The Doctrine of Media Untruth

When knowledge, wisdom, independent thought, even basic competence were no longer requisites for success, then the media naturally slid into mediocrity, and mastered networking and obsequiousness instead of valuing independence.

By Victor Davis Hanson • May 24, 2020

As a general rule, when the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN begin to parrot a narrative, the truth often is found in simply believing just the opposite.

Put another way, the media’s “truth” is a good guide to what is abjectly false. Perhaps we can call the lesson of this valuable service, the media’s inadvertent ability to convey truth by disguising it with transparent bias and falsehood, the “Doctrine of Media Untruth.”

Take the strange case of the respective records of liberal New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Florida counterpart Ron DeSantis. Both states have roughly equal populations, with Florida slightly larger by about 2 million. Both have populations that travel daily back and forth between their respective major cities. Both are major international tourist and travel hubs. Both have widely diverse populations.

Both have large numbers of retirees and long-term-care homes. Yet, New York has suffered 14 times the number of coronavirus deaths as has Florida. Florida is now increasingly open, and on May 19 saw 54 deaths attributed to the virus. That same day, New York was completely locked down and yet saw nearly twice that number at 105 deaths.

One would never know from the media of the contrasting fates of the two states during the epidemic.DeSantis is often rendered little more than a reckless leader who exposed Floridians to needless danger. Cuomo, in contrast, increasingly is deified by the media as likely presidential timber who finesses press conferences in the lively fashion of his legendary beloved father, and iconic liberal, Mario Cuomo.

Yet on the principle of media’s commitment to untruth, the public legitimately could deduce from the hagiographic news coverage that the frenetic Cuomo has proven the most incompetent governor in the nation in dealing with the virus. He sent the infected into vulnerable long-term care homes. He neither applied social distancing to, nor cleaned, mass transit. And Cuomo exaggerated his need for some medical supplies, while neglecting shortages in others.

In contrast, the media furor at DeSantis is a good guide to his successes in both mitigating viral fatalities while charting Florida’s path back to economic normality.

more:

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/24/the-doctrine-of-media-untruth/

The Citizen Army That Will Recall Gavin Newsom

Realignment is coming to California. Gavin Newsom has provided the spark that lit the fire, illuminating decades of mismanagement and abuse by the one-party state.

By Edward Ring • May 24, 2020

Even in deep-blue California, it is possible to achieve the impossible. The technology to facilitate mass uprisings is mature and ubiquitous and will function with or without the complicity of the social media and search monopolies. The political realignment we are witnessing in California is not partisan, it is not conservative or liberal, Right or Left, or Republican or Democrat. It is comprised of old and young, rich and poor, black and white, and everyone else. This is a mass uprising.

California’s pandemic shutdown isn’t just pushing the economy to the brink, it’s taken away whatever remained of the trust that Californians had in their elected officials.

This mistrust is finding expression in a growing movement to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom. Already, tens of thousands of California voters have signed up as volunteers to sign and circulate recall petitions. That number is growing every week.

But that isn’t all. Agendas are aligning. Alliances are forming. Newsom’s actions have forged a unity that transcends political ideology and defies conventional labels. This is exemplified in the Open California movement.

The Open California movement isn’t found on just one website or Facebook group, and its members are as diverse as California’s electorate. What appears to be the largest group on Facebook is “Reopen California,” established on April 11 and already attracting over 170,000 members. And along with large membership, there is high intensity, as exemplified in the Freedom Rally that took place on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall on May 24. Along with Reopen California, which appears to be the biggest Facebook group, there is “Reopen California…NOW!” (7,168 members), “FULLY REOPEN CA NOW MOVEMENT,” (6,350 members), “Re-Open California #EndTheLockdown” (5,124 members), and dozens more groups, many with thousands of members, even more with hundreds of members.

This just scratches the surface of the resistance that is forming. There’s “Californians Against Excessive Quarantine” (13,460 members), “Leaving California” (10,500 members), and partisan groups such as “Flip it Red California” (31,484 members) and “Make California RED Again!” (21,895 members). There are thousands of smaller groups. All of these have seen their membership surge in the past few weeks. This is evidence that hundreds of thousands of Californians, if not millions, have been mobilized in resistance to the lockdown, and nearly all of them want to recall Gavin Newsom.

How many of these activists will sign a recall petition, or circulate one? And then there is the recall movement itself, including two groups, already working together, “Recall Gavin Newsom” (42,673 members), and “Recall Gavin 2020,” which has “only” 7,567 members, but is linked to 58 satellite Facebook groups, one for each California county, comprising over 25,000 total members.

Where else can we find natural allies of a grassroots recall movement in California?

more:

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/24/the-citizen-army-that-will-recall-gavin-newsom/