I Am Biased

Media bias is common place in todays environment. There are at least two sides to every story. Some people claim that the left and the right are two sides of the same coin. They both engage in “spin” and hyperbole to make their statements known. The shift in political power comes around every so many years. I have always thought it is impossible to be neutral. Even for a news reporter, he comes on the scene having been around a while and has formed opinions based on his history and experiences.

How can one be totally objective? I readily admit that I am biased in my believes.

- June 2018

Having said that, there are two distinct differences between the left and the right In my humble opinion. We see this played out daily between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Here are the the two differences. One, the Democrats will defend the indefensible to hold on to power. The Republicans will do the “right“ thing for the good of the public.

I will use Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon as example. In both cases, when scandals broke, Bill Clinton chose to stay and fight against impeachment while Nixon resigned and left Washington.

Second, the left will go even further as to wish the detriment of the country in order to regain power while the right will generally act in the interest of the greater good.

Recent events under President Trump illustrate this point. Here is an example of Bill Maher on youtube.

Republicans, under Obama would never wish the country ill...

You might object and say what about Rush Limbaugh’s famous quote saying he wish Obama fail...back in 2009 when he was elected president. Isn’t this exactly the same thing?

Not really and here is why. What Bill Maher said is that regardless of Trump’s success in restoring our economy with his economic policies, he wish a recession would cause Trump to loose in the next election. So here is the key point. He would rather have millions of american suffer a recession, lost jobs and income just to remove a political opponent, even if his policies are leading to good results for the nation.

What Rush said is totally different. He said, knowing what Obama’s progressive policies are and what they will do, he wish Obama’s policies will fail otherwise it will lead to the detriment of our nation.

To an uninformed public, these may seem equal. However, here is the major difference. In one case, Bill Maher wants to inflict pain on the American public in order to drive out an opponent, while in the case of Rush, he wants the policies to fail to spare the grief that will surely come from these very same policies. In other words, he is looking out for the people.

As it turned out, Rush was right. The progressive policies of Obama has lead to the most anemic recovery of modern recessions going back 50 years. His ACA has hurt jobs and increased healthcare costs for the majority of Americans. His deficit spending has put all of us in debt for years to come even generations with $20 trillion debt.

Getting back to my personal believes and behavior, I have a conservative view. My views are well documented in other articles on HubPages. I have no particular allegiance to one party or another. I have voted both Democats and Republicans in past elections both national and local. I usually vote for the person most qualified in my opinion and also most aligned with my beliefs. In some cases, it worked out well as with President Reagan. In other cases, not so well as with President Carter and Bill Clinton in his first term.

In my 40 plus years of adult life, I have realized that politics is very dirty. Party politics especially. Both parties engage in negative attacks and “spin” to advance their agenda. In most cases, they are not there for the people or the voters. They are both controlled by the same group of people behind the scenes. They have figured out they can get their way by donating money where it counts. They can help elect politicians who will do their bidding and in many cases at the expense of the voters.

The politicians put up a good show every election and demonize their opposition but after the election, they are back to their old tricks and wheel and deal.

I have to single out Senator John McCain as one of the worst example. Here is a war hero from the Vietnam era and member of Congress for over 30 years. He has little accomplishment to show for those years. In fact, he was wrong on many foreign policy issues over the years. He survived several scandals like the Keating five back in the late 1980s with the savings and loan collapse.

His most recent failure was the repeal and replace of the ACA. In fact, he was the single GOP vote that defeated the bill after having campaigned on repealing of this bill again and again and raising millions of dollars in contributions. He figured he is dying of cancer and it matters not to his political career any more. What a cynic?

Recent revelations have made it even worse for John McCain. It turned out one of his senior staff was involved with the IRS scandal going after conservative groups. He has been an enemy of Conservatives while running as a moderate.

Here are two incidents that are related...

1. A Christian baker refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

2. A restaurant owner in Virginia refusing to serve Sarah Sanders, the press secretary for the Trump administration.

Is this the same situation? To most people, it appears at minimum very similar.

Here is the big difference.

In the first case, the gay couple took this to the Supreme Court and a decision was 7-2 in favor of the baker. On the other hand, Sarah Sanders issues the following statement -

"Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left," Sanders posted on Twitter Saturday. Her actions say far more about her than about me," Sanders said. "I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so."

meanwhile...

The owner of the Virginia restaurant who asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her establishment on Friday night said she did not regret her decision.

“I would have done the same thing again,” Stephanie Wilkinson, the owner of the Red Hen restaurant told the Washington Post. “We just felt there are moments in time when people need to live their convictions. This appeared to be one.”

Socialism vs. capitalism. Some believe they are equally viable as an economic system of government. They will argue that some European nations such as Norway and Sweden enjoy some of the highest standards of living and their population are rated one of the happiest... They are both socialist democratic goverments. The US on the other hand has a capitalist system where private enterprise is championed.

You can take the position that they are two equal opposing ideology and deserves equal consideration. Any bias on the part of reporters would be wrong and prejudicial. The people needs to hear all sides and make an informed decision. Right?

Is that what we want?

To a conservative, the answer is no. We have had suffient evidence that capitalism is superior as an economic system than all others. It is far from perfect but it is the best among all other forms. If one wants to claim this is bias, so be it. I am biased towards capitalism. It has lead to the greatest improvement of the human condition and the standards of living and the wealth of our people. Why would I want socialism to be given equal status? Why would I want young students in our schools be taught this equal and in many cases the opposite. Is there any wonder that poll shows 40% of college students think socialism is a better form of government? They have been indoctrinated by the liberal professors in our higher education system.

My politics is conservatism. It is based not on party loyalty but on the adherance to the Constitution and limited govenment principles. I am biased towards good and honest government. Yes, I am biased conservative.

One last thing regarding the first image posted at the top of this article. Someone in a blog came up with this assessment of left vs. right in the media. From where I sit, this portrayal misses the mark. Anyone watching NPR and CNN and read the NYT cannot say with a straight face they are near the middle. These are extreme liberal media that are the source of some of the “fake” narratives. On the other hand, Fox news and Fox Business are less extreme than what is portrayed. These are right of center but often offer points of view of both sides. That is why they are top in the ratings beating out CNN consistantly.

In conclusion, media bias is in the eye of the beholder. To some on the left, they see no bias. To us conservatives on the right, it is as clear as night and day.

Next time someone tell you they are none biased or are moderate in their opinion, don’t trust them. Everyone has bias, it is just a matter whether they acknowledge it or not.

It may be beneficial to review what bias is. It is not always based on two sides of every issue. For example, one may disagree with our drug laws. On one side, a group will say illegal drug use is bad for kids and society. On the other hand, some will say smoking pot is perfectly fine. So what is bias in this case? A news report focus on the actions of police in cracking down on illegal drug trafficking and their sell, and how innocent people are caught up in this dragnet...

Do you see the bias in the news report? The reporter disagree with our drug laws. He uses an incident to sway public opinion against drug enforcement and siding with the ”innocent” users... To me, this topic is not an opinion with equal billing from both sides. It is well established by doctors and other specialists that illegal drugs are devestating to users and their families and society...therefore, the small minority who holds opposing opinions are the fringe. They don’t deserve equal billing. They are also against our laws. If they truly believe what they profess, then go and work to change the law. So just to be clear, there are several categories when we speak of bias.

There is opinion bias, there is bias based on distortion of facts and there are extreme bias where there is no justification and can be thought of as fake news. It is up to the consumer/reader to determine which one it is.