Category Archives: Media

I’ve just opened a sub to The Age and Paul Kelly is a large part of the reason why

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This kind of analysis really is a disgrace: Coronavirus: The West’s civil disobedience — it’s a trend to die for. There is a social divide in the West between left and right, authority and freedom, Pelosi versus Trump. It is having grave consequences for our ability to govern ourselves according to the liberal values that have made the West great. That said, this is how Kelly’s article opens:

For 50 years, popular culture in Australia and the West has mocked authority, glorified rebellion, sanctified the individual’s quest for ever deeper self-realisation and told us that Western governments are dishonest, corrupt, wicked and primarily act as agents of racism, colonialism, sexism, economic exploitation and environmental despoliation.

All this is reinforced by academic culture, which sheets all these sins home not only to Western governments but to Western civilisation generally.

Is it any wonder that these societies are having so much trouble in the coronavirus crisis responding to essential lifesaving directions from their respective governments?

That is, because we are a society whose ethos is based on individual freedom, there are many amongst us who will not immediately do whatever the government tells them to do. Oddly, in his analysis he does not mention China. This is so simple-minded that it is frightening.

The most successful societies in tackling COVID-19 through social distancing and similar suppression measures are Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. The widespread elements of their success are well known — large-scale testing, contact tracing, tough travel restrictions, strict social distancing, strict isolation for those infected or possibly infected, and above all co-operative societies that take what governments say seriously.

Here is the centre of his concerns about our wayward independent ways in the West:

Popular culture in Anglo-American societies, and in most of Western Europe, demonises every traditional institution and demonises government itself, while glorifying the existential rebellious individual who makes a heroic stand, typically against a designated set of pantomime villains: government agencies, corporate greed, property developers, organised religion et cetera.

If you want a tell, here he is quoting David Brooks from The Atlantic. To someone from the more conservative side of the fence, you could not choose a name and a magazine I’d be more ready to ignore than these two.

In a brilliant piece in this month’s Atlantic magazine, David Brooks describes how the American family has collapsed in the past 70 years. Its collapse doesn’t hurt rich people too much because they can buy replacements for family — therapists, carers, tutors. And they can buy assistance to keep their own small families functioning. But it has been a disaster for poor people, who are left with nothing. Brooks argues that over the past 70 years life has become freer for individuals but more unstable for families, better for adults and worse for children. The move from big extended families to ever smaller nuclear and sub-nuclear, so to speak, families has meant the poor have fewer people to help with bad economic times, rough psychological passages, the ups and downs of childhood. Rich folks buy this assistance. Families are also sources of authority and social capital. When they go, the authority and social capital go.

Here’s how he ends.

One difference with Confucian societies is that their governments do everything they can to support families and to promote traditional family structures. Both sides of politics make this impossible in societies such as Australia. The left hates tradition and works to destroy it, the libertarian right can’t stand anything that smacks of government social engineering.

I am inexactly connecting an immediate crisis with long-term cultural trends. But the inability of large numbers of its citizens to accept and yes, obey, simple government directions that are literally lifesaving is a sign of a relatively recently acquired, grave weakness in our culture.

We don’t OBEY government directions. Our cities are ghost towns. If you wander over to the supermarket, everyone you pass, which is hardly anyone, shifts to their side of the pavement to the greatest extent possible. I would not expect anything as stupid in The Age, but for now I am going to spend some time finding out.

Has this been a viral media pandemic?

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Here’s a question worth asking: Is The Media Ignoring Good News On Coronavirus?

There has been some tantalizingly good news about the coronavirus in the past few days, not that you’d know it from the end-of-the-world treatment it gets in the press.

Of the 10 countries with the most COVID-19 cases, six showed declines in new reported cases over the past few days, including the United States. In France, the number has been flat for three days.

In South Korea, the number of new cases has stabilized at around 100 a day.

Meanwhile, data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that – when measured by date of onset rather than the day officially reported — the number of new COVID-19 cases peaked on March 9 at 194, then dropped to 172 on March 10. It was 174 on March 11. It plunged to 122 on March 12, although the CDC cautions that there may be people whose onsets haven’t been reported yet. In any case, all this was before the most draconian restrictions were put in place.

It’s far too early to draw any conclusions, but it certainly doesn’t look like an out-of-control plague, as commonly depicted by the press.

Meanwhile, two studies have come out showing that fatality rates form the disease are far lower than earlier warnings – which prompted those restrictions – claimed.

There will be quite a day of reckoning if the media turn out to be even bigger liars than anyone had previously thought.

It’s all about Donald

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So far as the news media are concerned, this has always been central. There would otherwise be no means for the Democrats to dislodge Donald Trump as President, but the Corona Virus might, even with Joe Biden. Thus first this: The Top 10 Lies About President Trump’s Response to the Coronavirus. And no points for guessing who’s doing the lying. Here’s Number 10. You can read the rest at the link:

10. Trump downplayed the mortality rate of the coronavirus

In early March, the World Health Organization said that 3.4 percent of coronavirus patients had died from the disease.  “Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 (the disease spread by the virus) cases have died,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing. “By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.”

Trump said this number was false, as the mortality rate was actually much less because their number didn’t take into account unreported cases. In an interview with Sean Hannity on March 4, Trump challenged WHO’s number. “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number,” Trump said in a telephone interview March 4 with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the actual mortality rate is “way under 1 percent.”

And Trump was right. He wasn’t downplaying the mortality rate, as has been suggested. As testing in the United States has increased, the mortality rate has decreased. The same is true worldwide.

Yet, there were so-called experts who greatly overestimated the mortality rate in order to spark fear and panic. MSNBC contributor Dr. Joseph Fair told a panel that up to 20 percent of the U.S. population might die from the coronavirus.

And if you still don’t think it’s about politics, there is then this: Are Dems Refusing to Support $2 Trillion Stim Bill Unless It Includes a Bailout for Planned Parenthood? As it says at the end:

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still optimistic, but even if the Senate passes the bill, it’s going to be radically altered in the Democratic House. That will mean more delays, more wrangling.

And this, although there’s plenty more like it: MSNBC’s Maddow wants Trump kept off TV, blasts ‘fairytale’ news briefings. Not dark enough because the President is actually looking capable of handling a major issue which is bad if your aim is to see him replaced.

ALSO NOTED HERE: TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.

From the Washington Post’s “media columnist”:

The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings

More and more each day, President Trump is using his daily briefings as a substitute for the campaign rallies that have been forced into extinction by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Media translation: Trump’s press briefings are working with the public. We have to stop that.

When you deal with the American left you are dealing with some of the most despicable people you are ever likely to meet.

What you think you know can kill you

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Every time I see the face of Dr Fauci while telling us about Corona Virus I realise how much he must have had a bollocking from the President since from the start I was aware of what a complete lying incompetent he was. The reason I mention him is that he is the closest we can see to what conditions would have been like had Hilary been elected instead of DJT. First this:

Dr. Anthony Fauci cheered New York and California governors for crashing their economies today due to the threat of the coronavirus. Between the two states that have seen 70 deaths from the virus so far.

Dr. Fauci also downplayed the three international studies using chloroquine and Z-Pac combination to fight the coronavirus. The French study showed a 100% success rate with patients in 6 days.

Maybe it should come as no surprise then that Dr. Fauci offered glowing praise for Crooked Hillary in a leaked January 26, 2016 email.

Then there’s this from just today [you have to put up with the word “rant” since the media are almost universally liars and fools]: Dr Anthony Fauci facepalms and rolls his eyes as President Trump rants about the ‘deep state’ during coronavirus press conference.

  • Coronavirus Task Force doctor Anthony Fauci appeared to roll his eyes and smirk at President Trump during a press conference Friday  
  • Dr Fauci has contradicted and rebuked Trump’s claims about the coronavirus multiple times in recent months 
  • Last month, Dr Fauci was forced to deny claims he was ‘muzzled’ by President Trump for his blunt assessments about the impact of COVID-19 

The one thing you may be sure of is that he was “muzzled” in the sense that he was told in no uncertain terms that he is an untrustworthy dimwit and if he doesn’t work within the team, he will be out on his ear. The Deep State is your enemy. You can see it in the way the media will say not an unkind word about the Chinese origins of the CV. In fact, all they do is rant on themselves about the so-called racism of saying that a virus that originated n China originated in China. If you can’t say something negative about the President, don’t say it at all is the policy.

Meanwhile, just a few of the stories going round.

Fauci “Fraud”: Face Of Coronavirus Task Force Exposed In Hillary-Loving Deep State Act

Biased Press Does China’s Bidding on COVID-19.

Media Post Misleading Info to Dash Hopes for Possible Drug Cure Which Trump Touted

HuffPo Reporter: The Democrats’ Response to the Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak Has Been Disastrous

The liberal media may have temporarily won the battle to trash the stock market with this Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, but the Trump administration’s proactive response to this disease is winning the larger public relations battle. Polls show a majority of Americans now approve of how the president is handling the crisis.

Maddow hits Trump’s ‘happy talk’ on virus: ‘I would stop putting those briefings on live TV’

“It comes from China”

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The above tweet and the text below are via Scott Johnson at Powerline.

The White House press corps performed at a shamefully low level in yesterday’s daily briefing, yet they represent the top ranks of their profession. A few observers took notice. Among them are PJ Media’s Victoria Taft in “Trump Calmly Explains to Accusing Reporter Why He Calls a Virus From China – a Virus From China” and Breitbart’s Kyle Olson in “PBS Reporter Repeatedly Says ‘Kung Flu’ While Asking POTUS if It’s Appropriate.” I have posted the tweet below with the video clip of the ABC News reporter in action. Her voice seethes with contempt. How stupid can you get?

Andrew McCarthy explains for anyone who cares in the Hill column “Trump called it the ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ for a legal — and commonsensical — reason.” It’s not difficult. These folks are fighting it. They don’t want to get it right and they proudly display their animus.

Extra credit: Michael Auslin, RCP, “Beijing Fears COVID-19 Is Turning Point for China, Globalization.”

Hubble bubble toil and trouble

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Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble

The actual words with the key word in any case being “bubble” as in, anyone who depends on the mainstream media for the news.

The point is this. From NY Times reporter: “disdain for and distrust of the media right now is worse than I’ve seen at any point throughout this presidency”. These people lack self-knowledge to such an extraordinary level that you have to think of them as autistic to some extent at least. Do they really think of themselves as trustworthy, as people from whom we can go to for news? Go to the link to see the rest. The examples in the tweet below are precious and well-chosen, but there are many many more.

Yet I know lots of people who never read or watch anything outside their MSM bubble. It is always astonishing, but in the end, always really depressing.

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

The modern media to a “T”.

Joe Biden is the perfect avatar for the Democrats

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Let me see. Dementia, corrupt, incompetent, generally stupid, lies continually. Yet he is now better than evens to win the election given that the media are demented, corrupt, incompetent, stupid and lie continually. It’s why he was the last candidate left standing – aside from Bernie the Bolshevik – amongst the Democrats. That these people have anything critical to say about Donald Trump is the surest sign of how politically out to sea they are. Complete political fools. All from Instapundit over the last couple of days.

HE STOPPED AT SIX BECAUSE THE MERCY RULE KICKED IN: 6 Recent Examples of Joe Biden’s Cognitive Decline That Should Concern Us All.

WELL, YES: ‘It’s Not A Speech Problem But A Brain Problem’: Peter Hasson Says Biden’s Stutter Isn’t Responsible For His Lies.

LOSIN’ IT: Joe Biden Appears to Forget What Office He’s Running for (Again) During Victory Speech.

TRUMP’S CORONAVIRUS PLAN WAS SO AWFUL THAT BIDEN STOLE IT: Joe Biden Blasts Trump’s Coronavirus Response, Then Plagiarizes Trump’s Plan

NOT THE FIRST TIME, NOT THE LAST TIME: Michigan worker: Biden ‘went off the deep end’ in expletive-laden exchange.

BEHOLD! MY SHOCKED FACE!  NBC Conveniently Leaves Out Unflattering Portions of Biden’s Confrontation With Auto Factory Worker.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Joe Biden Can’t Be President. “I’m not saying Biden shouldn’t be president. That has always been true. I am saying that he lacks the physical and mental qualities necessary to do the job–not to do it well, but to do it at all. Biden’s mental status has slipped badly over the last few years, and he appears physically frail as well. Both his handlers and the press try to shield him from public scrutiny and hide his decline, but under the bright lights of a presidential campaign, it can’t be done.”

JEFF JACOBY: ‘Moderate’ Joe Biden has moved way to the left.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Joe Biden Slams Bernie Sanders for “Joining” Donald Trump. “I’m not sure what Biden meant by that, and judging by some of his recent public appearances, Biden might not be entirely sure, either.”

Plus: His own campaign, the DNC, and the press (but I repeat myself) are all circling the wagons to keep their own frontrunner out of the public eye as much as possible.

HARSH, BUT FAIR:

But sucking up to powerful men is what Kamala does. And it generally pays off for her.

Maths is hard

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That’s why fact checking from the media is so important. That’s why it will be so important that the American media will be keeping an eye on Joe Biden.

Something is certainly self-evident but the media are unlikely to tell us 2hqt that is in regard to the Democrat candidate whoever it might be any time this side of November.

The mystery of Titania McGrath

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Titania McGrath is the name of a parody twitter account hosted by one Andrew Doyle, as discussed by me here at Quadrant Online: Titania McGrath, Meet George Orwell which is itself a discussion of an interview with Doyle. At one level, the account is just as it is described:

Titania, an imaginary amalgam of all the worst excesses in the modern social justice movement, fancies herself a voice for minorities of all kinds (whether they know they agree with her or not). What she lacks in self-awareness, she makes up for in conviction.

Doyle is therefore a man on the right making fun of people on the left. Well, not so fast. This, however, is how he describes himself.

I think if you were to write down all of my political views on various things I would come out more left-wing than right.

So he is then a man of the left who makes fun of people on the left who go too far. Maybe, but he also says this about himself as well.

I’d say I’m quite culturally conservative, however. I believe in high standards of education, because I think that adult autonomy depends on effective socialization in youth. So you need to have a rigorous school system, and children need to have an awareness of the classics and be taught the classics. I think art history, for instance, should be embedded at a primary-school level: not “let’s see what you can create with these paints”; I think you need to learn the classics. That’s a more traditionally right-wing viewpoint. I also believe in politeness, and decorum, and high standards and that kind of thing, which I think might be more associated with the Right.

There’s no “might be” about it. If that’s what you believe, then you are one of us and not one of them.

But then let me look at this, which is the example of a Titania tweet put up at QoL.

That is funny, but which side is Andrew Doyle actually on? It may well be that he believes that both are bad, that the point he is trying to make is that it is just as wrong for a baker not to bake the cake as it is to prevent children from learning about gay rights. The tweet may really be saying, a plague on both your houses.

But no matter how you slice it, Titania is a creation of genius. So perhaps we should just take his final advice:

I think the Left and Right should agree on the basic liberal principles of free expression, free discourse, and free thought. But also we need a shared social contract of how we address each other and how we tackle these issues. It doesn’t work if one side of the debate is just screaming and covering their ears. Nothing can be achieved that way.

I’m all in with that, but how realistic is it? In regard to the screaming and covering of ears, let me draw your attention to this post put up today: REBELLION IN THE KNITTING COMMUNITY. It’s about a woman who in the past had associated with Democrats only but went to a Trump rally the other day in New Hampshire. First there is what she was told by before she went:

In chatting with the folks at the [MSNBC] taping, I casually said that I was thinking about going over to the Trump rally. The first reaction they had was a genuine fear for my safety. I had never seen people I didn’t know so passionately urge me to avoid all those people. One woman told me that those people were the lowest of the low. Another man told me that he had gone to one of Trump’s rallies in the past and had been the target of harassment by large muscle-bound men. Another woman offered me her pepper spray. I assured them all that I thought I would be fine and that I would get the heck out of dodge if I got nervous.

A kind of over-the-top Titania-like reaction. But then she went along to the rally and found this:

As I waited, I chatted with the folks around me. And contrary to all the fears expressed, they were so nice. I was not harassed or intimidated, and I was never in fear of my safety even for a moment. These were average, everyday people. They were veterans, schoolteachers, and small business owners who had come from all over the place for the thrill of attending this rally. They were upbeat and excited. In chatting, I even let it slip that I was a Democrat. The reaction: “Good for you! Welcome!”

“The right” are just normal people. It is the left who are doing the screaming and covering their ears. Doyle knows that as well as anyone. Seriously, which side is he really on? Surely he is not really, as he describes himself, more left-wing than right.