Archived Story
Protests shown in negative light
Published 8:00am Friday, November 23, 2012The Austin Daily Herald critique you printed concerning the petitions to secede was completely ridiculous, overly shrill and showed an utter inability to understand what is actually driving these protests. It is typical of the media to portray conservative protest as unpatriotic, dangerous and very often racist (Tea Party and these petitions), while liberal protest, even when violent, is romanticized and celebrated (OWS).
Similarly, we are already seeing the media lining up to blame the GOP for the possible fall over the fiscal cliff. When conservatives stand their ground they are portrayed as obstructionist and unreasonable, when liberals stand their ground they are principled and heartfelt. Liberals are caring and inclusive, conservatives are driven by hate and exclusion. These portrayals by the media, which your piece echoed perfectly, play a part in the frustration that results in these petitions/protests. The media fawned over and protected President Obama, whose terrible record on the economy, divisive rhetoric, cronyism and authoritarian methods (executive orders, massive regulation) would have spelled doom for any other president seeking re-election. With four more years of this facing us, is it any wonder that some would find some way, any way, to lodge their displeasure?
Peaceful protest is traditionally supported in America, but you chose to brand this particular protest as foolish, dangerous and unpatriotic, simply because you don’t agree with it. Shame on all of you!
Mike Bjorgo
Austin
Good Letter
Journalism has been dead for some time journal.O.ism is no accident, control the media, control the message, control the people, simple and effective Stalin and Mao did this with great effect.
I wouldn’t call an active desire to secede an act of peaceful protest; by definition, it doesn’t call to change or improve something that exists but rather destroy it. This situation fundamentally undermines the entire purpose of democracy, and attempting to blame the “media” for a majority of people thinking differently than you do is just a cop-out from having to realize that everyone in the country doesn’t feel or interpret things the same way.
^ Caution Conformity Hazard
W.W.T.F.F.D?
I am sure glad the founding fathers were declared traitors by the king and did what they did. To protest is American I “shudder” to think if CNN MSNBC CBS NBC PBS would have covered the start of the American Revolution how we may have ended up.
Not so long ago nancy pelosi and the left called “dissent the highest form of patriotism” but it seems some people only approve of protest when it fits the agenda of a government centric administration.
Either the people who started the secede petitions are patriots, or they’re not. You compared them to the founding fathers; if that were the case, the US today would be equal to England of 1776. Maybe you slept through 3rd grade Social Studies, but I’m pretty sure the FF were the exact *opposite* of England patriots. There’s a difference between protesting and threatening to secede from the union. I’m pretty sure the latter would be considered traitors.
I think the idea of seceding can be better understood as follows: imagine, for a second, that the United States is a child (shouldn’t be too hard after this election cycle).
The founding fathers/colonists seceded from England because their child was being raised by somebody else. In this instance, the FF were the parents seeking to raise their own child.
Imagine that ‘the child’ is now sick. We can either work together as its ‘parents’(residents/voters/politicians) to find a new way to treat the child, as current ways aren’t exactly working, or we can just kill the kid and hope that conceiving another will somehow make everything okay.
We can either discuss our contrasting treatment options and help the kid we love, or pretend that killing it and replacing it with a new one is going to solve the old kid’s problems (as well as somehow justifying this as a viable solution).
My family and I visited our nation’s capitol recently and the highlight for me was The Lincoln Memorial. President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address as well as his Gettysburg Address are engraved in those sacred walls for all to ponder. I totally agree that the country is going in the wrong direction but to secede from the union is not the answer. Over 600,000 of our fellow countrymen died in the Civil War. The greatest reason that war was fought was not over the issue of slavery as many think, but to preserve the Union. Many shed their blood so these states could be United and united they should remain no matter what the cost.
Mark it on the calendar, Scott, because I totally agree with you. This has been tried before, and it didn’t end well.