Tonight, I would like to address the media. I teach government, and a large portion of what I teach centers about the Constitution. I spend an entire unit on the Bill of Rights, and we discuss at length the necessity of each and every amendment. Almost without fail, when I ask any of my 9th grade students to identify which amendment in the Bill of Rights is the most important, he or she answers without hesitation, "the 1st."
We all know that the 1st Amendment guarantees your right to free speech, assembly, petition, religion, and to a FREE PRESS. Within the past 6 months, I have noticed an alarming and blatant erosion of this right. I do not believe that Americans have access to true and unbiased information. How are people to make decisions when they cannot access the facts? The extent to which 90% of the media goes to protect the current administration is akin to the censorship committed by oppressive regimes of the worst type (Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany). I'm not saying the President is actually censoring the media. I'm saying the media is voluntarily withholding facts in an effort to further its own liberal agenda. The best example I can offer as of yet is the complete and utter disregard of the TEA Parties of the past months by pretty much all news outlets except Fox News. Why are the thousands of Americans who are unhappy with the direction the country is headed in not worth reporting on? It's not because their numbers are not strong - that is not the case. It's because their viewpoint is not attractive to the media or to the ultra liberal politicians pulling the strings. True, one could argue a "free press" is one that reports what it wants. However, I believe a free press is one committed to reporting the unbiased truth, without regard to agenda or partisanship. If this is the definition, WE DO NOT HAVE A FREE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES.
It doesn't get more un-American (nod to Fire Marshall Bill, I mean Nancy Pelosi) than trying to squash an American's right to free speech. Do I always like what supporters of the White House whack job have to say? No, but I acknowledge their right to express their opinions. It sickens me that we live in a country where our media has stooped to the level of portraying Americans who wish to voice their opinions as "manufactured" and "angry mobs." When protesters gather at anti-war protests and hold signs that say "Peace is Patriotic", the media applauds their exercise of their 1st Amendment right. When conservatives voice opposition to frivolous government spending and a dangerous increase in the government's involvement in our everyday lives, however, the media demonizes them. This administration and the media need to scale back their arrogance and acknowledge that a huge population in this country actually disagrees with them. I am appalled by the President's incredulity at the fact that not everyone thinks he is right. And the fact that he has told Americans to shut up. And the fact that he mocks Americans who choose to exercise their 1st Amendment rights. And the fact that he appoints ex cons and admitted communists to government positions. And the fact that he has manufactured a White House Press Corps that contrives the news and hands it out to media outlets when he doesn't want the media to actually be present at an event. And the fact that he claims the support of entities like the AARP without their consent. But I digress.
To reiterate my original point, every American should be alarmed at the current state of the media. When George W. Bush was president, he was called a Fascist, compared to Hitler, and protested regularly. And it was all constitutional, and the media reported it. It's vital to our democratic system that opposition is recognized and noted to provide balance in Washington. We all need to demand the truth from the media about our President and, more importantly, about Americans. Only through recognizing opposition will this administration move to a more moderate position and choose to represent a greater number of Americans. Do not let them ignore facts. Demand better. Demand we get America back.
The fact that, outside of U.S., the American media is regarded as largely conservative, corporate, and biased against social democratic opinions attests to the fact that our perceptions of 'liberal' vs. 'conservative' are entirely subjective. Similarly, it's impossible to attain any universalized standard of 'unbiasedness' when one person's unbiased and objective media is another's demagogue. The problem with the American constitution is precisely that it claims to guarantee such freedoms as the rights to 'free speech, assembly, freedom of press' etc. when it practice, it's virtually impossible to have both a State and a universal guarantor of these freedoms.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the freedom to assembly and the example you brought up of anti-war protesters. One of the Bush administration's favorite tactics to have 'designated protest zones' where anti-war protesters would be herded, a tactic that would later be used during the Beijing Olympics by the Chinese government in order to deal with pro-democracy activists. Can we not draw an equivalence between these two moments and say that Bush's attitude towards the freedom of assembly and free speech was akin to that of Communist China?
I know this sounds ridiculous; it's meant to be. Similarly, using a subjective perception (i.e., that 90% of the media is liberal or pro-Obama) to prop up the notion that the situation of the American media today can be compared with Nazi Germany or Stalinist USSR is also rather far fetched. I think it's perfectly fine to have political opinions on the state of one's nation. However, let's be honest when we're opining versus when we're stating facts that can be referenced.
This, by the way, from someone who isn't a fan of Obama and thinks he's actively selling out the disenfranchised classes of America.
I didn't mean to claim that we currently live under an administration that is comparable to Nazi Germany, but I believe we are on a slippery slope. When the media slowly chips away at objectivity and the practice of reporting the truth, we are headed in that direction. Also, I believe one can state with complete confidence that the media does not treat conservative protesters the same as liberal protesters. I guess the litmus test can be this weekend when Cindy Sheehan protests President Obama. Will the media be watching as closely as when she and a relatively few others protested President Bush?
ReplyDelete