MSNBC and The Big Narrative Lie

Most of the time, I have no problem with MSNBC. Why shouldn’t Communist fatheads have something to watch on TV? Conversely, the well-dressed, well-spoken, sophisticated anchors who front the network news and lie by omission and distortion every night while pretending to report objectively — they seem corrupt and wicked to me. They need to be exposed, ridiculed, undermined, defeated and ultimately replaced by people who understand the importance of fair and balanced reporting in a free nation. But MSNBC leftists speaking as leftists — that seems honest enough, no matter what I may think of their philosophy…  which is that it’s a recipe for disaster papered over with a facade of false virtue.

But during yesterday’s Republican convention coverage, The Daily Caller reports (h/t Instapundit), the MSNBC goofs cut away during every speech made by a minority. They didn’t want anyone to see that men and women of color were a cherished and honored part of the Republican party. That’s not their narrative so, by gum, they weren’t going to show it. Which raises — not a complaint — but a question: What good is a philosophy that can’t withstand even the sight of the simple facts? If, for instance, you are pro-abortion, why protest when pro-lifers show films of an abortion taking place? If you’re afraid reality will prejudice people against your point of view, shouldn’t you consider changing your point of view? Am I missing something?

Taking another, more honest tack on the issue of minorities speaking at the convention, David Horsey wrote at The Los Angeles Times that this put “a brown face on a white party.” Hey, fair enough. I would have said the GOP was using brown faces to show minorities they’re welcome and to overcome the ceaseless media portrayal of the party as racist. Black conservative speakers demonstrate that there’s another, better, prouder way to live than being dependent on the federal dime. But Horsey has the right to note the facts and speak his left-wing mind about them. Why not?

But not to note the facts at all? Even MSNBC should be ashamed of itself — or perhaps they should be converted to conservatism by recognizing leftism’s need to hide reality from itself!

The left wing complaint against Fox News has always been that Fox is biased toward the right. In practical fact, this means Fox runs popular shows by Sean Hannity and the libertarian Bill O’Reilly, and sometimes overweights the All Stars panel with conservative voices. But no one ever accuses news anchor Bret Baer of failing to show the world more or less as it is. Why would right wingers watch him if he did that? All of us sometimes explain away facts that challenge our opinions — but just pretending the facts aren’t there? How can that be of service to anyone?

MSNBC’s convention coverage would be hilarious if it weren’t pathetic. Oh, hell, it’s hilarious anyway.

Note: A lot of commenters are complaining that I called O’Reilly a libertarian. And yes, as I think it over, commenter RBJ’s tag of populist seems closer to the mark. My point was that Sean Hannity is the only primetime show host on Fox who can strictly be called a conservative and whose conservatism fully informs his show. O’Reilly, as WF Buckley would’ve said, is conservative but not a conservative. All of which strikes me as pretty interesting when you consider the level of hysteria Fox inspires on the left.