I try not to define myself by the commonly used political terminology. Or by any terminology, really. Once you accept a label onto yourself, you acknowledge a bias and you legitimize your bias by turning it into a cause. You’re no longer ‘biased towards the ideas and actions of democratic politicians,” you’re “a democrat.” Sounds much more palatable.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that I have a strong bias towards a liberal viewpoint on most issues. I try not to foster that bias, but it’s not always easy to avoid. All news sources have a bias of one sort or another, and the ones I often look to are biased more towards liberal ideas than conservative ones. But when I see a link to a news story criticizing the president I voted for, I make a point of reading it regardless of where its from. Obama has some profound and terrifying flaws as a leader, and it’s important to learn about them.
Why must conservative news sources so often make it difficult for me to avoid my liberal bias? Lets take a look at just some of the things which are missing from this article.
Quotes. There is not a single quote of what was actually said.
Decent sources. Aside from the video (which I’ll get to), every source is just a link to another article on the same website, which is similarly sourced.
Accurate history. It’s 2013, who still thinks Marie Antoinette actually said “let them eat cake!” We all know she didn’t say that, right? It was printed in a pamphlet distributed by revolutionaries. And while the french monarchy was hardly angelic, this particular piece of trivia is an outright lie which no educated person should still believe.
Logic. Obama is criticized for saying France is a better ally to the US than the UK is. If he did say that, whatever. Maybe it was a bad thing to say. But based on this statement, it’s presented as though Obama aspires to be an 18th century french king. Which is bad because all of the french monarchs are much worse than the monarchs of England.
Except, ya know, in the 18th century we fought this whole War of Independence against English monarchs. Conservative folks bring that war up a lot, you’d think they’d be better at remembering it happened.
They must either suspect that no one will actually watch the video, or that anyone who does will be strongly predisposed to swallow their story. NOTHING in that video is even REMOTELY similar to what the article says. Any minor nitpick I have with the president’s travel expenses is completely dwarfed by the frustration I feel over the hyperbole in this article.
I’m sure this news source doesn’t represent everyone with a generally conservative viewpoint, but neither is this the first time I’ve experienced this issue. Lack of proper sourcing and evidence seems to come up every time I decide to see what the news sources on the other side of the fence have to say.
Are there any decent conservative news sources that I’m missing, here?
Hot Pockets!
Today I saw the Nestle CEO’s outrageous statement regarding water. (If you haven’t seen it, he essentially thinks water distribution should be privatized). Annoyed with the statement, I took a moment to inform my coworker who sits near me about Nestle’s deplorable record as a company. He got upset as well, and decided to look up what products Nestle owned so he could avoid them.
As he was going through the list, he mentioned out loud a few of the larger brands. Fortunately he doesn’t like sweets all that much, so the loss of Dreyers ice cream, kit kats, and butterfingers was no great loss for him. Then he read these four: “DiGorno, Stouffers, Lean Cuisine, and Hot Pockets.” Below is his reaction to this as closely as I can replicate.
“FUCK! What? NO! FUCK!
Those are literally my four food groups! FUCK!
I can’t do it Nick!
I gotta pretend today never happened.
That is literally all I eat.”
I don’t blame him. You’ve gotta pick your battles, and sometimes when you’re highly invested in a product the importance of something they did wrong seems to shrink quite a bit. (After all, it was just a comment from their dickish CEO).
I really just found his reaction fuckin’ hilarious. Laughed for a good 10 minutes.
I am a black woman. I am also a writer. Because I don’t see enough of myself in the stuff I read, I’ve been trying to come up with ways to describe black people that don’t refer to food, and that encompass the variety of our skin tones and hair textures.
I had an epiphany today. What words would I use to describe us if I weren’t comparing us to white people? What words would I use to compare us to each other?
I think I can safely say that Super Meat Boy has been pirated at least 200,000 times. We are closing in on 2 million sales and assuming a 10% piracy to sales ratio does not seem unreasonable. As a forward thinking developer who exists in the present, I realize and accept that a pirated copy of…
Once again breaking my reblogging rule because this is one of the best things I’ve seen on this whole fiasco.
We have fun
Today I tweeted “If your writing space is never kinda gross, you’re probably not much of a writer.”
To which I then added “(I kid, of course. My unpublished ass isn’t one to judge!)”
To which Vitae responded, “Maybe the problem is you’re trying to get your butt published.”
To which Noelle responded, “Someone, somewhere, has published a coffee-table book of photocopied butts. And if not, get on that.”
So, I have a new mission in life.
Breaking my rule about reblogging, because this is glorious.
Open Letter to Senator Rand Paul
Senator Paul,
After seeing you in the news today, and reading about your filibuster, I felt compelled to contact you personally.
I voted for president Obama because I believe his views align with my own more frequently than the other potential candidates. In reading over your record, I do not find many issues on which we would agree. To be frank, many of your views are repugnant. I say this not to give offense, but to demonstrate the profundity of our differences.
I want to thank you for the stance you took today in opposing the appointment of John Brennan to the head of the CIA, and forcing the president to address his use of drones on U.S. citizens. Whether or not you are successful now, you have elevated the conversation. In this matter, you’ve served the American people well, and I thank you.
Regards, Nick Whelan (WA-I)
BEST. SPAM COMMENT. EVER.
“You understand therefore considerably in terms of this subject, produced me personally imagine it from a lot of numerous angles. Its like men and women aren’t fascinated until it is something to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. At all times care for it up!”
I don’t normally reblog, but I feel I must point out what the result for my state (WA) is quite obviously about Washington D.C. the city, not Washington the state.
Not that my state doesn’t have it’s problems, but the common phrase “Washington is broken” refers to the nation’s capitol.
Because I don’t like leaving my emo posts as the newest; anybody else fuckin’ love beetle borgs as a kid? I think I still have some of the McDonald’s toys somewhere.
Often, I have random things which I really need to say. Rarely do I have someone around who wants to listen to me rant and rave. So when that happens, I type it out and throw it into the endless sea of information which is the Internet. That is this.
