The River

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Imbalanced society, balanced coverage

The NPR Morning Edition hosts had a good time this a.m. yukking it up about the raft of political books out now. The piece centered on the fact that books supporting conservatives share the same shelf space with books supporting liberals! Haha. And the titles alone, they said, made for good reading, because they were so clever and colorful.

So they took turns reading the titles, alternating left and right in that “I’m barely keeping a straight face” way.

The vapid piece attempted to impart a balance to the political publishing phenomenon. It was particularly infuriating because the right wing and left wing books are not equal, just as Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh are not equal. To generalize, you’ve got leftist who argue a strong point of view intelligently, and you’ve got right wing extremists who launch completely dishonest attacks, posit the other side as dangerous and treasonous, and promote fascist worship of the state. It pretty much mirrors the two political parties themselves, that is, if the democrats actually did represent the left, instead of the squishy center.

Meanwhile, the press remains neutral and balanced and a good entertainment value.

But not the least bit funny.

Comments:
"I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they stop telling lies about Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."

-Adlai Stevenson
 
that's a good one!
 
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