Hand Me My Echo Chamber, Please

My friend Steve Wainstead put a term into my head a year or two ago, and it rattles around in there from time to time. The term is 'confirmation bias', and is the idea that people will seek out sources of information that speak to their point of view, either subtly or overtly.

Common question from the left: Why are there so many right-wing talkers on the air? How do we explain Fox News? Common answer from the right: Because the rest of the media doesn't speak to me the way the talkers and Fox do.

When Fox can parade an article like this, it merely deepens the suspicions and biases of its adherents:

Back in May, Ann Romney, wife of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, wore a $990 Reed Krakoff silk shirt for a media appearance. The item of clothing set off a media firestorm, with the Romneys widely accused of being “out of touch” with average Americans.
In particular, the Washington Post wrote that the $990 blouse “will not help her husband change those perceptions, no matter how many Laundromat photo ops are on the campaign’s itinerary.”

Fast forward to last Friday, when First Lady Michelle Obama attended an Olympics reception for heads of state at Buckingham Palace, donning a J. Mendel cap sleeve jacket from the 2013 Resort collection.

The price-tag? $6,800.

This time, the Washington Post simply described the intricacies of the jacket and noted that Mrs. Obama has previously been criticized for “not dressing up enough for Queen Elizabeth II, so she stepped up her game.” No snide remarks, no outrage over the cost, no suggestion she was “out of touch.”

Just an Exhibit 'A'.

The discussion of the relative wealth of the candidates is amusing to me, for if I had to reject on the basis of their wealth, their status, their privilege in areas like education, I couldn't vote for either Romney or Obama. From Forbes:

Here’s an approximated summary of where the Obamas hold their wealth:
Cash: $660,000
Mutual funds/ETFs: $625,000
Pension: $90,000
Treasuries: $3.4 million
Real estate: $900,000
TOTAL: $5.7 million

Funny thing about making attacks on holdings while trying to appeal to poorer people. You have to count on their ignorance, willful or otherwise, to get the job done. I suppose it's working thus far.

Extremists Or Citizens?

There will be a lot of Tea Party protests across the country today. It used to be that the Libertarian Party was out there at Post Offices every April 15, in groups of 15 or 20 protesters, to make their message heard and seen by those dropping off tax returns at the deadline. No more. It's going to be big stuff today across the country.

I'll be interested to see the narrative on the news, and the pictures that are shown. To hear it told, the Tea Partiers are at least in part, of entirely: racist, violent, incapable of correct spelling or grammar, mean-spirited.

I found an incredible post today, that compiles a litany of violent threats against the President. They are images from anti-war rallies, and threats against President Bush.

http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=621

I haven't seen a single placard in a Tea Party directly calling for the murder of the President, but you could see plenty in the anti-war rallies. I guess that was ok. The media was fine with burying these images, but can't wait to paint tax protesters as all the things it could have, and should have, painted the anti-war protesters. Want to know why people complain about liberal media bias? Feast your eyes.

In a tangential thought, where are the anti-war rallies now? Is it that Obama is extending the Bush wars in Iraq & Afghanistan that makes them ok? My team, right or wrong?

No Doubt About ABC's Bias

For years, many have asserted that the media is biased to the left, and many others have countered that it isn't, or that corporations own the media, so it is biased to the right. Then there's Fox News.

Say what you will for the rest of the media, but ABC has removed all doubt. From the Drudge Report:

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda: ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Ok, my friends on the left. Not even Fox News does this. Can we at last say that ABC is liberally biased? I can't see how one could say otherwise.

Now, for my friends on the right who are about to have an aneurism, take a breath. You believe in private property, so remember that ABC has every right in the world to take whatever bias it wants, to air whatever it wants, to not air at its' whim, and to refuse any advertising, for any or no reason at all. You don't have to watch, and you certainly never have to listen to anyone who defends ABC as non-biased ever again.

I read the statement from the Republican Party, and concluded they are missing something. Again, from Drudge:

The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

ABC is a private company. The notion of the 'public airwaves' is crap. That Republicans don't get it is telling. Besides, cutting the Republicans out of the debate hardly means it can't be bi-partisan. It's time for the Libertarians to steal the show.

Bias Irritation

I accept that there are inherent biases in the media. I just object when they are rubbed into the nose.

For instance, check out this article from the Washington Post, on Obama the Boy Wonder of Internet Fundraising:

Obama's unprecedented online fundraising success is often depicted as a spontaneous reaction to a charismatic candidate, particularly by young, Internet-savvy supporters.

Wow, when Ron Paul was doing exactly the same thing, last year, all was dismissed as a fluke or ridiculed. Change it to read something like this: "Paul's surprising online fundraising success is often depicted as a reaction to a co-conspirator, particularly by young internet-savvy idiot savants who live in their parents' basements." Same phenomenon, praise for one guy, derision for the other. Yay, journalistic integrity.

But there's more. Check this out:

Ads for Obama pop up on political Web sites, such as the left-leaning blog Daily Kos, and on more general ones, such as those of newspapers.

snip

Obama has targeted unlikely sites, such as the conservative Washington Times, where an ad for the candidate appeared yesterday on the same page as a story about an economic speech he gave that morning.

So, the Kos is "left-leaning"? Are you kidding me? Of course the Washington Times is conservative, so if honesty is possible there, why the hedge on Kos?

I expect this, and know it's always there. Normally it's left under the surface and it irritates me far less. I suppose I should be grateful that the junior copy editor is in charge now and then and fails to cover up the obvious tells.