Jim Acosta has the sadz. The untalented little man who rudely shouts unimportant questions at important people while in the employ of the ninth most trusted name in news out of ten, got heckled at a Trump rally in Tampa, Florida. Sad panda. The hecklers chanted “CNN sucks,” which, okay, is true, but they were none too polite about it.
Acosta didn’t like it. He reported, “Honestly, it felt like we weren’t in America anymore.”
But, like virtually everything Acosta reports, this is just a reflection of his small-minded biases. The fact is, having a group of people scream at you and denigrate you is exactly what it feels like to be in America — if you don’t happen to be a coastal elite. It has felt this way for the last twenty years at least. Every television show you watch, every movie, every woman’s magazine, every comedian, and, yes, every news program tells you you suck. Your country sucks. Your culture sucks. Your religion and your morals suck. And you personally are one of those dumb-ass racists who clings to his Bible and talks funny.
If you believe your country should vet its immigrants, you’re racist. If you voted for Donald Trump, you’re racist. If you make a joke about Barack Obama on Facebook, you’re racist twice. If you think motherhood is a woman’s highest calling, you’re sexist. If you take it ill when Islamists blow you up in the name of their nasty little god, you’re Islamophobic. If you know that a man is a man even if he says he’s a woman, you’re transphobic. If you think it’s fair to debate whether homosexual actions are moral or not, you’re homophobic.
Every day. From every outlet. All the time. And now people are angry. Wonder why.
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger says he told Trump his anti-press rhetoric could lead to violence. But the media’s anti-Trump rhetoric already has led to violence: public officials rat-packed and bullied, Trump supporters harassed, White House spokes-lady Sarah Sanders having to live under guard. And yet when Sanders pointed this out to Look-At-Me-I’m-Jim Acosta, Acosta stormed out of the room. Hell, if he doesn’t want to hear the truth, he could just stay home and watch CNN.
What’s also appalling is that reporters answered Sanders by reminding her of the tragic shooting of journalists in Maryland. But that had nothing to do with Trump. It was the personal grudge of a madman. Even when these knuckleheads are protesting being called Fake News, they are purveying Fake News. Remarkable.
But most remarkable is this: the media seems to take no responsibility for the anger in the country. Not once — not one time — have I seen a reporter come onscreen and say, “Hey, you know what, maybe we are biased. Maybe we haven’t listened. Maybe we have been arrogant and insulting. Maybe we do bear some responsibility for the anger against us.”
When Muslim extremists destroyed the World Trade Center, David Letterman and others among the chattering classes went on TV and wondered: “Why do they hate us?” But they can’t take the time to ask the same question about their fellow citizens. The Islamists are murdering pigs. Who cares why they hate us? These Trump supporters are just ordinary folks. If they were screaming at me, I’d do a moral inventory on myself before blaming them.
Truly, I do not want to see journalists hurt. Truly — though I love the fact that Trump gives the press a hard time — I cringe when he calls journalists enemies of the people. That’s not the rhetoric I think he should use. But after twenty years of insults, twenty years of bias, twenty years of hating people for being white or male or straight or loyal to constitutional principles — twenty years at least — the press — the media in general — have no claim to respect. They’re going to have to earn that back one honest story at a time.
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