What Does A Liberal Media Look Like?

This is a topic I bring up in response to Rush Limbaugh's thick headed statement that got him fired from his brand new ESPN commentator job. He said the Philly Eagles Quarterback Donavan McNabb was over-hyped as an excellent athlete by the media because they want to see a black QB succeed. In the fallout surrounding this comment that cost Rush his job, there were accusations of racism, but I think they missed the point. If Rush wanted to make a racist statement, it would have been Donavan McNabb is only a superior athlete because he is black. They're on Rush for the wrong reasons.

I was more upset at his crack at the media being some sort of conspirator in pushing its liberal values on America by promoting a black QB. Yes and that's why he got league MVP last year. Now the media influences the NFL. How ridiculous does that sound? In his defense though, when he talks about this subject, he always says 'the liberal media,' not just media because of course he is part of the media too. So when he refers to just 'the liberal media,' he must mean that guy Carl who produces that communist party flyer in his basement somewhere in Utah.

So why does Rush Limbaugh think the media is liberal? Why would a destitute person think a poor person is rich? All things are relative and for a right wing conservative like Rush, anyone with a centrist view would seem liberal. He's also upset that the media won't exclusively promote the conservative ways. Of course they don't, the media represents society. Most of society would need to be conservative for there to be a chance for the media to have a conservative agenda. And I don't mean 51 percent majority, I mean like 90. The media is the cart, society is the horse.

A glaring point that's hard for me to miss and one I wish Rush could answer is: If the media is so liberal and it reaches everyone and has massive influence on the country that he thinks it does, why aren't the masses being persuaded in liberal ways? If the media has that much influence on the population, why do we have a conservative President and a conservative Congress today? I just don't think the media is as liberal as he thinks it is. If it's true, we should have had a liberal government for the last 100 years and no one would be interested in listening to Rush speak so market demands wouldn't let him have a successful talk show. The media is not perfect but I just don't think it's anymore liberal than it is conservative.

And also to suggest that this industry has gotten together and been able to agree on one agenda (promote liberalism) seems to be another ridiculous point conservatives make. The media companies hate each other. They are fierce competitors, there's no way to get them to agree on one consensus other than try to deliver interesting news. Nobody can manipulate the whole industry to deliver one message. And these are reporters not motivational speakers. They're not going to convince anyone of anything they don't want to believe.

So you have a bunch of conservatives with the same agenda, who can agree on a set of ideas, organize their own meetings, setup think tanks and whine that the media is too liberal. This is the same media made up of a thousand companies, each operating their own way, doing whatever it takes to turn a profit since it is ultimately business. You see a conglomerate of companies who don't have the power to organize secret meetings every week with every media outlet on the planet and get everyone to agree on how they can brainwash the masses. How can I not be skeptical about this?

You find me an instance of the media being liberal and I will find two of them being conservative. I happen to know that people only see what they want to see and I'm just choosing not to see anything (declare the media slanted one way or the other) until it's obvious.

Call me a Doubting Lock but isn't it possible eight years of peace and prosperity in the Clinton years has paved the way for a ferocious conservative backlash. How can I take anyone's word for it?

Happy 30th Birthday to Mrs. Lock!
My wife not my mom.

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