Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Journalistic "neutrality" and the American Titanic

I need not hold court on how the Left has co-opted 90% of the media outlets in America. But you gotta giggle when sniffs like Keith Ubermann and other Lefties complain that Fox News is not objective. Yeah, OK, and neither are you sniffs.

Let's take a look at what a truly objective media would look like.

"Objective" means not only looking at the facts of reality (objects), it also means looking at those facts with a mind that has already formed an objective apparatus, a rational apparatus -- a mind that has already cleansed itself of irrationality, of non-objectivity, of false presumptions, of undigested beliefs. It means the development of a mind that is always focused on reality, understands the efficacy of the human mind, has integrated how rational ethics guide our lives, and knows that in the realm of politics humans must be completely free of coercion (the initiation of force) and that governments have one duty and one duty only: to protect individual rights to life, limb and property.

So, an objective media would comprise such rational individuals whose only proper mantra can be to rationally protect and/or inform and/or entertain.

That means not just regurgitating what is happening in the world (the alleged media neutrality to news); it means rationally dissecting what is happening and then couching their stories in the form of protection, information and entertainment.

For instance, on the Iraqi war, the media would inform us as to what George Bush was doing in his irrational pursuit of a red herring (Hussein) and objectively evaluating what a rational president *should* be doing: protecting American citizens here and abroad from coercion. The media could bring its formidable powers to play to pressure Bush into making the right decisions: such as wiping out the rogue regimes around the world with American air weaponry, thereby saving the lives of thousands of American soldiers.

For instance, on government, the media should be informing us of the fascist charades to bilk Americans of their money and hegemony: health care "reform," pollution regulation, free prescriptions for the elderly, "Social Security," "welfare," "Medicaid," national-park ownership, all regulations, all government ownership of land, eminent domain violations, all licensing for activities, drug laws, tax breaks for churches and others, taxation, etc. The media should be relentlessly pounding the government daily on these issues.

For instance, on altruism, the media should blast any and all attempts at self-sacrifice and promote rational egoism. It should shame those who attempt to aggrandize themselves via "selfless" attempts to help others (Haiti, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Third World relief programs, Katrina "victims," ghetto construction, etc.) If you read the obituary section of most newspapers, the deceased person highlighted most often "gave back" or "was selfless in the community." Tripe.

For instance, on business, the media should staunchly promote unmitigated capitalism, which honors private property. It should hound those who promote any form of socialism, fascism, communism, political altruism, redistributionism. The media should hold foremost in their minds the defense of private property and individualism, and therefore the ownership of private businesses. It should laud businessmen for their ethical desire to create and make money; it should hold these men and women up as ideals, as heroes. Steve Jobs of Apple should be a god. The media should devote their obituary pieces to these great people.

For instance, on art, the media should laud romantic realism, the "ought" in human endeavor, the glory of humankind -- not abstract psychosis, gutter "music," macabre cinema, cynical expression, dour endings, noire "atmosphere." It should be on the lookout always for those things of beauty that remind all of us happy humans what life is and can be. It should excoriate 95% of what Hollywood, the music industry and modern authors defecate onto the American landscape. It should uphold complexity and subtlety in the pursuit of high-minded expression.

Instead of the above, we have a canny Left that attempts to conceal its philosophical agenda beneath the veneer of "neutrality" or, more laughably, "objectivity" while it curries favor with the despots. It prints "neutral" stories daily on the encroachments against liberty and individual rights, as if the media were blithely reshuffling chairs on the Titanic.

The media need to become extremists for the cause of individual rights. That is their rightly place in American history. Let's remind the media of Barry Goldwater's aphorism:

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and ... moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Indeed. And neutrality as the American Titanic heads for the socialist iceberg is no virtue.

No comments: