Over The Edge

Every now and again someone on CNN asks a really intelligent question. That doesn’t mean that they get an intelligent answer, but they do occasionally ask an intelligent question. Yesterday The Gateway Pundit posted an article which provides an example of an intelligent question and a not-so-intelligent answer.

The article reports the exchange:

After nearly two weeks of violence, mayhem, and rioting in Minneapolis, the City Council on Sunday voted on their intent to disband the police department.

The wild proposal would invest in “community-led public safety” instead of police officers.

“We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department. We are also here because, here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States, it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn’t working for so many of our neighbors,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said in a written statement Sunday, obtained by the Appeal. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed.”

I understand the frustration, but I doubt that the suggested cure of disbanding the police force will work.

The article continues:

On Monday Council President Lisa Bender joined Alisyn Camerota on CNN to discuss the plan.

When asked about who people will call if their home is broken into, who to call, Lisa Bender said this:

Lisa Bender: “Yes, I mean, and I hear that loud and clear from several of my neighbors, and I know, and myself too, and I know that comes from a place of privilege.”

So expecting law and order in your community is a ‘place of privilege.” Wow. I have an idea. If you live in a neighborhood where law and order is not the norm, why don’t the people of the neighborhood begin to take action to make it the norm. I realize that some people are corrupt, but I believe that the majority of people want to be law-abiding citizens who live in peace. That is not a ‘place of privilege,’ that is the normal situation in a well-governed city, state, or country. I am not sure what reality Ms. Bender is living in, but it is a place I would not choose to live.

How Media Bias Works

Many people who follow news sources other than the mainstream media have been appalled by the recent Planned Parenthood videos. The videos are edited, but it has been acknowledged that the unedited versions confirm that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby body parts. So why hasn’t there been outrage? Have we become that calloused? Well, maybe, maybe not. It seems that people who depend on the mainstream media for their news sources may not be aware of the videos.

On Wednesday, The Daily Signal posted an article about a CNN interview about an abortion poll taken in America.

The article reports:

A May 2015 Gallup poll asked, “Should abortion be legal?” Here’s how the numbers broke down:

Twenty-nine percent said abortion should be legal under any circumstances.

Fifty-one percent said abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances.

Nineteen percent said abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

Here’s what Camerota (CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota) said:

“That’s 80 percent of respondents who believe abortion should be kept legal.” (She added together the 29 percent who said abortion should be legal in any circumstance and 51 percent who said it should be allowed only in certain circumstances.)

Here’s what Camerota could have said:

“That’s 70 percent of Americans who believe there should be limits on abortion.” (Adding together the 51 percent who said it should be legal only in certain circumstances and the 19 percent who said it should not be legal under any circumstances.)

Those who identify as pro-choice are more inclined to report the poll the way CNN did, and those who identify as pro-life are likely to use the latter number—the point being, in this particular poll and many others, you can “interpret the data” to get the spin you want.

The article further noted that CNN had omitted the answers to the following poll question:

Have you seen or heard recent news about videos that supposedly show Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sale of aborted fetus tissue, or not?”

Here were the responses:

Only 27 percent said they had heard a lot.

Only 21 percent said they had heard a little.

But 53 percent of respondents said they had not heard about the story at all.

I wonder how different the other answers in the poll about fetal tissue research and defunding Planned Parenthood would have been if the 74 percent of people who had heard or seen little to nothing had indeed seen the videos.

This is how media bias works.