Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
During the last three months, the mainstream media and their friends in the Democratic Party have focused obsessively on a so-called "War on Women."
When the Susan G. Komen Foundation decided to stop funding abortion provider Planned Parenthood, partly because Planned Parenthood doesn't perform any mammograms and partly because it was hurting the Foundation's ability to raise money from people who don't love abortion, it erupted into a firestorm. Planned Parenthood fans such as NBC anchor Andrea Mitchell lied about Planned Parenthood performing mammograms and belittled and berated any suggestion that dropping a couple hundred thousand dollars in funds to an abortion provider was in any way justified or wise. This outrage lasted for weeks. I wrote about how the mainstream media perpetrated and advanced false narratives concerning this topic for weeks.
Immediately on the heels of this, we saw how the mainstream media, Democratic leaders and abortion rights activists reframed principled objection to Obama administration violations of religious liberty as a furthering of a so-called "War on Women." When women testified to their objections to this violation, they were ignored. The meme was relentless. For months. It may be ongoing, in fact.
When Rush Limbaugh used impolitic language to describe a woman who believed that her right to free birth control trumped religious liberty, there was little else covered by the media for weeks. Weeks. Even though it was obvious that the entire kerfuffle was advanced as part of a highly orchestrated public relations campaign connected to the White House.
So this week, when top Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen misfired in her attempts to mock the Romney family's wealth, instead mocking motherhood itself, there was quite a bit of pent-up outrage. I'm a stay-at-home mother and I resent the attitude advanced by feminists that raising children is unimportant work. I could argue it's the most important job out there, actually. I said my piece and moved on. The media did have a field day with the story, however.
Now, will media coverage last for the unending days, weeks and months that stories targeting those with traditional values did? We'll have to wait and see. But already we have tons of pundits condemning the "faux outrage" over the story. Not all the outrage, mind you -- the condemnations from both Obamas and the entire Obama campaign is apparently fine -- just the outrage from stay-at-home mothers and their political allies.
I find the outrage game exhausting myself, admittedly.
Matt Lewis writes a plea at The Daily Caller to his fellow Republicans to stop mentioning the Rosen attack on mothers. At GQ, Marc Ambinder suddenly discovers the "outrage industry" and has unkind things to say about it. And on Twitter and on various news programs, people developing a newfound disgust of political cliches and outrage tactics are too numerous to mention.
It's fascinating to me how the calls for censorship of Rush lasted only so long as the elite realized that such demands that women be spoken well of were going to hurt them far more than conservatives (see, for example, Obama megadonor Bill Maher worrying about fallout and comedian Louis C.K. having to cancel his appearance at the D.C. radio and television correspondents dinner).
And while it was fine to subject women such as myself to months of unrelenting media coverage ignoring our First Amendment concerns and rewriting those concerns as a "war on women," now when the shoe is on the other foot, we decide it's time to stop with such cliches.
I'm more than fine with people condemning "too much outrage" over the Hilary Rosen remarks. But if those people didn't spend weeks condemning the media water-carrying of the Sandra Fluke public relations campaign, as I did, then they will forgive me for not taking their concerns too seriously here.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
Sort of like dissent, which stopped being patriotic in January 2009.
Sep '11
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
One's cynicism about the outrage at "faux outrage" is only heightened by the knowledge that Hilary Rosen is a PR executive.
Among whose clients is Sandra Fluke.
Nonsense--this was a Kinsleyan gaffe, and the speed with which the Obama campaign backpedaled clearly indicates how seriously they view it.
Their overweening contempt for traditional ("real") motherhood, and traditional ("real") families, was shown for all to see. And they cannot--cannot--let that meme exist in the public consciousness.
Aug '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
Hillary Rosen is a pundit and operates a media consulting company. Her company provides the media support to Ms Fluke.
It is not unreasonable to assume that she had some part in the strategy to create the media narrative of the "war on women" a war that she rightly labels "faux".
What you witnessed was a person lobbing a hand grenade and having it 'cook-off' in their hand instead. Then we get to see the lovely fratricide as Dems work hard to get away from the shrapnel.
Ms Rosen is now having to work hard to rehabilitate her image and I am under no compunction to help her do so. Live by the faux narrative, die by the faux narrative.
Oh, and Greta V. is being remarkably disengenuous when she rises to defend her friend.
May '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
The left has let slip that the despise my wife, who is a wonderful stay at home mom. It will get buried and forgotten.
The problem is, the mushy middle 11% keep deciding who is president. What a way to run a country.
Aug '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
Ms. Rosen's behavior in this latest dust up should come as no surprise to anyone. She was simply playing by the Rules.
The Rules are:
1a) Conservatives will be judged and penalized by the whims and childish fantasies of the Progressive Left.
1b) Conservatives are always wrong.
2a) There are no Rules for the Progressive Left.
3) In all disagreements between Conservatives and the Progressive Left, the MSM shall act as referees.
4) The MSM plays for the Progressive Left.
Edited on April 13, 2012 at 5:02pmAug '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
So... can we call this the War on Outrage?
Jan '11
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
Excellent point. The reason we keep going through these fake, faux, fraudulent, and phony episodes of manufactured outrage is that enough people fall for it.
Intelligence and common sense matters.
May '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
I am outraged at those that are outraged at my outrage over their own outrageous behavior. It is... well... outrageous. (Now, where do I pick up my check?)
Apr '11
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
Nothing of the Left is actually what it appears to be. What appear to be principled stances (see Foxman, #1) last only as long as the effectiveness as a political cudgel holds out. The opposite "principled stance" can be adopted if a nanosecond if required for political reasons.
Dec '10
Re: Outrage Is Suddenly Bad
As Verbal Kint famously said, Ms Rosen will have to excuse me if I ask her to kiss my pucker.