(2020-10-16) Guinn Knowledge Takes The Sword Away

Rusty Guinn: Knowledge Takes the Sword Away. It is the most powerful justification we humans have for signing on to corruption – that it serves a greater truth. And whether you believe in it or not, the “greater truth” of a news media and social media industry hopelessly derisive toward political conservatives is absolutely one of the reasons the election of Trump was able to break us.

Earlier this week, the New York Post published a news story about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden... may I confess to you that I am not particularly interested? It doesn’t really constitute information in any sense to me, by which I mean that it didn’t really change my mind about anything

if any of that surprised you, you have been walking around with your eyes closed for the last 50 years

What was most informative was what the venues for this information told us about themselves.

First, the only “news” departments to deem it newsworthy were those in media outlets whose “opinion” pages would favor the outcome of an explosive public response to its revelations.

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at the output of some other key newsrooms. CNN: We cannot locate a single article published by CNN during this period satisfying this query.

ALL of our media outlets have uniformly empowered their news rooms to reflect the editorial and political predispositions of their publishers. It is a gross betrayal.

If there is a story that presented a close second place in terms of the divergent evaluations of its newsworthiness, however, it was certainly the publishing of Donald Trump’s tax returns by the other paper in New York on September 27th

May I confess to you once again that I am not particularly interested? It doesn’t really constitute information in any sense to me, by which I mean that it didn’t really change my mind about anything.

But even its importance in narrative-world isn’t what I found most informative. What was most informative was what the venues for this information told us about themselves.

So let’s start with this: Donald Trump’s tax returns and the details within them are absolutely newsworthy.

First, most of the “news” departments to deem it newsworthy were those in media outlets whose “opinion” pages would favor the outcome of an explosive public response to its revelations

Maybe you think a 20-story barrage from the WaPos of the world is the “exaggerated” version of this story, or maybe you think that the non-coverage is the more indicative of a news room infected by an organization’s editorial and opinion posture. Either way, we may still observe that the gap in how simple facts are presented and reported, not on opinion pages but in black and white news, is vast.

Do you think this goes away between November 3rd and November 4th?

On October 14th, after the New York Post published its piece, Twitter chose to implement a “long-standing” policy restricting the spread of materials which may have been acquired without the permission of the individuals referenced... despite having happily permitted the New York Times article from two weeks prior to spread like wildfire, despite the Times having acquired the tax returns in undisclosed ways.

to any Trump-supporting conservative it was a confirmation in narrative world of the reason most have used to justify their sometimes-grudging support: that only a Trump could counter the unlevel playing field

It is the most powerful justification we humans have for signing on to corruption – that it serves a greater truth. And whether you believe in it or not, the “greater truth” of a news media (MSM) and social media industry hopelessly derisive toward political conservatives is absolutely one of the reasons the election of Trump was able to break us.

If we believe we are right, we should seek truth and fight for what we believe it is.

Even when we are absolutely convinced we are right, we will still benefit from actively seeking to create opportunities for cooperative game play. Or, you know, clear eyes and full hearts. Anything which structurally supports the infection of news pages with the sentiments of a publication’s opinion pages is always and in all ways anathema to that objective.

How do we do that in our media consumption? Some intangible thoughts and some tangible ones follow:

Act Boldly, Hold Loosely

being intentional about providing a few instances of uncomfortable patience

Transition to Regional Newspaper Consumption:

Once an outlet decides that it is part of the “national dialogue”, it will be inexorably pulled into the widening gyre.

BITFD: There is a projection racket which defends polarized national media (BigMedia) from criticism of their commercially oriented, rage-opinion-funded-and-infected news pages. 2020-09-15-GuinnTheProjectionRacketPart1