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Why Media's Normalizing of White Nationalists Matters
Townhall.com ^ | July 19, 2019 | David Harsanyi

Posted on 07/19/2019 5:57:27 AM PDT by Kaslin

In 2016, a bunch of real-life white supremacists -- not just Republicans who happen to disagree with the Democrats' preferred immigration policy -- put together a conference in Washington, D.C., to attract attention. All kinds of major news networks dutifully showed up, because legacy media has something of a symbiotic relationship with the alt-right. White supremacists get to feed off of the preposterously outsized coverage they are given by histrionic journalists while journalists get to use white nationalists to smear Republicans.

In its report on the conference, NPR -- which made sure to note what was implicit in most coverage: the Republican victory had given this once-fringe movement a "jolt" -- noted that maybe 300 people, "split nearly evenly between conference attendees and protesters of the conference outside" had been on hand for the event. So maybe 150 people. To put this in perspective, there was -- by far -- more coverage of this idiotic get-together than there has ever been given to the March for Life, which pulls hundreds of thousands of people every year, or even this week's progressive Netroots Nation, which, inconveniently, featured both elected Democrats and anti-Semites -- sometimes simultaneously.

This kind of journalistic malpractice is just an upcycled version of one of those pieces lamenting the imaginary racist backlash against Disney remakes that, in actuality, amounts to nothing more than some random Twitter trolls.

All of it caters to historical illiterates and partisans who act like every tax cut is another Reichstag fire.

Which brings me to the purpose of CNN featuring white supremacist Richard Spencer on as a pundit yesterday. These are kinds of people, you see, who say "love it or leave it." These are the kinds of people who support the president. Literally, the chyron read, "White Nationalist who once backed Trump calls Trump's racist tweets 'red meat.'"

Spencer was there to reiterate a point. CNN and other networks have decided that Trump's tweets are objectively racist and they will repeat that his tweets are racist hundreds of times a day just in case anyone disagrees. They won't make the same kind of journalistic judgments about the anti-Semitism that infects a sizable faction of the progressive left. They won't do the same for Ilhan Omar's tweets.

Well, white nationalists get a "jolt" from Republicans winning elections in the same way terrorist Hamas or Antifa goons get a "jolt" from Democrats winning elections. CNN would never ask an Islamic radical or masked leftist arsonist to talk about Ilhan Omar's anti-American sentiments in an effort to tacitly tie her to those groups.

There are plenty of articulate conservatives out there who don't meltdown every time the president tweets something stupid. Whether you agree with them or not, they could easily have provided a pro-Trump perspective (which is what I imagine CNN was looking for but didn't get, from Spencer).

Because there are basically two varieties of right-center guests that dominate these news shows. One is a centrist who is perpetually dismayed by what's happened to the modern Republican Party. When it was Reagan, he pined for Eisenhower. When it was W., he pined for H.W. Now that it's Trump, he pines for Reagan. The second is a cartoon avatar of what liberals imagine most Republicans are like. Basically, "Let's go down to CPAC and find the biggest nut we can." Guess what? It's not hard to find a nut.

"Does a figure like Spencer disappear into the darkness when news outlets pretend he's not there?" asked CNN's Brian Stelter. Couldn't the same be said about Alex Jones or any of the ugly conspiracy theorists that he and the other media pundit over at CNN were crusading to de-platform? CNN has taken the same kind of demagogue and put him on their news network -- a network that doesn't even pretend to be an open platform for millions of users, but one that chooses only a handful of guests every day to feature.

Moreover, Stelter's argument is risible because Spencer wasn't on CNN to respond to an investigation into the Nazi movement or some kind of journalistic venture meant to remind us he is "there." The interview was about Trump.

But to answer to Stelter's question: Yes. White nationalists have no genuine political power or support in this country. They are a fringe movement that sometimes resorts to violence and harassment, not a political entity with any legitimate power in American life. We should be thankful that very few people know who Spencer is -- no thanks to CNN. Then again, no one does more to normalize these people than the media. And the reasons are transparently partisan.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: richardspencer; whitenationalists
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1 posted on 07/19/2019 5:57:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They don’t like freedom of speech.


2 posted on 07/19/2019 5:59:57 AM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: wastedyears

“They don’t like freedom of speech.”

Oh they like theirs just find. It’s yours that they hate.

L


3 posted on 07/19/2019 6:03:15 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Kaslin

Spencer is all but certainly an FBI disinformation asset.

Guy was an Obama voter, is an admitted socialist, and suddenly he’s all over the news even though he was an individual of no public significance whatsoever, and the vast majority of people who show up to his events are CNN reporters.


4 posted on 07/19/2019 6:05:02 AM PDT by thoughtomator (The Clinton Coup attempt was a worse attack on the USA than was 9/11)
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To: Kaslin

The MSM is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.


5 posted on 07/19/2019 6:09:03 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Kaslin

“....CNN featuring white supremacist Richard Spencer on as a pundit yesterday.”

SAW WHAT???


6 posted on 07/19/2019 6:11:25 AM PDT by traderrob6
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To: FLT-bird

The DNC is just the political arm of the Brown Shirt Media.


7 posted on 07/19/2019 6:15:57 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: thoughtomator

More than that. Nobody knew what “alt-right” was until after Hillary mentioned them in the second debate. I am betting Spencer did not know either.

The real alt-right is little more than an online debate club. They have no meeting halls, bank accounts, official party structure or hierarchy. They don’t do organized political activism, and nobody from the alt-right was anywhere near Charlottesville. That was New Left on Old Left violence.

Spencer is an opportunist. He saw a group that had no leadership and would not defend a “brand”, so he stepped in to claim leadership of a group that is larger than his own to inflate his importance in media circles. Nobody from the real alt-right cared what he did.


8 posted on 07/19/2019 6:24:26 AM PDT by Seraphicaviary (St. Michael is gearing up. The angels are on the ready line.)
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To: thoughtomator

Mr. Charlottesville I call him. That whole incident had the opposing groups funneled into a narrow street, with both a fire and police station flanking them. Reporters waited around the corner. The police were told to stand down.

I watched and watched the videos of that whole event. The thing that got me was the green van that was left there at the end of that street unoccupied/unticketed.

It reminded me of the empty overpass above the BLM-cowboy/girl confrontation. It’s what I didn’t see that bothered me.


9 posted on 07/19/2019 6:29:01 AM PDT by combat_boots (God bless Israel and all who protect and defend her! Merry Christmas! In God We Trust!)
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To: Kaslin

When did Russia “buy” control of CNN?

Did they use bribes? Or threats? Or blackmail?

IMHO, CNN has earned the name: Communist Nonsense Network.


10 posted on 07/19/2019 6:29:13 AM PDT by pfony1 (Put Up or Shut Up!)
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To: Kaslin

When did Russia “buy” control of CNN?

Did they use bribes? Or threats? Or blackmail?

IMHO, CNN has earned the name: Communist Nonsense Network.


11 posted on 07/19/2019 6:31:14 AM PDT by pfony1 (Put Up or Shut Up!)
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To: thoughtomator

re: “Guy was an Obama voter, is an admitted socialist, and suddenly he’s all over the news even though he was an individual of no public significance whatsoever,”

A simpler answer: An attention whore.


12 posted on 07/19/2019 6:34:13 AM PDT by _Jim (Save babies)
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To: Lurker

Precisely. Also, if you can have [pick your color] identity politics, can you have white identity politics? If not, why not? I’d prefer to identify as an American. It’s both moral and practical to practice reciprocity.


13 posted on 07/19/2019 6:35:38 AM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: Kaslin

With David Duke pushing 70, the mainstream media needs a new “white nationalist” to trot out every two years to smear Republicans and ignore during off-election years.


14 posted on 07/19/2019 6:37:23 AM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: Kaslin

This kind of journalistic malpractice is just an upcycled version of one of those pieces lamenting the imaginary racist backlash against Disney remakes that, in actuality, amounts to nothing more than some random Twitter trolls. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And the same journalist culture obscures, obfuscates and lies to keep the genuine liberal fascist movement that flows from Rev, Ralph Wright, into Obama’s closet, and then into AOC, Omar, Talib, and millions of college students, that is to say minority, racial and ethnic nationalism which has resulted in sanctuary states and sanctuary cities who even now are fomenting a coming Civil War.

The history of liberal fascism is glaringly present now, thanks to President Trumps truly defining “ The Squad, “ and the hatred of patriotic America from whence they come. It was the same with Obama and Wright, liberal fascism based on minority, racial and ethnic nationalism with socialist methods, i.e. Nationalist socialism based on the minority, ethnic and racial movement, resulting in sanctuary , borderless, anti law enforcement politics. The lying media has refused to address the truth of it,

But here is a super article describing where we are exactly , and why:

“Barack Obama: The Quintessential Fascist”

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html


15 posted on 07/19/2019 6:51:18 AM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism)http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html)
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To: thoughtomator

“Guy was an Obama voter, is an admitted socialist”

Don’t know anything about him. Did he actually say he voted for Obama? If so why?


16 posted on 07/19/2019 6:53:52 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: thoughtomator

https://www.thenewamerican.com/print-magazine/item/27300-alt-right-agents-provocateurs


17 posted on 07/19/2019 7:00:08 AM PDT by Sheapdog (Chew the meat, spit out the bones - FUBO - Come and get me)
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To: Kaslin

David Duke tweeted support for his stated “favorite” congressperson when Idiot Omar tweeted her condemnation of Israel, Jews, and Jewish money

The media is engaging in raw naked yellow journalism smears of President Trump


18 posted on 07/19/2019 7:02:00 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: nuconvert

https://www.dineshdsouza.com/news/what-does-richard-spencer-really-believe/


19 posted on 07/19/2019 7:05:31 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Denounce DUAC - The Democrats Un-American Activists Committee)
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To: a fool in paradise

Thanks


20 posted on 07/19/2019 7:14:42 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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