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The Media’s Glaring Double Standards on Violence and Hate
Townhall.com ^ | August 18, 2017 | Michael Brown

Posted on 08/18/2017 12:11:32 PM PDT by Kaslin

So I don’t have to repeat myself throughout the article, I’ll say things loudly and clearly at the outset.

The KKK, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis are evil. I deplore what they stand for and denounce it – as a follower of Jesus, as a Jew, as an American, and as a human being. I pray that they would repent and find mercy from God, and to the extent that the media exposes their lies, I applaud the media.

But I cannot applaud the media when it comes to its reporting of acts of hatred and violence on the radical left. Their double-standard is glaring, ugly, and inexcusable.

You see, the question is not, “Is Antifa as bad as the KKK? Are radical leftists as evil as neo-Nazis?”

Rather, the question is, “Should the media highlight acts of hatred and violence when carried out by the left?” And, “Should the media call out political leaders who do not denounce these acts?”

I’m not talking about Charlottesville here or making a moral comparison between the groups involved. I’m talking about a consistent pattern of dangerous words and deeds from the radical left, most of which get scant attention from the media.

Shall we do some math?

Over the last 12 months, how many campuses have succumbed to pressure from white supremacists and cancelled a talk by a well-known liberal? Can’t think of any?

Well, let’s keep going. How many campuses have even received threats of harassment or disruption from white supremacists should they try to host such a talk? Still somewhere around zero?

In contrast, over the last 12 months, how many campuses have succumbed to pressure from radical leftists and cancelled a talk by a well-known conservative? If my memory serves me right, Berkeley did it twice (once with Milo and once with Ann Coulter), while other campuses, like De Paul, refused to allow Ben Shapiro to speak. And all this because of security concerns – meaning, because of threats of disruption from the left. Toronto University just cancelled a “free speech” event featuring Prof. Jordan Peterson and others because of security concerns as well. 

It looks like the left can get pretty nasty too. (For more examples, see here.)

Author Charles Murray, along with Prof. Allison Stangler, who invited him, was physically attacked by protestors at Middlebury College after his speech. “One threw a stop sign with a heavy concrete base in front of the car Murray was in, and several others rocked, pounded, and jumped on the vehicle. One protester pulled Stanger’s hair and injured her neck. She was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.” 

Heather Mac Donald’s speech at Claremont was shut down when protestors blocked entrance to the building, after which she said, “This is not just my loss of free speech. These students are exercising brute force against their fellow students to prevent them from hearing me live.”

And what were the protestors chanting? “[Expletive] the police, KKK.”

Where was the consistent outcry from the leftwing media? How many hours were devoted to covering this? How many liberal politicians were called on to denounce it?

More recently, when protestors pulled down a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, NPR reported that they were chanting, “‘No KKK, No Fascist USA.” 

Actually, they were chanting, “No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA!”

Why did NPR omit “No cops”? What were they hiding? Why not make clear that, in the eyes of these vandals, the cops are no different than the KKK? (Listen to NPR’s audio here.)

As evil as the KKK and neo-Nazis are, they were not the ones carrying out these acts of hatred, violence, and vandalism. All this is coming from the radical left. Why, then, put so much focus on the so-called alt-right and so little (if any) on the radical left? 

Here are some more specifics.

As reported by the Daily Caller, “Antifa’s violence ranges from stabbing a police horse in the neck to beating people with bike locks. Antifa physically assaulted a reporter with The Daily Caller News Foundation in January and a search on YouTube reveals hours of footage displaying Antifa violence from protests across the nation. Antifa thugs are additionally known for assaulting police officers and chasing down fleeing people in order to beat them.”

How much of this was covered by CNN? 

The Caller continues, “CNN also fails to mention that Antifa was declared a domestic terrorist group by New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated certain actions from Antifa were acts of “domestic terrorism” in a memo from March.”

How many of you knew that? Antifa branded a domestic terrorist group by an official government security agency?

As for Antifa’s handiwork at Berkeley when Milo was scheduled to speak, “Antifa groups . . .  rioted, destroyed property, beat people with flagpoles and pepper-sprayed a women [sic].”

I guess it’s not all about peace and love and equality and tolerance?

And this is not just taking place in America. How about the attack last December on the Australia Christian Lobby building in Australia? As reported by the Australian, “The man accused of driving a burning van laden with gas bottles into the Australian Christian Lobby headquarters was a gay activist who disliked the group because of its ‘position on sexuality’ and had searched online how to make plastic explosives and a pressure-cooker bomb.”

Shades of Floyd Lee Corkins trying to carry out an act of mass murder at the FRC headquarters in DC in 2012, inspired to do so by the radical-left SPLC.

But it gets worse. 

Both the Washington Post and the Nation carried pieces this week calling for physical violence against the alt-right, with the Post headline calling for “direct action” and the Nation headline reading, “Not Rights but Justice: It’s Time to Make Nazis Afraid Again.”

With this logic, even if the “Unite the Right” marchers in Charlottesville had not engaged in any violence, their ideologies are so evil that they should be violently attacked. Is this the America you want to live in? 

And let’s not forget that, for years now, those of us who lovingly oppose LGBT activism have been branded Nazis, KKK, and worse. Perhaps we should be subject to violence too? Perhaps the gay activists who held up signs in 2008 calling for Christians to be thrown to the lions will get their wish? 

Without a doubt, the media should report on something like the “Unite the Right” march that drew 500 militants to Charlottesville. And with one voice, every American should denounce it. Let those 500 be shamed and isolated, and let their ideology be exposed.

But the media should give equal attention to radical leftists who engage in violent words and acts in other settings, be it Antifa activists vandalizing a campus, student protestors assaulting a professor, or Black Lives Matter marchers chanting (about cops), “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon.”

If the leftwing media wants to regain even a shred of credibility, it will have to step up its game. Lives are literally at stake.

 


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: mediabias

1 posted on 08/18/2017 12:11:33 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

excellent article


2 posted on 08/18/2017 12:18:54 PM PDT by SomeCallMeTim ( The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them!)
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To: Kaslin

Good luck getting the fake (and intentionally so..which makes them evil) news outlets to mend their ways.


3 posted on 08/18/2017 12:25:39 PM PDT by Leep (Less talk more ACTiON!)
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To: Kaslin

Wow, this is almost good enough to expose to all of my Progressive Facebook friends.


4 posted on 08/18/2017 12:27:34 PM PDT by Lysandru
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To: Kaslin

More recently, when protestors pulled down a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, NPR reported that they were chanting, “‘No KKK, No Fascist USA.”

Actually, they were chanting, “No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA!”

Why did NPR omit “No cops”? What were they hiding? Why not make clear that, in the eyes of these vandals, the cops are no different than the KKK? (Listen to NPR’s audio here.)


I catch NPR in this sort of thing all the time. That is why I listen to them for comic relief. It wasn’t funny when Obama was president. It is, now that they are powerless.


5 posted on 08/18/2017 12:29:24 PM PDT by robroys woman
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To: Kaslin

If it weren’t for double-standards, they’d have no standards at all.


6 posted on 08/18/2017 12:29:25 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Kaslin
The KKK, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis are evil. I deplore what they stand for and denounce it...why even say it - it is demeaning to have to declare one's purity when ninety-nine percent of people everywhere feel the same way - it should be acknowledged, accepted and understood that until proven otherwise, one of course is against these evils - men of genuine good will would not require a declaration of righteousness - only those attempting to gain some sort of moral and thus tactical advantage would be concerned about such declarations - even to "denounce" the big three smacks of insincerity - don't you essentially have to have endorsed something before you denounce it?.....
7 posted on 08/18/2017 12:40:01 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Kaslin

I am bewildered. We are po’d because these alt right folks are doing our job? Is that what I am hearing? Wouldn’t the proper response actually be to start doing our job? I am so confused.


8 posted on 08/18/2017 12:45:22 PM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Kaslin

STOP already with the “double standard”!

The media has a single standard, applicable in all cases, never varies, always reliable.

If it’s good for America and bad for the Revolution, it’s bad.

If it’s bad for America and good for the Revolution, it’s good.

Single standard, clear as a bell, easy to grasp.


9 posted on 08/18/2017 12:47:03 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like?)
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To: Kaslin

STOP already with the “double standard”!

The media has a single standard, applicable in all cases, never varies, always reliable.

If it’s good for America and bad for the Revolution, it’s bad.

If it’s bad for America and good for the Revolution, it’s good.

Single standard, clear as a bell, easy to grasp.


10 posted on 08/18/2017 12:53:04 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like?)
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To: Kaslin

Double Standards is the modus operandi of communists; you cannot shame them.


11 posted on 08/18/2017 1:14:47 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - JRRT)
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To: SomeCallMeTim
excellent article

ditto

12 posted on 08/18/2017 1:18:25 PM PDT by libertylover (In 2016 small-town America got tired of being governed by people who don't know a boy from a girl.)
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To: Kaslin

Communists don’t have to deal with Laws. That’s why all of this is happening. They are free to destroy anything they wish without prosecution.


13 posted on 08/18/2017 1:27:43 PM PDT by The Toll
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