Seriously?

I was recently asked (seriously, I’m absolutely certain) the following question:

Did it ever occur to you that maybe the mainstream media has similar a outlook and opinions to the Democratic Party because they are both driven by morals, ethics, the rule of law, and defense and preservation of democracy?

After I stopped laughing, I answered in the negative. Rather brutally.

Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal Op-Ed “Jeffrey Toobin, the ‘1619 Project’ and the Journalistic Reign of Error.” I don’t subscribe, but Instapundit has a sample excerpt that says what I want to relate here:

Even if Jeffrey Toobin is in fact the indispensable legal mind CNN evidently believes he is, his reinstatement last week must surely fill some of his colleagues with misgivings. “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” the great Aretha Franklin once asked. It’s a valid question that may take new form in the minds of participants in future video calls with the easily distracted Mr. Toobin.

But his restoration to a more salubrious on-camera role is a helpful reminder of the rules that now govern news. The medium is no longer the message: The new reality is that the mission is the message. As long as your work furthers the mission, no failure in behavior, no error in reporting or editing, no corruption of the truth or the evidence will go unrewarded.

All data and facts, all judgment about stories and the people who produce them, are subordinate to the mission. In one of the more ironic developments of this age of progressive hegemony, this is called “moral clarity.”As CNN was being restored to its full complement of progressive missionaries, the same message in service of the same mission was more powerfully conveyed by the authorities who every year emerge from the temples of Columbia University to bestow on another crop of journalists the mantle of Joseph Pulitzer.

The steady conversion of these “prestigious” awards into Hero of the Soviet Union-like ribbons for full-time advocacy of approved causes was nearly complete this year, with almost all the prizes in journalism and literature going to works that fit within the approved range of writing.

And the mission? That was pointed out back in 2014 by Jim Treacher:

May be a Twitter screenshot of 1 person and text that says 'Jim Treacher @jtLOL Following Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn't know because they might reflect badly on Democrats. 3:17 PM 18 Aug 2014 1,060 Retweets 703 Likes 58 门 1.1K 703'

Save Us! Save… Never Mind

In the 1950’s and 60’s Tinselgrad showed us a stream of alien monster movies, the basic idea of which was that some unknowable entities wanted to destroy Earth. The space ships would land, and the people would run away screaming to the scientists and soldiers “SAVE US! SAVE US!” Then in the 70’s and 80’s we got a series of movies showing aliens as benevolent beings. The space ships would visit Earth and people would run towards them shouting “SAVE US! SAVE US!”

Now the government has admitted that Unidentified Flying Objects (or “Unidentified Arial Phenomenon”) are real, that we don’t know what they are, what their purpose is, or how they do the things they do.

And the public’s reaction is “Meh.”