Another reason I hate the media

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Why does the media have to call every republican writer, commentator,organization, and congressperson. Right Wing Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh, Right Wing Senator Jesse Helms, the Extreme Right Wing NRA

 

You never hear Bill Moyer called Left Wing Journalist Bill Moyer, or Left Wing Senator Paul Welfare. Greenpeace is never called Extreme Left Wing Earth group Greenpeace.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

*sigh* It's one of those little things in life that "just is." Like the academia world getting their collective panties in a bunch about "diversity," yet there is an overwhelmingly number of left-wing hippies teaching the youths of America why tax cuts are bad.

 

This is why Big Media is losing viewers/subscribers. But I feel your pain bro...

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Besides, I'd just call Moyers a lush. Think before you drink, Billy, think...

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Why does the media have to call every republican writer, commentator,organization, and congressperson. Right Wing Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh, Right Wing Senator Jesse Helms, the Extreme Right Wing NRA

 

You never hear Bill Moyer called Left Wing Journalist Bill Moyer, or Left Wing Senator Paul Welfare. Greenpeace is never called Extreme Left Wing Earth group Greenpeace.

This is realy bad on MSNBC. They did a brief thing on Bob Barr and all they mentioned was that he was a far-right person who was anti-Clinton. You'd think they'd say something like this for Dashle who is far-left and anti-Bush. Sigh.........

[Guest DeputyHawk]

rightly or wrongly, those who lean to the right are perceived - especially by the (predominantly) leftist or liberal media - to be more individualist and extreme, and therefor more worthy of our suspicion. thus why we are constantly reminded that they are "right-wing" people, not just "people". it is quite annoying, we're probably old enough to listen to people's viewpoints and draw our own conclusions. but, whatever. i just killed a small bug by blowing cigarette smoke at it. i didn't mean to. i guess it must have choked on the fumes. i was just trying to make it get away from in front of my face. this is what it feels like ... when doves cry.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Predominantly leftist or liberal media? You're joking, right?

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Predominantly leftist or liberal media? You're joking, right?

One would assume so...

 

The use of "far-right" isn't sinister. Its just a good, snappy phrase that the media likes to use because its powerful. "Far-left" isn't used because it doesn't have the same connotations.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Predominantly leftist or liberal media? You're joking, right?

No, he's not, and he's quite correct.

[Guest Some Guy]

Predominantly leftist or liberal media? You're joking, right?

One would assume so...

 

The use of "far-right" isn't sinister. Its just a good, snappy phrase that the media likes to use because its powerful. "Far-left" isn't used because it doesn't have the same connotations.

"Far right" indicates Hitler, there are no elected GOP pols who are "far right." There are plenty of elected Dems who are "far left." "Far left" being socialistic.

 

How could anyone deny that the mass media is leftist leaning? Just watch the shows and see for yourself. Unless you're a devout Marxist then common sence tells you that the broadcasters aren't exactly card carrying GOP members.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

I should probably qualify what I said - in Britain the media (although more so the press specifically) is very strongly conservative. I carried that over to the media world in general so if its not the case in the US I accept the point.

[Guest LooseCannon]

Why does the media have to call every republican writer, commentator,organization, and congressperson. Right Wing Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh, Right Wing Senator Jesse Helms, the Extreme Right Wing NRA

 

You never hear Bill Moyer called Left Wing Journalist Bill Moyer, or Left Wing Senator Paul Welfare. Greenpeace is never called Extreme Left Wing Earth group Greenpeace.

You have a solid point, but on the other side of the coin, every feminist mentioned in mainstream news outlets is called a "radical feminist." Those who advocate labor's position are relegated by labels such as "left-wing" or "radical," if not implicitly referred to as kooks or fringe nutballs. Take solace in the fact that "right wingers" and "conservatives" are still considered legitimate mainstream political positions in this country. There are not many places in the U.S. where someone can be labelled a liberal and win an election.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Every feminist mentioned in mainstream news outlets is called a 'radical feminist.'"

 

No offense, but I've never seen/heard Big Media use RF at all...

 

"Those who advocate labor's position are relegated by labels such as 'left-wing' or "radical," if not implicitly referred to as kooks or fringe nutballs."

 

Never heard this either...

 

"Take solace in the fact that 'right wingers' and "conservatives" are still considered legitimate mainstream political positions in this country. There are not many places in the U.S. where someone can be labelled a liberal and win an election."

 

NY, DC, Mass., Minn., Wisc., CA, Wash., Ore., SD, etc.

 

That's more than enough places IMO...

[Guest MrRant]

Actually Washington State is conservative by nature suprisingly.

[Guest LooseCannon]

"Every feminist mentioned in mainstream news outlets is called a 'radical feminist.'"

 

No offense, but I've never seen/heard Big Media use RF at all...

 

"Those who advocate labor's position are relegated by labels such as 'left-wing' or "radical," if not implicitly referred to as kooks or fringe nutballs."

 

Never heard this either...

 

"Take solace in the fact that 'right wingers' and "conservatives" are still considered legitimate mainstream political positions in this country. There are not many places in the U.S. where someone can be labelled a liberal and win an election."

 

NY, DC, Mass., Minn., Wisc., CA, Wash., Ore., SD, etc.

 

That's more than enough places IMO...

I see those terms in print media fairly frequently, though I don't watch much tv news.

 

Anyway, yes there are some liberal states. Not all of those states qualify though. For example, you will not be elected to statewide office in New York, by calling yourself a liberal. You can call Hillary a liberal in fact, if you want, but she did not run as a liberal. And that is the point. A solid percentage of this country considers itself conservative, far more than there are self-described liberals. A few states on the coasts notwithstanding.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Anyway, yes there are some liberal states.  Not all of those states qualify though.  For example, you will not be elected to statewide office in New York, by calling yourself a liberal.  You can call Hillary a liberal in fact, if you want, but she did not run as a liberal.  And that is the point.  

 

A solid percentage of this country considers itself conservative, far more than there are self-described liberals.  A few states on the coasts notwithstanding.

Hillary lied( what a shock coming from a politician). If any Repbulican was stupid enough to believe she was middle of road and actually voted for her than they should be kicked out of the party.

 

That's why the media is so out of touch with what most people think. The New York Times doesn't care about the midwest, mountain and southern states. Those are the states that got George Bush elected President.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Anyone else notice that you hear "moderate Republican" all the time, but no one's ever called a "moderate Democrat?"

[Guest LooseCannon]

Anyone else notice that you hear "moderate Republican" all the time, but no one's ever called a "moderate Democrat?"

Well I for one appreciate it when the media lets me know it's safe to like a Republican.

[Guest Some Guy]

"Every feminist mentioned in mainstream news outlets is called a 'radical feminist.'"

 

No offense, but I've never seen/heard Big Media use RF at all...

 

"Those who advocate labor's position are relegated by labels such as 'left-wing' or "radical," if not implicitly referred to as kooks or fringe nutballs."

 

Never heard this either...

 

"Take solace in the fact that 'right wingers' and "conservatives" are still considered legitimate mainstream political positions in this country. There are not many places in the U.S. where someone can be labelled a liberal and win an election."

 

NY, DC, Mass., Minn., Wisc., CA, Wash., Ore., SD, etc.

 

That's more than enough places IMO...

I was thinking the same thing.

Hell, in Mass people are actually proud to be Liberals. And you wonder why my state is fucked up?

 

Marney they only call them "Moderate Republican" in hopes that they'll go the wya of "Jumping" Jim Jeffers and switch parties after they ran and were elcted as a Republican to give the Dems a majority in the Senate. BTW where was all the outrage that a majority of Dems weren't elected to the Senate?

 

And with that I'm going to bed, I have class in the morning.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

I hate the term "moderate Republican." It's like the media is trying to say "this Republican is rated G." So I guess in the eyes of the media a non-moderate Republican is just this EVIL, far right monster that wants to throw the old people out into the street and give head to the nearest corporate executive. I wish Democracts came with an equal warning label. WARNING: Tom Dashle is a Marxist, proceed with caution.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

"Take solace in the fact that 'right wingers' and "conservatives" are still considered legitimate mainstream political positions in this country. There are not many places in the U.S. where someone can be labelled a liberal and win an election."

 

NY, DC, Mass., Minn., Wisc., CA, Wash., Ore., SD, etc.

 

That's more than enough places IMO...

Heh, Lenin could win by a landslide in Oregon and California. They don't call it the left coast for nothin'!

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Predominantly leftist or liberal media? You're joking, right?

No, he's not, and he's quite correct.

Explain.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Explain.

The media is overwhelmingly liberal.

 

Well, that was easy.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Anyone else notice that you hear "moderate Republican" all the time, but no one's ever called a 'moderate Democrat?'"

 

Ahh, Big Media has another way of describing Democrats that don't line up to give Hillary rimshots....

 

CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATS...

 

DA-DA-DAAAAAAA!

 

Remember every time Gary Condit was on the air he was a "Conservative Dem. who railed Clinton during his impeachment fiasco"?

 

Or how about James Trificant, the recently convicted extortionist, among other things, congressman from Ohio?

 

Or how about the handful of Senators that helped pass Bush's tax cut last year (John Breaux, Zell Miller, etc.). I seem to remember them all being "Conservative Democrats." In addition, Miller has voted against his Party MUCH more than John McCain, but yet the Senator from AZ is the "maverick." Hmmm, I wonder why? Could it be because he's for campaign finance-reform -- a tool that will give Big Media even more clout in Washington, D.C.?

 

nah -- Big Media has NO special interests whatsoever.

 

PS: I listed those states in my above post as states that would elect someone who says they're a liberal -- I didn't mean to infer the state itself, as a whole, is made up of left-wing wackos. For example, I've heard that outside Seattle, Washington is a relatively moderate-to-conservate state, but I could be wrong since I live 3 time zones away...

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Explain.

The media is overwhelmingly liberal.

 

Well, that was easy.

I was kinda hoping for, ya know, some examples, because in my experiences I've found the media to barely give any "liberal" ideas a fair opinion, and on talk-shows have plenty of guests that are "ultra-conservatives" but never any "ultra-liberals". So... can you give me some examples?

[Guest Cancer Marney]

As Tom pointed out once: "In 1996, 89% of people working for national media outlets voted Democrat." For proof that this affects their work, witness the farcical persecution of the President during his campaign: people asking him a thousand times a day whether he was dumb (and then criticising him for ignoring the submoronic question), gleefully reporting every slip of the tongue (which people like Mystery Eskimo and Zorin Industries STILL harp on) while ignoring equally (that is to say, trivially) significant goofs by Gore and Clinton, declaring that Gore had won in Florida before the polls closed (which should be illegal), and finally, telling voters in a heavily Republican district that the polls were closed one hour before they were (which is illegal).

 

Enough for a start?

[Guest Some Guy]

Flow, he's talking about the News programs, not O'Reilly or talk shows.

It isn't some big Leftist conspirisy to push those beliefs. It is just their beliefs and they probably don;t even realize that thy do it.

Ex. You never hear Ted Kennedy or Tom Dascle refered to as "Liberal Senators," but you do hear the GOP memebers called "Conservative Senators."

They refuse to call Pro-Life people Pro-Life, instead calling them "Anti-Abortion." The latter makes them sound negative, while Pro-Life might make them sound postitive.

Today I was watching MTV (I was with my Girl and had no choice) and MTV News reported that "Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly" didn't like that some rapper who was fired was advertising for Pepsi and then they inferred that he was racist.

1st off O'Reilly calls himself an Independant, so they don't even show him the respect of saying what he claims to be and 2nd he isn't a racist or at least has never said anything racist that I;ve heard. His critisism was that rappers provide a bad influence on children, which they do and I am a fan of rap. He gets crusified for saying this and has racist accusations thrown at him becasue he dared to critisize prodominately black music, he's no fan of Eminem either and last I checked he is white.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

They refuse to call Pro-Life people Pro-Life, instead calling them "Anti-Abortion."

I don't have a problem with that (and I think it's more accurate anyway). So long as fundamentalist Christians call me "pro-abortion" instead of pro-choice, I can't really bring myself to care if they're portrayed negatively. Hell, they aren't portrayed negatively enough.

[Guest HoffmanHBK]

Flow, he's talking about the News programs, not O'Reilly or talk shows.  

It isn't some big Leftist conspirisy to push those beliefs.  It is just their beliefs and they probably don;t even realize that thy do it.

That's the first thing I learned about the media in political science (my collegiate minor): the media doesn't actively try to carry a liberal agenda, they just do. And it's fairly strong.

 

EDIT: For reference, I go to school in Wisconsin, a quite liberal state (despite being a swing state, this is definitely a fact), and attend a Jesuit university (Jesuits being a NOTORIOUSLY liberal sect of Catholicism).

[Guest HoffmanHBK]

Touching on what Marney said: during the months leading up to the election, a lot of websites had banner ads from NARAL that said Gore (and by association, the left) was "pro-choice," and Bush (and the right) was "anti-choice." I had to laugh; I don't know a pro-lifer who had a problem with it, and some of my more radically-conservative friends embraced it. So, I guess to speak from the other side, we don't really have a problem with it either. Just struck me as funny, and it seemed to apply.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"Today I was watching MTV (I was with my Girl and had no choice) and MTV News reported that "Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly" didn't like that some rapper who was fired was advertising for Pepsi and then they inferred that he was racist."

 

Of course, it's MTV. That station and VH1 are always full of pseudo-hippie crap...