't name the bastards but you can find them on Media Matters) saying that Democrats in congress aren't doing anything to help national security, even though 9-11 panel recommendations implemenation is part of the first 100 hour agenda. Someone else said that Democrats squeaked by to win Congress--nevermind that more Democrats are in the House now than any list of Republicans since 1994.

All these little lies and inuendos add up to make big misunderstandings in the real world. Liberals find themselves having to correct their conservative or even independent colleagues on these minor points, thereby making us look like know-it-alls and bringing about a feeling of embarressment for the misinformed (too many of us, with the exception of certain "journalists", seem to have a need to be right all the time, we could work on that as a nation).

Where I grew up, these corrections rarely take place at all and there is sometimes no suspicion that the media would lie about Democrats.

I don't take these little lies lightly; they add up to discredit news, politicians, and our country's principles. More alarming to me is the disinformation that corrupts our national psyche--and in particular our population's ability to discuss governing and politics on a level playing field.

Our dishonest media divides and conquers the People's ability to engage in civil discourse. It is wrong and I believe there should be civil penalties for journalists who exhibit an ongoing pattern of factually dishonest journalism about our country.

What is truth without justice?

1 comment:

Vigilante said...

Journalists would just take out malpractice insurance.