EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: Student newspaper op-eds often are ‘fish-in-a-barrel’ material, but geez Louise!
If you’ve ever wondered why the mainstream media is so liberally biased, a fairly quick perusal of college student newspapers should give you a good idea.
Even in hard “news” stories, the papers routinely use sympathetic language when covering a progressive group or topic, but the reverse when reporting on something conservative.
Worse are the editorials and op-eds. Even at “elite” schools like Harvard, the editors (unintentionally) routinely make fools of themselves with “principled” stances. Such principles do not apply to the Right.
Occasionally a right-leaning or independent voice will be given space for a piece or rebuttal, but they’re exceedingly rare. Deep blue-state college paper editorials and op-eds are the worst, basically parroting popular Democrat/progressive organization narratives.
Which brings us to the English literature-majoring opinion editor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison student paper The Badger Herald, who penned an especially bad op-ed earlier this month lauding last month’s so-called “No Kings” anti-Trump protests.
One should expect that if you’re planning to write about politics and the Constitution/rule of law, wouldn’t you at least want to sound like you know what you’re talking about? This editor makes it seem like she’s never taken a civics or history class in her life.
For example:
—> “[M]illions of people across the country gathered Oct. 18 to declare that we will not support an absolute king.” That “absolute” really drives the point home, doesn’t it?
—> In what she probably thought was an “I’ll show you!” moment, the editor supposedly “proves” incorrect Trump’s claim that the No Kings protests were “small” and “ineffective” … because the (alleged) seven million who attended was “14 times greater” than the total who attended both of his inaugurations. (She links to NoKings.org for proof.)
Well, the No Kings demonstrations (estimated to be between 5-7 million in attendance) also were larger than both of Barack Obama’s combined inaugurations. The difference was smaller, but so? What’s more, attendance at Trump’s second inauguration was ridiculously reduced due to severe weather (it was moved inside the Capitol, which has a maximum space for about a mere 600 people). Guess it wasn’t important to mention that.
—> Just who were among these 5-7 million No Kings protesters? The editor doesn’t say. But estimates say between 80 and 92 percent were white (liberals), the majority of whom were women. A maximum of 10 percent were Hispanic, and a mere 3-5 percent were black. Does this sound representative of, as the editor says, the “millions of people across the country [who] agree with [the] distaste for the state of our government”?
—> The editor “detests” the fact that conservatives are seen as more patriotic than liberals, and claims Trump and MAGA are patriotic for a U.S. that “doesn’t exist” — one that “ignores diversity, democracy and the words of our Constitution.”
‘Trump has stripped freedoms from nearly every marginalized community there is’
Except that Trump got more “diverse” votes than any Republican presidential candidate in roughly 50 years, and just like the “absolute king” reference,” no evidence is provided on how the president is “ignoring” democracy and the Constitution’s text.
Heck, at this point, just go with it. To paraphrase Boone in Animal House, “[S]he’s rolling”:
I pose the question — are people in oppressed communities not allowed to make light of their own oppression? I urge you to acknowledge that this can be a fight for survival, a coping mechanism, or a million other things that the privileged will not understand.
America is supposed to be a country for the people, by the people. A country based on freedom — not a country built to support billionaires by stepping on the working class.
Since taking office, Trump has stripped freedoms from nearly every marginalized community there is — the LGBTQ+ community, women, people of color, immigrants, the elderly, the poor and the list goes on.
What oppression? Which freedoms? Survival from what? The editor either chooses not to say … or simply doesn’t know (or didn’t bother to check). I wonder which is worse — this opinion editor’s civics awareness or the math prowess of UC San Diego students.
As Cliff Clavin used to say when he tried to become a comedian:
MORE: Oberlin student op-ed: Too many white people are attending campus concerts
MORE: Student op-ed: Non-natives should honor Indigenous Peoples Day … by not traveling to Hawaii
