If you enjoy slamming the media, don’t read this
I thought I was tired of the anti-media stuff pre-coronavirus.
But now? Here’s what I have to say: If you’re slamming the media now, during the biggest crisis of most of our lives, you’re so far on the wrong side of history. To say the media has bias, to say the media is out to get Trump, to say the media is only reporting the bad news, to say the media is inflaming the situation — shame on you.
Now granted, I say this as a member of “the media.” But believe me: I’m not what I’m talking about. You want to hate on me? Go ahead. I’m a court jester doing my job from the comfort of my home. Heck, I plan on writing about rocks on Friday. Like, you know: Rocks.
But what about the media members on the front lines? The ones still going to press conferences, the ones still digging for the stories, the ones who are legit putting their lives on the line in the name of the First Amendment? I bow to those people. Take our own Isaac Avilucea. He is a two-time cancer survivor. I spoke with him last week, and I was like, “Dude, take a breath.”
He takes no breaths. He is doing everything he can to bring the stories to you. To him, it’s more than a job. It’s his calling. So many hard-nosed reporters are like priests or police: It’s not like they made a choice to get into this miserable profession. It’s just part of their DNA.
OK. So that’s reason number one I can’t stand the anti-media nonsense I still see everyday, all day, on my Facebook feed.
Past that? The complaint that the media is fanning the flames. Listen: You ask me, the media hasn’t done enough on this score. I think the media, fearful of being accused of fanning of the flames, are instead just gently stoking the fire. You want fanning of flames?
Try this: STAY HOME. And if you must, must, must go out — you know, for food or water or because you’re a critical employee — wear a mask if you have some, or fashion one out of an old T-shirt. We are in the middle of a pandemic, and I expect it to get much worse before it gets better. President Donald Trump should call for a true nationwide shutdown so we can stop this thing before it explodes into every community. This opinion of mine is based on reading science, not from listening to the MyPillow guy. (Though his product is indeed awesome, I will say.)
And then there’s the “bad news” the media is so fond of reporting. You know, the number infected, the number of deaths. “How come the media doesn’t report the XXX,000 number of people who have recovered from the coronavirus?” is a familiar refrain I see all over social media. Um … here’s a didja know: During the Blitz in World War II, over 2 million homes in England were bombed to smithereens. Do you think the headline should be, “Millions of homes still standing!”
Right now is not the time to be hyping how many people survive the coronavirus. We know. We know for the vast majority of people, it’s a nuisance, not a lifethreatening condition. But it is a life-threatening condition for many, and, as a result, now is exactly the time to be hyping how dangerous it is, and how, without social distancing, we’re going to overwhelm the hospitals. There will (hopefully) be plenty of time later to congratulate ourselves for surviving this nightmare.
Which brings me to a corollary of the above: The viral post about how “98.2%” of people survive and how that’s great news and how the media is ignoring it. Coupla things here: One, we don’t know how many people survive, and if I had to guess, the number is going to be higher than 98.2%. And two: I challenge every single person who posts this 98.2% thing to a game of heads-up poker, because you clearly don’t understand odds, as 1.8% ain’t exactly nuthin’. Consider: Someone offers you a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, the greatest candy in the history of the world. There are 1,000 individual Reese’s to choose from. They are lined up in 10 rows of 100 each. It’s a cornucopia of Reese’s. It’s Reese’s heaven. But — and this is a pretty big but — 18 of them will kill you. So choose wisely.
Still hungry for Reese’s? Yeah. Didn’t think so.
And lastly, as
for
the
antiTrump bias: Are there members of the media who don’t think the president is good at his job? Of course. I’m one of them. But to think there’s anyone in the nonopinion news media right now who is purposefully going after Trump is insane. That ship has sailed. No one cares. In fact, I’d be willing to bet all the money I just won off you at poker that every single member of media who holds some anti-Trump sentiment — present company included — would be giddy at the prospect of four more years of Trump if he used the power of the federal government to destroy the coronavirus threat by A) shutting the country down for a few weeks and B) bringing in the best minds in science and economics, regardless of politics, to handle it all. He does that, I’d even campaign for him. Where do I order my TRUMP 2020 lawn signs?
All right. Rant over. I’ll bring back some good vibes Friday, I promise. Rocks and stuff.