James Holmes is a human earthquake. We are as ill-equipped to predict the eruptions of such human beings as we are to predict the eruptions of the earth. Posted on 07/24/2012 8:22:02 AM PDT by Kaslin
James Holmes is a human earthquake. We are as ill-equipped to predict the eruptions of such human beings as we are to predict the eruptions of the earth.
But that doesn't mean that nothing meaningful came out of the Aurora tragedy.
Something quite important did, though few Americans are aware of it because it has already entered the mainstream media's memory hole.
On ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday morning, Brian Ross, chief investigative reporter for ABC News, announced to George Stephanopoulos and millions of viewers that there's "a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado page on the Colorado Tea Party site," which mentions Holmes "talking about joining the Tea Party last year."
Ross acknowledged that, "We don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it is Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado."
As the Baltimore Sun's TV critic, David Zurawik, wrote: "So, why put it out there in the first place, if you don't have it nailed down?"
While blaming ABC News and Brian Ross for besmirching reputations and irresponsible reporting, Mr. Zurawik doesn't answer his question.
I will. The news media -- as there are almost no non-liberal mainstream news media, the term "news media" means liberal news media -- believe they have a higher calling than reporting news.
In order to understand this, I offer this anecdote. A number of years ago, I was asked to moderate a panel of judges that included a former, very liberal, California Supreme Court justice. At one point, the justice said that his role as a judge was to fight inequality, poverty and racism. I respectfully disagreed: if that is what he wanted to do professionally, he should have chosen another profession; his role as a judge is solely to administer justice in his courtroom.
People on the left think the way the judge did. The primary purpose of every profession, as they see it, is to increase what they call social justice.
Thus, the purpose of college teachers (and increasingly high school and elementary teachers as well) is no longer merely to teach. It is to improve society by teaching students, for example, about global warming. And the purpose of history textbooks is not primarily to teach history, but to make female, gay, black, and Latino students feel good about themselves. (California just passed a law mandating that textbooks include stories of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.)
And the purpose of the news media is not primarily to present news as impartially as possible. It is to improve society -- which to liberals means, above all, fighting the right.
So when Brian Ross linked the Aurora mass murderer to the Tea Party, in his mind, he was doing the right thing. Is there one person in America who believes that if Ross had discovered a James Holmes in Aurora active in the ACLU, he would have reported it?
There is an additional explanation.
In general, the left believes the right is evil. Not wrong, evil. And to Brian Ross and most of his colleagues at ABC News, the Tea Party is the current apotheosis of American evil.
If you think this is hyperbolic, former New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote that when an anonymous individual threw a brick through a congressman's window, this somehow proved that the Tea Party was engaged in a "small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht."
Kristallnacht, the "Night of the Broken Glass," is considered the opening act of the Holocaust. In November 1938, over the course of two days, tens of thousands of German Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps; scores of Jews were beaten to death; 267 synagogues were destroyed; and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were vandalized -- often by having their windows smashed, hence the term Kristallnacht.
No one at the New York Times criticized Rich for his comparison of the Tea Party to Nazi murderers. Why would they? Nearly everyone at the paper probably agreed with him. And defeating the right is more important than moral or factual accuracy.
On the day after Jared Loughner killed six people and gravely injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others, in an almost perfect preview of Brian Ross, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that right-wing hate had provoked Loughner: "It's the saturation of our political discoursE -- and especially our airwaves -- with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence. Where's that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let's not make a false pretense of balance: it's coming, overwhelmingly, from the right . . . "
Lest the ABC News smear be forgotten, I thought it important to devote a column to it. But the truth is that, in varying degrees and in a variety of ways, it happens every day -- in movies, in schools, in courtrooms, and, of course, in the news media.
A year or so ago I saw Chris Wallace interview John Stewart on the subject of media bias.
It was hugely disappointing. John Stewart had all the liberal talking points down pat (basically denying there was any bias at all) and Chris Wallace seemed to have never been to newsbusters.org... not even once.
Part of the problem is what passes for competence on our side is often not very competent at all.
And since our side is so poorly represented in the media, this is a big, big problem.
The reverse is also true and even more valid.
The left is associated with communism, naziism and socialism and everything that wants to control and demean man and encumber his personal freedom.
I read that Brian Ross has herpes, but I can’t confirm if its the same Brian Ross who works for ABC News.
It is now clear that ABC news intentionally misrepresent Holmes’ mother’s comment. About Holmes, she specifically told them she did not know if the shooter was her son.
When asked earlier if she was the mother of a James Holmes she’d replied in the early morning after just being awakened: “you’ve got the right one.” She was referring to herself.
ABC intentionally ignored her comment about not knowing if the shooter was her son in order to give the impression that she had some inner sense at the time that the shooter was her son: “you’ve got the right one.”
That isn’t just misguided. It is intentional misrepresentation.
Wow,I posted my #2 before seeing this:
Maybe I was wrong about Chris Wallace. Maybe he somehow got Jon Stewart to see at least a little of the light.
Ross is ostensibly an “Investigative Reporter”. Ask yourself: if you Google James, Jim, Jimmy Holmes or any combination, how many people in this Country would pop up with that name - literally thousands. So if this is an example of his “Investigative” skills, he should be fired for incompetence alone! This also shows clearly how when you get so-called “Reporters” with an ax to grind, your so-called “News” organization lacks all credibility. Of course by putting former klinton paid apologist and Chief Popaganda Minister, Georgie Stephanopoulos front and center, credibility is way down the list of priorities.
When asked earlier if she was the mother of a James Holmes she’d replied in the early morning after just being awakened: “you’ve got the right one.” She was referring to herself. ABC intentionally ignored her comment about not knowing if the shooter was her son in order to give the impression that she had some inner sense at the time that the shooter was her son: “you’ve got the right one.”When I first heard that report I thought, what a strange thing for a mother to say, like she knew all along her son was absolutely capable of mass-murder... and she was going to mention it to someone but it sort of slipped her mind.
The media is scum.
Actually it’s herpes of the anus. And I can confirm it because I found a doctor who has treated a Brian Ross and described him to me as an herpetic asshole!
Oh my. I hadn’t heard that.
There are reasons I despise the media. Here’s another reason.
They will be in a state of utter shock and disbelief when they finally get what they are asking for.
The free press that our Founders envisioned as a bastion against an overweaning government has self-destructed into a monotheistic religion who’s god is liberal statism. It is a heavy loss to our body politic that is barely being offset by the alternate media outlets.
You have to figure. Most people in the media don’t really have any concept of flyover country or the attitudes here. That goes for even the best conservative media talkers.
Limbaugh and Beck are a bit better because they’re away from the traditional media centers but even they are somewhat sheltered. Unfortunately their fame will forever keep them sheltered.
Brian Ross had to go no further than to find someone with the same name as the shooter who was a member of the TEA Party...likely by a Google search...and in his liberal mind no further verification was necessary.
Obnoxious as ever, but on point. OTOH, Stewart does work for a competing network.
THE ONLY LIGHT JON STEWART IS EVER LIKELY TO SEE IS WHEN HE FARTS AND SOME LIGHT CREEPS IN..........
The media is scum is right. She reports she clearly, in no uncertain terms told them, “I don’t know if that’s my son.”
AT THE SAME interview in which she initially made the “you’ve got the right one” comment.
There was no doubt on the part of the interviewer what she had said.
But, like with the guy who doctored the sequence of George Zimmerman’s comments in order to make him appear racist, they doctored out entirely her comment about not knowing if her son was involved.
You’re right. They are scum.
ABC News needs a warning label: “Unreliable Information...proceed at your own risk”
I don’t agree with you about Limbaugh. Yes he’s not “in touch” with my life because he makes 50 million a year (or whatever) and has to lead an extremely well-secured life style in the face of the possibility of many threats on his life.
However, he has been 99% correct in everything he’s said over the years, in my opinion.
What would he have said differently if he were but a poor slob like me?
Although you happen to be right about him — his fame does shelter him — you do, in fact, have him all wrong.
You are correct, iceskater. Another reason to despise the establishment media.
Here’s the thread with the mother’s actual comments:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2909835/posts
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