Citizen Tom

I saw a new expression recently that I thought very good, “polarization merchant” (first noted here on Teri’s Tirades).  This is one of those expressions that is so apt no one can object and so succinct that comprehension is immediate.

Governor Sarah Palin resigned on Friday, and as the Washington Examiner notes, she is still getting dissed by the news media (here).  Many people have an extreme dislike for Palin, and this dislike blossoms forth in the news and entertainment media.  What is a mystery is why?  What has Sarah Palin done to earn such antipathy.  Consider that her opponents condemned her as inexperienced.  If that was the case, then what could Palin have done to earn such anger?

To some extent I think the problem is the way the news media does business these days.  The people in the news and entertainment business merchandize polarization.  To appear unbiased — and to emphasize and promote conflict — the corporate news media gives equal time and plausibility to both sides of every story, even when one side is complete and utter nonsense.  Hence, if that is what it takes, we humanize rabid terrorists, we make same-sex sex amusingly gay, and we work overtime to make a popular sitting governor appear the babbling fool.  Anything for ratings and profits.

Why did Palin resign?

The instant experts will go on and on giving us their opinion, but few will of them will listen carefully to the lady’s words.  Fewer still will put themselves in her shoes and try to understand what it is like to walk in them.

Of late I have listened again to the story of Moses and the Israelites.  Time and time again, unhappy, stiff-necked Israelites raged against God and Moses.  God could bear up under the complaints of the ungrateful and punish the offenders.  Moses, when he wearied could pray to God, but what can Sarah Palin do?  She too can pray and as wisdom dictates, resign.  Palin is not Moses leading the Israelites through the wilderness.   Palin is only a governor, and perhaps God wants her to resign and take up another task.

What can we do?

We can try to listen to Sarah Palin unfiltered (see here and here), and we can put ourselves in her shoes.  It is no secret that the news and entertainment media have subjected her and her family to constant harassment.  It is no secret that Palin’s political opponents have plagued her with legal troubles, forcing a costly defense which has put her family in debt (here).  Given these troubles, what would any of us do?  Would we allow our family to be forced into bankruptcy or resign?

Thus far Palin and her family have been isolated.  These people have borne the brunt of a nationwide offensive from the news and entertainment media.  As governor, Palin has been plagued by phony legal troubles.  Yet she and her family have received little help from the citizenry.

With that in mind, there two ways to view Palin’s exit.   Some have said Palin’s exit showed she could not take the heat.  Others, however, can just as rightly observe that we have no right to expect a governor or any public official to  endure  endless harassment, particularly costly legal harassment paid for by the state itself.

If we want Sarah Palin to run in 2012, then we have to give her reason to run.  We each have to look for ways to help.  Then perhaps Palin’s resignation may become what it already appears to some, a strategic retreat that allows her to strengthen her overall position.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.  — origin uncertain (here)

Other Views

Fisherville Mike has a parody in honor of Sarah Palin (here).

Mosquito Blog digs up an old video (here) and accuses Palin of whining.  Watch the video of Palin resigning (here).  Is she whining?  I don’t think so.  I think she is trying to explain a difficult choice.

Below the Beltway counts Palin out for 2012 (here).  Strikes me as premature, but I do not have a crystal ball.

The Mason Conservative sees Palin’s move as risky, but smart (here).

Virtual Virtucon set Liberals straight about their fantasies (here).

Rule .303 excuses Sanford and condemns Palin as spineless (here).  Judgmental?

The Cartoons

Do you remember the kindness of the news media and their careful and deliberate focus on the issues?

Did you know Oprah Winfrey gives bad advice?  Yes, it is true.  After the election — after serving as candidate Barack Hussein Obama’s fan of greatest renown — we now learn the truth from an authoritative source.  Now, months after the election, the corporate news media can tell us the truth.  Oprah gives terrible advice.

In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina. The idea is to use these unregulated “bio-identical” hormones to restore her levels back to what they were when she was in her 30s, thus fooling her body into thinking she’s a younger woman. According to Somers, the hormones, which are synthesized from plants instead of the usual mare’s urine (disgusting but true), are all natural and, unlike conventional hormones, virtually risk-free (not even close to true, but we’ll get to that in a minute).  (continued here)

Other Views

Family Foundation Blog has their take on this corporate news media report (here).

UPDATE:  Watch here as Morley Safer welds the CBS hatchet with kindness and sympathy.

While Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, may not be quite ready for primetime, he does represent the party’s attempt to broaden its base, to attract minorities – in short to reinvent itself. It’s pretty remarkable for a 37-year-old first generation American policy wonk to be regarded as the Grand Old Party’s new young savior. (from here)

Nope, Jindal may be able to eliminate corruption in the Louisiana swamps, but he is just not entertaining enough to be president.   This story makes you wonder what the corporate news media thinks qualified Obama to be our president, his entertainment value?

Over the years my skepticism of the corporate news media has steadily increased.  When you can easily check things out for yourself, I have learned that it makes no sense whatsoever to simply accept what the new media says.  Their bias simply makes them too untrustworthy.

Here is yet another example.  After President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union Message, Gov. Bobby Jindal provided the Republican Party’s response.  Remember Gov. Sarah Palin?  Since Jindal is a Republican and possibly a future candidate for president, the corporate news media jumped on him with both feet.

Since I go to bed early, I had not listened to Jindal.  I simply noticed that the news media made him sound bumbling.  So I wondered, but I knew better than to trust my judgment to the news media.  Finally, I got around to listening to Jindal.  Why don’t you do the same and judge for yourself?

Other Views

Below the Beltway notes a purported inaccuracy in a story Jindal told (here).  What is peculiar about the angst over this story is that all Jindal claims to have done is talk to a sheriff on the phone.

Yankee Phillip notes here the intolerance of tolerant people.

Fisherville Mike note here that Jindal is only 37.

Slantblog notes a resemblance between Jindal and former Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore (here).

Blue Commonwealth vomits forth a namecalling rant here.

What is sad is that Conservatives largely ignored this whole episode.  This is how we got John McCain as our presidential candidate.  We let the news media do our research and our thinking for us.  When we cannot trust those people, when they are on the other side, that is political suicide.

Cartoon from here.

I find the constant accusations of racism from certain folks so tiresome I tend to ignore them.   We learn and relearn to tolerate each other each generation.  Humans will fight over any difference we can find amongst ourselves.  That includes differences over religion, politics, financial status, race, clothing choices, hair length, sexual practices, sports teams, and so forth.  There will always be busybodies who insist everyone else must conform to their wishes and preferences.  Undoubtedly, if it were actually possible, some idiots would insist that we all adopt the same race and sex.  Unless we all look and think exactly alike, some fools will never be happy.

Anyway, I enjoy reading Two Conservatives.  So when Charles did a post (here) on the New York Post’s Stimulus Chimp cartoon, I decided to see what the fuss was about.  (Note that Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that we are a “nation of cowards” when it comes to race precipitated Charle’s post.).

I found this AP video.

Of course the AP video does not bother to explain what recent news events inspire the cartoon.  So what news event did inspire the cartoon?  I had to find out about that in another story (see here).  An adult chimpanzee nearly killed some poor lady.  As adults, chimpanzees are big and strong.  They are not sufficiently docile to make good pets, but some people cannot get it through their heads that animals are animals.

Since the New York Post’s cartoon does not even caricature President Barack Obama, the reaction of the critics was absurd.  Why did the New York Post bother to apologize?  Well, the New York Post’s apology was not much of an apology (see here).  Nonetheless, the paper sort of apologized, and some news outlets portrayed their partial apology as a partial admission of guilt.   Given the opportunity, too many in the Democratic Party and too many in the news media use the charge of racism to intimidate their opposition.  For a clear example, see this New York Times piece here.

The technique is the Big Lie.  Repeat a lie over and over again, and some people will believe it.  Some people accept as conventional wisdom whatever “Truth” is repeated the most over and over again.  Some people are just too lazy to think for themselves.

The front page of the Washington Post begins with this.

Stock markets plummeted today on concern that the government’s interventions will not be enough to keep the recession from getting worse.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 3.7 percent just before 12:30 p.m., with each of the index’s stocks other than Wal-Mart Stores in the red.

“People are concerned that all the things the government is doing is not only not going to help a lot but it could actually create more problems in the long run,” said Denis Amato, chief investment officer with Ancora Advisors in Cleveland. “I don’t think people are convinced that stimulus is the right answer here and they are worried that they are not really laying out the right details about what they are going to do about the banks, which is the ultimate problem.”  (continued here)

Investors think this might be the wrong solution?  And now they tell us?

Oh well!  I suppose late is better than never.