How Trump Won; Case study 3A: The media

Rape Melania!  Or so the sign said at one of the protests.  Now I’m not going to play that little game.  Unless I’m sorely mistaken, about 99.999999% of all liberals I know will choke on seeing such a disgusting thing and will immediately call it out for what it is: Pure evil.  I don’t play that game. ‘Oooooh.  Let’s fine some picture, or article, or blog piece that points to some obscure corner of nowhere on the Internet and use it to attack an entire group of people.’   I get there are bad apples, and they exist in every demographic barrel you can imagine.

That’s not to say things like racism or sexism or bigotry or hate don’t exist in the broader context.   That’s not to say if someone is doing something or saying something that is embraced by a sizable number of people that it shouldn’t be pointed out.  It is to say that looking for the absolute worst we can find in order to suggest that those who stand on some other side of an issue are represented by that filth does no good.

So this isn’t to say most protesters, or Trump opponents, or liberals or anyone else is represented by such a horrible sign.  It is to point out the stunning disregard that the media has for this when it obviously doesn’t fall alongside their particular narratives is the problem.  Imagine if this was, heaven forbid, a ‘rape Hillary’ or ‘rape Michelle’ sign.  Bet me.  What do you think that every major publication would have had this as its banner headline today, with CNN, MSNBC, and the networks all leading top story at the top of the hour.  I don’t have to.  Most segments began this morning’s news with ‘racism and hate crimes from Trump supporters’ stories.  Not a single one mentioned this.

If you can’t tell, it’s not those on the right or left I condemn so much as it is the modern incarnation of our propaganda ministry.  It divides, it lies, it suppresses stories while elevating others.  It deliberately stokes the passions and incites hatred by selectively elevating some headlines and stories and all but ignoring others.  As John C Wright says here, it’s the Mouth of Sauron.  Flee from it.

I mean, the link above was the only major publication I found even mentioning this.  And then look at it!  All it says is ‘gee, Twitter trended with a protester holding up a sign calling for the rape of Melania Trump. That’s interesting.  Trump supporters seemed pissed.  Not everyone ran with it, but it seemed popular.’  Really?  My goodness people.  See it for what it is.  No matter how beneficial it is to your cause, denounce it.  Because in ten or twenty years, it might be you that finds yourself in the media’s cross hairs, either being dragged forth on some obscure triviality elevated to a national crisis, or by your legitimate fears and sufferings no longer making the grade because they are no longer convenient.