12-20-2016, 03:11 PM
I was recently challenged on my assertion that Breitbart and HuffPo are two sides of the same coin, one left leaning and the other right. Both use hyperbolic headlines designed to provoke outrage, both heavily engage in identity politics (again on opposite sides of the coin) and both tend to express opinions hidden inside hard news articles and present them as fact. I was challenged to post an example, a perfect one surfaced today.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-flynn-freedom-party-nazis_us_5859367ee4b08debb78af7c2
Within this story about Flynn meeting with a member of a major Austrian political party, which BTW had to have the word Nazi thrown in as often as possible, the following statement was made and presented as fact.
Whether you agree with these opinions or not is not the point, nor do I care if you do. The point of this thread is to point out that left leaning sites engage in the very same behavior and indulge in "fakenews" just as much as right leaning sites. One is castigated by the media as a whole and the other is completely ignored. This blatant double standard is a significant factor in Trump's victory. Hypocrisy should be called out and reviled regardless of who engages in it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-flynn-freedom-party-nazis_us_5859367ee4b08debb78af7c2
Within this story about Flynn meeting with a member of a major Austrian political party, which BTW had to have the word Nazi thrown in as often as possible, the following statement was made and presented as fact.
Quote:“This is not just any opposition party: It is one with Nazi sympathies,” said Daniel Serwer, a former state department official who’s now a professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “Nor is Flynn any national security adviser. He is a documented conspiracy propagator. His long-term strategy colleague, Steve Bannon, is an ethnic nationalist and anti-Semite. The president-elect is an anti-Muslim and anti-immigration bigot.”To the first, it is patently illegal in Austria to have "Nazi sympathies" an, I'm sure intentionally, vague claim to make and seemingly made to get another chance to use the word Nazi. Steve Bannon is then stated to be an "ethnic nationalist and anti-Semite" a claim stated as fact when, in fact, this is an opinion and a shaky one to hold at best. Trump is then presented as an "anti-Muslim and anti-immigration bigot". Again, an opinion stated as fact.
Whether you agree with these opinions or not is not the point, nor do I care if you do. The point of this thread is to point out that left leaning sites engage in the very same behavior and indulge in "fakenews" just as much as right leaning sites. One is castigated by the media as a whole and the other is completely ignored. This blatant double standard is a significant factor in Trump's victory. Hypocrisy should be called out and reviled regardless of who engages in it.
