Carpe Datum

Different Perspectives

Those of you who read this blog regularly probably wonder about just how "balanced" I really am. After all, there are certain issues that I pay attention to that other liberal blogs pay attention to and certain issues I just don't care about (but are played up to the hilt over in the nutball right-wing blogosphere), like the Shiavo issue. In a sense, one problem with the two sides of the blogosphere is that we tend not to listen too much to one another.

I don't make a habit of visiting a lot of right-wing blogs myself. Life is too short to read that kind of crap. But I do keep up via memeorandum, and if they're talking about something I feel relevant, I'll go see what their point of view is. I'm open to different kinds of ideas, and I think it is important to expose yourself to the other side. I just don't think I need to immerse myself in it and/or grant it some kind of equivalent status or credibility compared to the blogs I usually read. Crap is crap, and that's just all there is to it.

But once in a while, this lack of perspective from the other side (which is really just an echo chamber where dissent is routinely linked to treason or at the very least unpatriotic behavior) really explains a lot. There are a lot of people out there who would do well to pay attention to some of what liberal blogs talk about, but they simply don't expose themselves to it. And it is their loss. Digby explains:

By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terry Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.

Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

And those of us who read liberal blogs also know that this grandstanding by the congress is a purely political move designed to appease the religious right and that the legal maneuverings being employed would be anathema to any true small government conservative.

Those who don't read liberal blogs, on the other hand, are seeing a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" mimicking the unctuous words of Tom Delay as they grovel and leer at the family and nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious phonies who are using this issue for their political gain.

This is why we cannot trust the mainstream media. Most people get their news from television. And television is presenting this issue as a round the clock one dimensional soap opera pitting the "family", the congress and the church against this woman's husband and the judicial system that upheld Terry Schiavo's right and explicit request that she be allowed to die if extraordinary means were required to keep her alive. The ghoulish infotainment industry is making a killing by acceding once again to trumped up right wing sensationalism.

Now there are those in the ConservaBorg sphere of influence who would read this and discount what is being said in liberal blogs purely out of habit. But if you go back and explore each of the factual points Digby is making, there's really no disputing any of it. And he didn't even go on to make the obvious connection between the rampant killing going on in Iraq on both sides and the absolutely unbending respect for life these right-wingers are supposedly displaying here. So at some point, wouldn't you think conservatives would actually look at some of the relevant facts instead of discounting them simply because they don't like the messengers?

Really just a rhetorical question. I know most nutballs gave up on listening to anything non-Rush-like years ago while simultaneously deriding liberals as closed-minded zealots. Still, it is useful once in a while to point out this basic fact, because I think most people forget that a large number of people in this country are complete and total fuckwits. And believe me, they are well-represented in our government. This is an example of why I treat them with contempt. And it is also a great example of the weakness of big media. They have a lot of manpower and can do some good reporting, but when it comes to emphasis, politics and the framing of issues, they are utter tools.

Posted by Observer at March 21, 2005 06:43 AM