The Double Standard Among Us

The Daily Wire recently posted an article sharing some of their observations regarding the possible takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk.

The article reports:

When Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter and make it a private company, Twitter’s board of directors responded with a poison pill — and the legacy media responded with a poison pen.

Journalists have contended that Musk’s bid to loosen the social media platform’s speech restrictions represent a threat to the First Amendment, threaten to give billionaires too much control over the media, or even presage the fall of our republic into a totalitarian oligarchy. These unduly emotional responses reveal that the legacy media’s fear is not so much Musk as it is free speech — and losing their ability to create the national narrative.

It really is all about control.

The article notes:

CNN’s Brian Stelter seemed to criticize the capitalist system of private media ownership. “There is also a lot of folks out there saying it’s troubling enough that private companies control these key communication platforms around the world, maybe it’s even worse to have the world’s richest person trying to buy one and take it private,” he said on April 14. In the same vein, and on the same day, Business Insider ran a story titled “Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter represents a chilling new threat: billionaire trolls taking over social media.”

But billionaire ownership of the media is hardly new. And judging by their position on the payroll, it seems not to leave journalists ill at ease. To take but a few examples:

Even CNN founder Ted Turner still has a net worth of $2.3 billion, after being “squeezed out” of his own company many years ago.

If billionaire status does not actually offend the journalistic Left, what does? Perhaps Musk’s political donations to some Republicans, including George W. Bush, Kevin McCarthy, Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio? Possibly, but many businessmen (including our former president) have donated to politicians of both parties — and self-described centrist Musk is no exception.

It’s okay to be a millionaire who owns a news outlet if you are a liberal. It’s required that if you are a corporation that you pay more in taxes unless you are a liberal (see Disney). The double standard lives among us.

Why The Mainstream Media Is Losing Its Grip On America

This story is a few days old, but I think it is important. Big Journalism at Breitbart.com reported recently on the lies told about Apple Computer on an episode of This American Life. The episode has since been retracted, as the charges he made against Apple have been proved false. Unfortunately, his lies were picked up by The New York Times, The Associated Press, MSNBC and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” I am not sure if the truth has been picked up since the lies were exposed.

The article at Big Journalism reports:

Daisey painted a vivid and dramatic picture of horrific work conditions in slave-labor factories designed to exploit workers for the benefit of Apple and you: the selfish, greedy American who demands your iProducts at a reasonable price point.  The lies were exposed, ironically, by a reporter for another public-radio program, Rob Schmitz.  

At this point, the interesting part of the story is not Daisey’s lies, but who bought his lies and why.  

The media outlets were all too willing to publish and broadcast Daisey’s lies, because it fit perfectly into their narrative of evil American corporations (even one headed by liberal champion Steve Jobs) exploiting the downtrodden and vulnerable of the world (especially people of a non-caucasian race) for the benefit of Wall Street and Wal-Mart.  Daisey’s story had everything the American media is looking for.  So fact-checking was left on the back-burner.  

Compare that lazy attitude with the scrutiny and skepticism heaped on conservative news outlets when stories break about a liberal congressman’s Twitter activity or a liberal President’s law school hero.  There is a stunning double standard that is revealed by the Daisey story that can’t be overlooked.  If a report matches with the template, the dogmatic narrative instilled in year one in Journalism School, it receives the benefit of the doubt.  If a story challenges what “everyone knows to be true” from the Left’s perspective, it is held up to the highest level of scrutiny, if acknowledged at all.  

Apple Computers is an American company doing a fantastic job. Thank God they were able to get the truth out and the lies exposed. It is sad that the mainstream media was so easily fooled.

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Steve Jobs, Rest In Peace

Steve Jobs had a tremendous impact on America with his vision, his work ethic, and his success. You can read about his life pretty much anywhere on the internet today. I just want to post a quote he cited during one of his press conferences when he was releasing a new product. Behind him, on a screen, were the words:

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”  

                                       —Wayne Gretzky

To me, this sums up the life of Steve Jobs. America and American technology will truly miss this man. Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.