I think this is a symptom of only having one side of the story. I watch both sides of the media. I typically pay attention to MSNBC and Fox News. Getting both sides of the story is the only way to get a clear picture, never more so than in the last few years. While both of these agencies routinely point fingers at each other, only one of them also routinely points out their own mistakes and apologizes for them. Hint: It’s not Fox news. For example the case of Shirley Sherrod. Fox news picked up and aired a clip of a speech she had given, a completely out of context clip that resulted in the White House over-reacting without all the facts and sacking her. Once the entire video of her speech came to light the reactions of Fox vs. MSNBC were very different. MSNBC pointed fingers at Fox and apologized for their own mistake in not fully researching the video. Fox pointed fingers at MSNBC, the guy who released the video and the White House and…well that’s all they did really. If they ever apologized on air for the disastrous results of their failure to fact check, I didn’t see it. I did however see every one of the MSNBC pundits apologize for said failure.
I know quite a few people who only watch one or the other. Some of my friends are Republicans and only watch Fox News. They’ve never turned on MSNBC, have never actually watched for themselves yet loudly condemn the entire liberal news network based solely on what they are told on Fox news. A perfect example of these conservative blinders is Sarah Palin. You cannot honestly look me in the face and tell me that woman is not often comic. She is a very prominent political figure and in some ways expert at manipulating the political machine for herself and her party. She is also, let’s be honest, naïve in many ways and frankly self-absorbed with a victim complex. I was never more disgusted with her than when she released her video after the shootings in Tucson and used it to condemn the liberal media for attacking her over it. She failed to rise above the selfish at a time when she could have set an example. Discussing Palin with a Republican in anything but a favorable light is like waving a red flag to a bull. They rise to her defense whether she’s right or wrong.
By the same token I feel the President failed me in his State of the Union. While I found it a stirring speech for the most part and appreciated his repeated requests for us to look to the future, I am disappointed that he made no mention of how to deal with the escalating gun violence in our country at a time when it is clearly at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts. He missed a step there. Reassuring us that the White House has a plan was what he should have done, rather than avoiding the issue to ensure higher poll ratings on the speech. Oh, and Mrs. Palin, you’re interview after the SOTU on Fox is something you should apologize for in my opinion. Taking the very positive and much needed message of Win the Future and turning it into an internet shorthand joke was frankly ridiculous. Yet another missed opportunity to set an example.
When did this happen? When did people stop wanting all the facts? Are there extremists on MSNBC? Of course there are! Keith Olberman and Ed Schultz come immediately to mind. Ed in particular is the Liberal counterpart to Glenn Beck….without the now constant end of the world, Nazi American invasion paranoia. Ed’s partisan rants, while entertaining, should be taken with a grain of salt that just maybe the people or party he’s trashing do have some redeeming qualities.
It seems as though the current lack of communication between our leading parties in Washington has spread like an infection to all of us around the country. While Democrats and Liberals look for ways to get the Republicans to rejoin the team while simultaneously poking at them for being hide-bound, the conservatives and Republicans are determined to ignore them and play with their own toys while poking at the other side for being spineless. This would be fine but for the fact our government simply doesn’t function unless they all play together. It’s kind of the point, don’t you think? When Republicans are using the Filibuster and even just the threat of one as a favored weapon to stall our government, what message does that send to the rest of us? That discussion is not the answer. That we should simply refuse to speak until we get what we want and pretend we are not part of the problem. Hell of a message to send.
My Dad and I, metaphorically speaking, are standing on opposite sides of the country when it comes to politics. I’m not sure when that happened. Somehow over the years we’ve drifted to opposite sides. We’re no longer able to discuss politics and I’m sorry to say it’s partly because he’s one of the people only listening to one side of the discussion. By his own admission, he’s told me he doesn’t watch the liberal media and so I ask, how can he know they’re biased, waging a war of hate speech or skewing facts while believing the conservative media is honest and bi-partisan? Because they tell him so. I love you Dad. I respect you Dad. I wish we could once more discuss politics like we used to, without taking sides but seeing the argument as a whole, the flaws and benefits on both sides of the aisle. I was once guilty of only watching one side of the discussion. Only the Liberal media, who incidentally likewise accuse the conservative media of waging a war of hate speech. A friend pointed out to me during one argument that I couldn’t possibly make a point worth making if I wasn’t willing to listen to both sides. He was right and I’ve since made a point of watching both.
I do believe the Liberal media is better about fact checking their stories. The President’s trip to India last year and the furor with which Fox news went after him for it is a good example. One person said she had ‘heard’ he would be spending billions and taking three quarters of the Navy with him and Fox ran with it. Citing “Sources tell us”…but didn’t actually bother to contact the White House and find out for themselves if it was true, which it wasn’t.
Do I prefer the liberal over the conservative? Yes. Do I think the Liberal side is always right? Hell no. Do I only watch the liberal media to get my information? No. I often do research of my own on things I’m told by the media. I’m not a blind supporter of any party or person. Once upon a time I liked McCain…but he’s flip flopped one too many times on campaign promises and his own views for me to take him seriously these days or trust him in office. Don’t ask don’t tell was a defining moment for me in regards to McCain. While running for president he vowed more than once that he would not rest until it was repealed. After losing his run for the White House, he then became a large and vocal roadblock to the repeal. Perhaps he forgot he once promised many Americans that he would fight to end the discrimination against them?
I don’t think there is a ‘right’ side when it comes to politics or a ‘right’ person to back. So much about politics is personal preference and opinion to begin with. I do think we should all try to remember that it’s alright to have a difference of opinion, that not everyone must agree with you or be wrong. I’d like to go back to when I could laugh about Palin’s ever growing list of Tweeted Typos and not be attacked for doing so and called ‘un-American’. Yes, I have been. Just for that. I’d like my husbands’ family and me to be able to discuss politics at the holidays again without having to quickly shush and change the subject when his aunt and uncle arrive because they can NOT discuss it anymore without his Uncle having a fit of temper and slamming out of the house.
These are my opinions, how I feel about things. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong but this is how I feel and there is nothing wrong with that nor expressing it. If you disagree with me, then disagree with me! Discuss it with me! Try to win me over. It has been done you know. Win me over without resorting to the need to attack and dismiss me for believing differently than you. That is not a discussion. Friendly debate. Let’s try to remember those two words once went together well.
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