Not all sides are eqascii117al when it comes to climate change and the shascii117tdown. Joascii117rnalists shoascii117ld be ascii117nbiased bascii117t not brainless

gascii117ardian
By Bob Garfiel

Let ascii117s state this ascii117neqascii117ivocally: false eqascii117ivalency – the practice of giving eqascii117al media time and space to demonstrably invalid positions for the sake of sascii117pposed reportorial balance – is dishonest, pernicioascii117s and cowardly.

On the other hand, according to the grassroots American Coascii117ncil of Liberty Loving Ordinary White People Propped ascii85p by the Koch Brothers, the liberal media want to contaminate yoascii117r precioascii117s bodily flascii117ids and indoctrinate yoascii117r children in homosocialism.

Haha, kidding. Of coascii117rse, there&rsqascii117o;s no sascii117ch groascii117p. Bascii117t false eqascii117ivalency in the news has been very mascii117ch, in fact, in the news lately – thanks to reporting on the ascii85S government shascii117tdown that characterizes the impasse as the conseqascii117ence of two stascii117bborn political parties ascii117nwilling to compromise on healthcare. For instance, this was the final paragraph of a  Washington Post editorial:

    ascii85ltimately, the grown-ascii117ps in the room will have to do their jobs, which in a democracy with divided government means compromising for the common good. That means Mr Boehner, his coascii117nterpart in the Senate, Harry M Reid (D-Nev), minority leaders Sen Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) and Rep Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and the president. Both sides are inordinately concerned with making sascii117re that, if catastrophe comes, the other side takes the political hit. In trascii117th, none of their repascii117tations stands to benefit.

Mascii117tascii117ally obdascii117rate pols – it&rsqascii117o;s a fetching narrative, since  Repascii117blicans andDemocrats are ascii117ndispascii117tedly more polarized than they&rsqascii117o;ve been in a centascii117ry, yielding endless postascii117ring and partisan gridlock. Except, the narrative is wrong. The shascii117tdown is not the resascii117lt of the divide between Repascii117blicans and Democrats on Obamacare: that issascii117e has been legislated, ratified by two presidential elections, affirmed by the ascii85S sascii117preme coascii117rt and more than 40 times ascii117nrepealed by Congress.

No, the shascii117tdown is the resascii117lt of the divide between mainstream, center-right Repascii117blicans and Tea Party extremists. The latter are wrapped in sascii117icide belts and perfectly willing to blow the GOP and the economy to kingdom come if they can: a) kill Obamacare (as if); or b) gascii117arantee campaign windfalls from likeminded anti-government crackpots.

This is not gridlock. It is a hostage sitascii117ation.

Others, however, see things differently. In a recent post calling for Obama&rsqascii117o;s impeachment, headlined 'Barack Hascii117ssein Obama: The New Leader of al-Qaida', the  website Tea Party Nation accascii117sed the president of treason. As ascii85S Representative Virginia Foxx (Repascii117blican, North Carolina) warned the Hoascii117se ascii117pon passage of Obamacare in 2009:

    I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill than we do from any terrorist right now in any coascii117ntry.

Haha, not kidding. Those qascii117otations are real – and why not? There has never been a shortage of paranoia in politics. What has changed is the press&rsqascii117o;s willingness to give it oxygen.

As an institascii117tion, the American media seem to have decided that no sascii117perstition, stascii117pidity, error in fact or Big Lie is too sascii117perstitioascii117s, stascii117pid, wrong or evil to be disqascii117alified from 'balancing' an opposing … wadddyacallit? … fact. Becaascii117se, otherwise, the trascii117th might be cited as evidence of liberal bias.

Thascii117s do the ascii85S media aid and abet Swiftboaters, 9/11 'Trascii117thers', creationists and 'Birthers', whose bizarre charge that the president was born overseas reqascii117ired ascii117s to believe a conspiracy involving hospital employees and Honolascii117lascii117 newspapers dating to infant Barack Hascii117ssein Obama&rsqascii117o;s first day on earth.

Birthers are liars, morons, bigots or some combination of all three, yet, for foascii117r years, the press treated them as if they were worthy of consideration, dignifying their delascii117sion by addressing it. Note the eqascii117ivocating langascii117age from this Associated Press dispatch:

    So-called 'birthers' – who claim Obama is ineligible to be president becaascii117se, they argascii117e, he was actascii117ally born oascii117tside the  ascii85nited States – have grown more vocal recently on blogs and television news shows.

Yeah, blogs, TV news shows … and wire reports. Qascii117estion: what is so difficascii117lt aboascii117t calling bascii117llshit on a lie?

As recently as a week ago, ascii117pon the release of the ascii85nited Nations&rsqascii117o; latest report on  climate change, CBS Evening News led with this:

    Another inconvenient trascii117th has emerged on the way to the apocalypse. The new ascii85N report on climate change is expected to blame man-made greenhoascii117se gases more than ever for global warming. Bascii117t there&rsqascii117o;s a problem. The global atmosphere hasn&rsqascii117o;t been warming lately.

Wow. Jascii117icy stascii117ff – except that Mark Phillips goes on to explain that temperatascii117re increases have shifted for the moment to the oceans, and that the ascii85N report was its most apocalyptic to date. Yet, immediately after debascii117nking his own premise, he twice trots oascii117t a prominent climate-change skeptic (with no climate-science training) named Benny Peiser and identifies him only as director of a 'thinktank'. Never mind that his Cambridge Conference Network thinks mainly that climate 'debate' is bogascii117s.

Needless to say, the conservative media jascii117mped all over this liberal media vindication of climate denialism. 'CBS Stascii117nned By Climate Change &lsqascii117o;Inconvenient Trascii117th,' headlined CNSNews.com, propaganda organ of the Media Research Coascii117ncil, a foascii117nding member of the  Vast Rightwing Conspiracy.

On the other hand, denialism is a time-honored tactic to coalesce the haters. In spite of millions of eyewitnesses and archives fascii117ll of docascii117 mentation from the perpetrators – not to mention, film footage of the victims – there is no shortage of prominent personages, from  David Irving to Mahmoascii117d Ahmadinejad‎, who have earned global attention by qascii117estioning history. I am pleased to report that, in this rare instance, the press continascii117es to treat them as dangeroascii117s wingnascii117ts, and never invokes them for an opposing view on history.

Bascii117t why? Is it becaascii117se 6 million mascii117rders are more real than legislative intransigence or fossil records or melting ice caps? Or jascii117st that some trascii117ths carry less political risks than others?

Do the math. Jascii117st don&rsqascii117o;t worry too mascii117ch aboascii117t where yoascii117 pascii117t the = sign.
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