Unbalanced

Misdirection and sloppy analysis

A comparison was once made that conservatives were those who operate on a belief system and progressives were those who operate solely on opportunity.

Although the disparity between the two is not that simplistic, progressives did use another opportunity to spread chaos last month. The Left’s animosity toward a civil society and that society’s treasured right of free speech was on full display in Chicago on March 11. No doubt the progressive statists will replay the Chicago performance elsewhere in the months to come, to hone their ideological fervor before their major mob action staged for the RNC National Convention in Cleveland later this year.

Reasons for this “mob mentality” on the Left are never given by major media, nor explored. This type of behavior would never be exhibited by the Right, but the “why” of this is also never explained. Reluctance to expose the Left’s true intentions is even found daily on the supposedly “fair and balanced” Fox News Channel (FNC).

One can expect loyalty to the Left from the state-run media, since the same ideology permeates their world view. The journalistic education of staff at ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, etc. assures it. It’s who they are; what they’re made of.

FNC, early on, was thought to be a counterweight to the “liberal news fodder” of the major networks – an alternative. However, intentionally or not, FNC consistently mischaracterizes conflicts such as that in Chicago, falling back on worn-out phrases such as, “found on the Left and the Right,” or, “both sides are at fault.”

This excuse for the lack of competent reporting and a shallow analysis of events is getting tiresome. Whether in summary statements by pundits or in the content of interviews with political players in current election contests, the pandering is annoying.

Last month, an excellent illustration of this faux fairness of “we report, you decide” was painted by the coverage of the Chicago Left’s spirited welcome for a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally and the refusal to recognize the candidate’s right to free speech. The mob attempted to stop the actual speech, not the hearing of it.

Interviewed on March 12, Republican Party presidential candidate Governor John Kasich said, “Donald [Trump] has created a very toxic environment and it’s really dividing people.” He elaborated that Trump was wrong to “prey on the fears of people” and repeatedly demanded that “Trump needs to stop it… stop dividing people.” The fallacies in his statements are numerous, yet FNC let them hang in the air, unchallenged.

The night before, after broad state-run media coverage glorified the Chicago mob for disrupting the Trump campaign rally, causing its cancellation, another Republican Party presidential candidate, Senator Ted Cruz, and former GOP presidential candidate, Senator Marco Rubio, had offered the same as Kasich, that Donald Trump had instigated the leftist protest in Chicago. Cruz even alluded to a “[Trump] campaign that encourages violence.”

All three are wrong, yet no one on the various FNC broadcasts challenged them on their accusations. Not one commentator reviewed the historical, documented purpose of Leftist mob actions: stop the exercise of free speech.

On his FNC show on Saturday, March 12, Neil Cavuto was put in his place by his guest, former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch. After Neil kept pushing the “both sides are at fault” narrative concerning the Chicago mob’s attacks on free speech, Welch strenuously objected to the ploy.

Despite the evidence of organization by radical leftists for the mob presence in Chicago (George Soros, MoveOn, Bill Ayers, etc.), FNC excused the activity, preferring to point the finger of blame at the Trump organization for stating the obvious.

It’s long overdue that the Left, its players and their purpose, are exposed. There’s nothing balanced about FNC’s coverage.

Originally published April 11, 2016