The children they never had
By Ari Kaufman (05/31/08)
Some of my perceptive friends often muse that the reason our left-leaning acquaintances are so petulant is they never really grew up or matured. Many "came of age" in 60s (which really means they never truly did come of age), were in school "finding themselves" until they were 30, then had their one and only child at about the same age their parents (often from "The Greatest Generation") were too old to appreciate the grandchild. A bit selfish? Surely. But they could care less. And those who never in fact had offspring often act like "the children they never had."
The folks in mainstream media are prime examples. Not only do they loathe large middle-American style families, but nowadays, within an increasing fear of their readership and viewership reaching lower and lower proportions, they're demeaning bloggers again, calling them names and so on. Just like children.
Early last week, some cranky retired Washington Post reporter and a liberal Boston Globe reporter were on MSNBC (the lowest rated cable news network on earth) ripping blogs, calling bloggers, "'Nitwits Who Think They're Part of News Media," among much else.
This has been a constant claim from the mainstream (liberal) media, especially veteran reporters, the past few years since blogging emerged as a welcome alternative to the drive-by media. They're scared and jealous.
But yet, veteran conservative journalists and commentators rarely fulminate in the same way. I have never heard George Will, Thomas Sowell or William Kristol slam blogs. Why is that?
You don't need a doctorate in psychology to understand the same lazy, fraudulent, left-leaning journalists who have dominated Washington for decades, and loathe blogs, also loathe pro-American networks like Fox News as well as most of those on talk radio.
The reasons overlap:
Since the end of the Second World War, and surely since the Vietnam era, the left has had fascist-like control of the means of communication: TV media, film, newspapers/magazines and academia. And while academia and film will seemingly remain a monopoly of the left, talk radio, Fox News and, apparently, blogs, now are either dominated by conservatives or simply allow an alternate viewpoint. And the Democratic (capital "D" as they are surely not democrats anymore) powers-that-be will not accept that.
While history is conservative in nature, the media offsets that by controlling the minds of 80-90% of Americans, altering events or ignoring others. Put a USA Today, Newsweek or NY Times farcical tale in their faces and you're all set.
But blogs, which most conservatives I know peruse daily, and surely look at instead of following the MSM, lean right, overall. They've done great work exposing the macabre forces of the political left over the years, and likely helped President Bush win the 2004 election.
Bloggers are not 40 year old single guys in their parents' basement or 16 year old girls writing about their latest boyfriend; most I know have full-time jobs and love their country so they blog after work, on the side, often for little or no pay. And somehow they still get the stories quicker and more accurately than Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.
The left cannot tolerate this, so they censor, call names and try to reinstitute the "Fairness Doctrine." Free speech be damned, it seems. Some "liberals" they are, huh?
(Printer friendly version) Email: Ari Kaufman
