Hypocrisy might stretch across both sides of the political aisle, but when it comes from the left, the media seems willing to overlook the double standards and deception and move on.
For example, when Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy voiced his belief in traditional marriage, he was denounced as a bigot. Freedom of speech is only practical when your speech is what the left approves. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama’s spiritual guide for 17 years, has made overtly racial statements while simultaneously criticizing white people for being racist.
“You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be a brother to white folk. And if you do not realize that, you are in serious trouble,” Wright has said from the pulpit.
For constantly berating white people as racists, he sure does have a lot to say about “what’s going on in white America, US of KKK.”
When MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews said he was glad Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast because it helped Obama win re-election or that the reason Hillary Clinton was elected U.S. senator was because her husband “messed around,” Matthews gets a slap on the wrist. When a conservative says something incendiary, bad things happen. Advertisers were put under pressure by liberals to boycott Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News because he said Obama had “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Beck eventually left Fox News — despite having excellent ratings — to stop the onslaught of advertisers abandoning his show. Sure his remarks had been inflammatory, but Beck has been vilified for his remarks while Matthews has enjoyed 16 years on air despite his provocative comments.
At a final campaign stop in Philadelphia, the day before the election, former President Bill Clinton said while campaigning for Obama, “When I was a kid, if I got my hand caught in the cookie jar where it wasn’t supposed to be, I turned red in my face, and I took my hand out of the cookie jar.”
In the same speech, he asked Americans if they wanted a president who lied to them. It is laughable that a former president who was impeached for lying under oath about having an affair while in office would give anyone a lecture about that issue.
Furthermore, the American Civil Liberties Union, a highly liberal-leaning organization, is the first to file a lawsuit seeking to ban any public display of Christianity. The Tangipahoa Parish School Board in Tangipahoa Parish, La., has been criticized by the ACLU at least six times in the past 10 years. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the school board for opening board meetings with prayer.
“Board members who pray before public meetings should be removed from society,” the ACLU of Louisiana said.
Though in September in San Diego, the ACLU actively defended the right of Muslims to pray in public schools, which is hypocritical to the ACLU’s attack on Christian prayer in public.
We have also been told for years that former President George W. Bush is the epitome of all things evil for his War on Terror. Over the years, various journalists and media personalities have slandered and defamed him. A USA Today columnist, Julianne Malveaux, said, “George W. Bush is evil. He is a terrorist. He is evil. He is arrogant. And he is out of control.” Although Malveaux is not entirely satisfied with Obama’s performance, she has called herself a “loving critic” of the President. On the other hand, Obama has tripled troops in Afghanistan, sent troops into Libya and Obama’s Pakistan drone strikes should not be ignored or whitewashed by the same people who were so quick to condemn Bush. To say the Benghazi attack justified our involvement in Libya, but 9/11 did not do the same for us in Iraq is preposterous.
Obama and his campaign spent the entire 2012 campaign lambasting Romney constantly as a liar, and yet he lied for weeks about Benghazi and still has not produced all the facts. He continually promoted the idea that the attack on Benghazi was caused by a spontaneous riot resulting from an anti-Islamic video. Within 24 hours, the administration knew it was a terrorist attack.
An encyclopedia could be filled with these examples and many more of liberal hypocrisies. And yet the duplicitous Left continues to get a free pass by the media and American people. They profess their support for freedom of speech only as long as your beliefs conform to their political ideologies.
Sarah Becker is a business sophomore and can be reached at [email protected]
The problem with hypocrisy is that it is largely endemic in human behavior – one can certainly criticize others for it, but hypocrisy one’s own faction will always be present. In general, my experience is that the far left does call out the center-left for its issues, while the center-left calls out the far left for its lack of practicality. We criticize each other all the time, so while hypocrisy does exist, there also exists attitudes that allow for self-correction. The problem with the right (especially the far-right) is that they do not admit that they could be wrong. I have heard many on the left talk about changes in attitude and belief, fostered by the honesty of their fellow travelers. I don’t hear this on the right, accept for those libertarians who grouse about how their movement has been hijacked by social conservatives. Not exactly an exemplar of self-correction. I think you are confusing free speech with indemnity from correction. You are certainly free to say all sorts of foolish and irresponsible things – I retain my freedom to demonstrate why such beliefs are in error.
“Though in September in San Diego, the ACLU actively defended the right of Muslims to pray in public schools, which is hypocritical to the ACLU’s attack on Christian prayer in public.”
Are they defending the rights of Muslim *students* praying in public schools, or Muslim board members praying in public meetings?
First of all the myth of “the media” being either liberal or conservative is just simply out dated. Fanatical criticism of both factions from their counterparts on the airwaves is comprehensively balanced. For every twenty stories from the left-leaning news organizations there are twenty stories from right-leaning media outlets as well.
Secondly, (if I am to be allowed as much hyperbole as Sarah), Bill O’reilly spews as much invective and deceit everyday as the top ten or twelve progressive commentators do in a month. I have witnessed network and cable news coverage of seven different White House administrations and never have seen the type of near treasonous attacks on the President as I have seen from the right on President Obama. The level of “truthieness” emanating from the Obama Administration is a far cry better than the Bush/Cheney War Machine ever even pretended to achieve. For every example of a public figure on the left getting caught doing something stupid or unethical, there are just as many well-covered examples of elected officials on the right doing the same thing.
While the words fair and balanced simply can not be applied to any of our media outlets currently, they do an ok job of slinging mud in both directions.
Yup. Nothing to add here. Hypocrisy comes from both sides for sure, but the hypocrisy from the left, insofar as giving this administration a pass on the same policies and practices of the previous one, looms large in my opinion. Everyone is going to defend “their guy,” but most on the left have taken it to a new level I feel.
Really? Which policies of the Bush administration that have been continued under Obama are those you speak of? TARP? This was roundly criticized by the entire Occupy movement, and still gets it every couple of weeks in Matt Tabibi’s blog in Rolling Stone and elsewhere. Drone warfare? Have you listened to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now lately, like in the last four years? Look, I understand false equivalency (they all do it) is an easy argument to make, but it doesn’t mean that it is supported by the facts. If by “liberal media” you mean CNN and the broadcast networks, I think you confuse apathy for liberal bias.
Your article reads like something that people told you, not something you researched. Many of your ideas on this matter are outdated or almost anecdotal. It makes me believe that your parents probably told you most of this, and the fact that you are a business sophmore pretty much confirms that theory.