Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
How the Media Earns Its Dismal Approval Numbers
Over the weekend we were reminded why Americans hold so little regard for the mainstream media. The Editor in Chief of the Daily Beast started plugging a big scoop on Saturday night,
I know "stand by for news" tweets are played out. But I want to tell you about a story posting at 7:30 that I am very excited about. What to do?
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) June 1, 2019
What big story was Shactman “very excited about?” Doxxing a black forklift operator from the Bronx.
NEW: I went looking for the Russian troll behind the 'Drunk Pelosi' viral video hoax. Turns out he's an itinerant forklift operator from the Bronx who's been secretly running hard-right "news" outlets across social media for years. Also, not Russian. https://t.co/mChiyVqy0B
— Kevin Poulsen (@kpoulsen) June 1, 2019
Other staff of the Beast aren’t remotely sorry for exposing this blue-collar worker to the fury of the Internet either,
Can’t believe some people don’t think it’s news to discover the actual identity of the guy behind the doctored Pelosi video. It’s not just that he runs partisan news site+ posted the video to make money. It’s that this story shows disinformation isn’t the purview of Russia alone
— Sam Stein (@samstein) June 2, 2019
National Review’s David French understands better than most what it means to be at the receiving end of this fury and what the Daily Beast just did to a private citizen,
In a normal, healthy world there would be nothing amiss about writing a story about a doctored viral video, how it got on the web, and who did it — including some basic biographical details. But we don’t live in a normal, healthy world and every journalist knows this. /2
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 3, 2019
Each person/publication with a significant Twitter following wields a social weapon, and attacking someone on a partisan basis is like blowing the whistle to launch a WWI charge. What happens next is predictable and nearly-certain to occur. /4
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 3, 2019
The facts of modern life are so well-known that it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the journalist not only knows what will happen but wants it to happen. /6
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 3, 2019
French concludes with “Oh, and if you think that this guy “put himself out there” when he did what he did, most people have NO IDEA what it’s like to become a hate object online. They have no clue how it can disrupt their lives. Personal destruction should not be the cost of public participation.”
It’s hard to believe that the decision-making process didn’t at least in part, consciously or unconsciously, intend to send a message to others who dare to become involved online in a pro-conservative or pro-Trump capacity. It was a warning shot, and this isn’t the first time a media company has sent it.
In a similar situation two years ago, CNN’s actions spurred on a meme “#CNNBlackmail.” When a Reddit user created a GIF critical of CNN that the President himself posted, CNN sprang into action to identify the ‘culprit.’ Writing about its decision to identify and hold onto this information, the CNN story explained,
After posting his apology, ‘HanA**holeSolo’ called CNN’s KFile and confirmed his identity. In the interview, “HanA**holeSolo’ sounded nervous about his identity being revealed and asked to not be named out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.
CNN is not publishing ‘HanA**holeSolo’s’ name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
The Daily Beast has made clear that there are no more “warnings” from the media if you dare to create viral content that the mainstream media deems offensive.
Perhaps even more disturbingly, the Beast had some help from big brother to identify the offender (emphasis mine, and identity of the accused redacted),
On May 22, a Donald Trump superfan and occasional sports blogger from the Bronx named [redacted] posted a video clip of Nancy Pelosi on his personal Facebook page. The clip showed Pelosi at her most excitable, stammering during a press conference as she voiced frustration over an abortive infrastructure meeting with the president. [His]’ commentary on the video was succinct: “Is Pelosi drunk?”
Thirteen minutes later, a Facebook official told The Daily Beast, [he] posted a very different Pelosi video to a Facebook page called Politics WatchDog—one of a series of hyperpartisan news operations [he] runs (with help, he claims). This clip had been altered to slow Pelosi down without lowering the pitch of her voice. The effect was to make it sound as though the Speaker of the House was slurring her words drunkenly while criticizing Donald Trump.
Not only is the media using its power to destroy private citizens, but Facebook is joining in with an assist.
The most terrifying thing about that Daily Beast article is that Facebook gave user information to a Daily Beast reporter. So it’s that easy, huh? Someone in the media can just call up Facebook and ask for your info and they’ll cough it up? Insane. Truly insane.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 2, 2019
This is a cornerstone moment for free expression in the United States. You’re free to say whatever you’d like, but the mainstream media and/or massive social media companies may make you suffer for it. And liberals wonder why Trump voters felt like they needed a bully to protect them…
Note: Herein is a brief plug for Ricochet, where you can still continue to post anonymously, and if the Daily Beast calls us asking for your real name, we’d tell them to jump off a pier…
Published in Journalism
Of the two “R’s, Redemption and Retribution, Retribution is a feature of the Left. There is no forgiveness for a sin that has been confessed, even when the sinner has expressed their contrition. I’m not sure the Left has any clear idea of what a sin is. They do have dogma; “It is forbidden to forbid” – one that they are quite willing to ignore.
This is one of those this-is-how-you-got-Trump moments. And contrary to what they are trying to achieve it could also be a this-is-how-you-re-elect-Trump moment.
Joe Schmoe, forklift operator in the Bronx has no right of privacy because he supports the wrong people politically. “Sources close to the investigation,” “people who have seen the documents,” and “long-time Congressional staffers” have inviolable anonymity because the damage they do to Trump (and any other Republican) is “vital for a functioning democracy.”
Enemy of the people? Yeah, pretty much.
I am now thoroughly confused on what the “correct” position is on bullying.
For years I have been hearing from people and organizations generally associated with the Left (school administrations, government officials, Hollywood and other media bigwigs) that bullying is bad. If somebody is weird or different, or makes decisions different from the ones we would make, we should not say anything that might make them feel bad.
But now, bullying is the most prominent tool used by those same people and organizations. If somebody is weird or different from the rich and powerful school administrators, government officials, Hollywood and other media bigwigs, or makes decisions or statements different from the ones expressed by the rich and powerful school administrators, government officials, Hollywood and other media bigwigs, the rich and powerful demand that everyone say everything possible to make them feel bad and even to hurt them. Voters in North Carolina don’t vote the way New Yorkers think they should, New York makes it official state policy to bully the voters of North Carolina. Voters in Georgia vote in a way different from the way the rich and powerful of Hollywood want them to vote, the rich and powerful of Hollywood bully the voters of Georgia. Donate to the charity of your choice, the City of San Antonio (TX) and the City of Buffalo (NY) ban you from doing business.
So, as with so many social behaviors, the Left has inverted positions, and bullying that was previously “bad” is now “good” and to be encouraged.
The self righteousness of these people is a wonder to behold, they seem to have completely accepted the idea that opposing them is evil, there are no other sides.
Scary that Facebook just gives away user information to however asks for it.
And Honestly, Madame Speaker doesn’t look all that great in real version either (kinda shaky).
So, has Hillary Clinton come out to blame this video for any terrorist attacks yet?
IIRC, the liberal Atlantic’s latest issue points out that the vacuum created by the decline of religion, especially among educated white liberals, has led many of them to treat leftist ideology as religion, but a religion with no concept of redemption. The idea our ‘universities’ inculcate that all whites are racist leads many white liberals to self-righteously virtue signal to show that they are among the non-racist elect, and this is rampant in the media and the academy.