Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLeonard Pitts Jr.: Clearly, 42 percent of Republicans are out of their damn minds
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article201577229.htmlClearly, 42 percent of Republicans are out of their damn minds
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@miamiherald.com
February 23, 2018 02:50 PM
This is a column about 42 percent of Republicans.
It is also a column about trust.
A few days ago in Miami, the Knight Foundation, a philanthropic institution, convened a conference of journalists, tech persons, business persons and others to consider the state and future of journalism. Central to the gathering was a study conducted by Gallup and Knight measuring American attitudes toward news media.
Among its findings: More Americans (43 percent) have a negative view of media than have a positive view (33 percent); 66 percent say media do a poor job of separating fact from opinion; 58 percent say it is harder to be well informed today because there are so many news sources available; asked to score news media on a zero-to-100 scale with 100 representing maximum trust, Americans gave news media an anemic 37.
But there was one finding that leapt out at me: Four out of 10 Republicans said they always regard as fake news accurate news stories that cast a favored politician or group in a negative light. Let that marinate for a moment. They concede it to be true, but they regard it as fake if they dont like what it says.
As it happens, this conference unfolded in a state and nation still reeling from our most recent gun massacre: 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. Students who survived this latest mass casualty event have emerged as angry and forceful advocates for gun sense to replace the nonsense of current laws that allowed a disaffected 19-year old to get his hands on an AR-15 rifle and mow people down at random.
With their unquestionable moral authority, these kids gave some of us the sense they might just be able to move the needle on gun-control legislation. Conservatives must have felt the same way. Which is why some of them began claiming the butchery never happened. These kids, they said, are so-called crisis actors, trained to simulate tragedy in order to embarrass the NRA and embolden gun-control activists.
It is an absurd and offensive theory. Weve heard it before, though heard it after Sandy Hook, heard it after Las Vegas. Why wouldnt we hear it, if 42 percent of Republicans notwithstanding that it is crazy are ready to believe it?
I am willing, even eager, to have the discussion about what news media must do to earn back the publics trust. Lets talk about ways to keep cultural, class, racial and political biases out of our reportage. Lets figure out how to protect ourselves from attack by trolls. Lets consider strategies to more effectively wall off opinion from hard news. Lets ask if we need so much opinion to begin with.
But lets also talk about whats going on with 42 percent of Republicans. Because clearly, 42 percent of Republicans are out of their damn minds. For the record, 17 percent of Democrats are, too.
And 100 percent of everybody else should recognize this as a clear and present danger. It is bad enough that malevolent online hoaxers make it difficult to tell the difference between fact and fiction, but when you no longer care about discerning that difference, when truth matters less to you than protecting your political turf, you are a virus in the body politic of a democratic nation. You are an infection that threatens the ability of free people to understand their world and make competent decisions about it.
So let me be real clear here. As a journalist as an American I am not interested in earning those peoples trust.
Frankly, they should be asking what they must do to earn mine.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
7 replies, 2431 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (44)
ReplyReply to this post
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Clearly, 42 percent of Republicans are out of their damn minds (Original Post)
babylonsister
Feb 2018
OP
Then you get the supposedly "liberal" morons spouting "Democrats do the same thing!"
TheSmarterDog
Feb 2018
#4
But they won't except what they know is true as reality. Because they don't like it
njhoneybadger
Feb 2018
#3
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)1. Wow
But there was one finding that leapt out at me: Four out of 10 Republicans said they always regard as fake news accurate news stories that cast a favored politician or group in a negative light. Let that marinate for a moment. They concede it to be true, but they regard it as fake if they dont like what it says.
TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)4. Then you get the supposedly "liberal" morons spouting "Democrats do the same thing!"
poboy2
(2,078 posts)2. Hillary called them deplorables and the poor snowflakes had a meltdown.
Oh, how offensive! She's 'alienating' us! How dare her, she should be asking for our vote.
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)3. But they won't except what they know is true as reality. Because they don't like it
These people are clinically nuts
iluvtennis
(19,864 posts)5. Exactly.
dlk
(11,572 posts)6. Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine Would Go a Long Way Toward Increasing Public Confidence in the MSM
When only one side of the story is told, misunderstandings and disbelief are a given.
hibbing
(10,099 posts)7. It's been my experience we can criticize our leaders
I will love President Obama until I die, was he perfect, of course not. Look at the other party's saint and the things he did and they are just fine with it.
Peace