Premium

My Contrarian Thoughts on Giving Media Oxygen to Clinically Insane Leftists

Image Prompted by Stephen Kruiser Using Grok

One rarely wanders down a path that's littered with illogic when one proceeds from the premise that 21st-century American leftists are, for the most part, bats**t crazy. True, the same could be said about leftists the world over, but we're focusing on our countrymen and women who are fouling the political air here at home. 

We know who the major players are — lefties who will immediately rush to social media or a television camera with the dumbest and coldest hot takes in the history of hot takes. A buzz hasn't existed that disgruntled commies can't kill. 

via GIPHY

After two-plus decades of writing professionally about the media in all of its incarnations, I am of the firm opinion that we here on the conservative side give WAY too much exposure to pathological leftist trolls. I should point out here that these are opinions of mine that I seek to apply only to my own work. 

My colleagues at our sister site Twitchy are in the business of exposing the lunatics on the Left, and they do a brilliant job. In my perfect conservative new media universe, troll response would be left solely up to them. 

I would also like to make it clear that I'm only talking about leftist trolls who don't hold elective office. It's always open season on the idiocy of Squeaky Ocasio-Cortez or Dan Goldman. 

While it's true that highlighting the latest outrageous comment from the shrieking harridans on "The View" drives traffic, it also keeps said harridans in the national conversation. Like it or not, attention from detractors gives people relevance. 

Here's something I wrote about Jennifer Rubin a long time ago:

When she writes or tweets something outrageous, no one is “owning” her by pointing that she said something different four or five years ago. Believe me, she’s aware. She loves the attention, even if it is negative. In fact, she may be one of the better Twitter trolls on either side right now. Don’t give her the satisfaction of a reaction. The 2,347,846th “BUT YOU SAID SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN 2015!” reply really isn’t having any impact.

I was wrong about one thing there — there is an impact. Responding to trolls on social media helps their engagement numbers. Anyone who believes the old adage that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" can see why that would be problematic. To give you an idea of how serious I am about this, I promised in that column that I wouldn't be writing about Jennifer Rubin "again anytime soon." That was in July 2020, and this is the first time I've mentioned her in a column since. She pops up in my Morning Briefing from time to time because other people write about her, but I want her to wither away on Troll Island. 

There has been no research done by me on the subject, but I firmly believe that a lot of the prominent lefty trolls get most of their attention from conservatives. And they know it. People like the snot-nosed Harry Sisson aren't preaching to the choir; they're deliberately trolling the haters. I try not to take the bait. My success rate with that is pretty good, but I do pounce on one of them from time to time. Not gonna lie, there's usually alcohol involved. 

Pointing out that Whoopi Goldberg said something stupid is like reminding everyone that we need oxygen to live. It's a given. Let the low-IQ ditzes on "The View" shriek their nonsense for their equally slow, sexually frustrated (there's a reason they're so angry all the time) audience of lib broads; the rest of us don't need daily reminders that these women should be in straitjackets. 

Related: It's OK to Call Your Political Opponents Insane If They're, You Know, Insane

Again, this is just the way I'm approaching things. Yes, I will still write about mentally unwell offerings in the Opinion sections of The New York Times and The Washington Post, but that's more in the context of entrenched leftist bias in the mainstream media. I often don't mention the author's name at all. 

It's just plain icky to know too much about them. 

Click the button below to get the Morning Briefing emailed to you every weekday. Have your coffee with me, people. It's free and it supports conservative media!  

Recommended

Trending on PJ Media Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement