As noted yesterday, CNN might be moving forward into cyberspace in a cool way, but it is moving backward, into irresponsible liberal demagoguery, in a very un-cool way.
The un-cool case in point is CNN's excessive exploitation of "the noose" issue, as it has erupted on campuses in recent weeks. Stipulating that America has dark passages in its history--of lynching and brutal racial violence--it's also sadly true that more recently, race-baiters of a different kind have stepped forward to worsen America's racial politics. "Anti-racists" of the Al Sharpton variety have stepped forward to denounce racism in dangerous, even dishonest, ways--remember Tawana Brawley from 20 years ago? All those rape allegations, eagerly spouted by Sharpton, et al., proved to be a big hoax.
So now to today: Is there an American epidemic of race-related "hate crimes," as CNN insists on insisting? Some sharp critics, including Ann Coulter, have debunked past "noose" allegations, here. Yes, Coulter is herself controversial, but she's plenty smart, and when she dives into data, she does a good job. But read her article, fellow Cable Gamer, and decide for yourself.
In the same vein, other observers, such as blogger Steve Sailer, writing about the "Great Noose Mania of 2007," have put the whole issue of post-Jim Crow racial politics in a useful larger perspective.
Both Coulter and Sailer make the basic point that the liberal left exults in "noose" stories, since such "news" allows liberals to assert their moral superiority over everyone else. In other words, liberals need a steady diet of hate-crimes-reports, just to keep the alleged--and often, falsely and maliciously accused--larger population off balance and on the defensive, and thus ready to vote for liberals and their taxing/spending/regulating.
If so, then CNN might as well be an arm of the Democratic National Committee, or an agent of George Soros, because in trumepting such inflammatory pseudo-news, it is helping the Democrats to inflate their black vote, and deflate the morale, and voting strength, of conservatives.
Coulter and Sailer make this "hot" argument, which is beyond the power of this humble Cable Gamer to fully evaluate.
However, I do know that Matthew Felling of CBS News' "Public Eye" ombudsman shop (a post-Dan Rather institution) is no right-wing bombthrower.
And so, using cool language and analysis, Felling demolishes CNN's editorial stance on the "noose" non-issue.
So while Rick Sanchez and Kyra Phillips might not look like demagogues, that's what they have become, in the hands of prexyp Jon Klein, or whoever at CNN is pulling the editorial strings.
Those two CNNers might think a bit more before trusting Klein with their careers. Sanchez and Phillips might think that they have an excuse, because they are just reading out loud the liberal agitprop copy put in front of them. But they are trodding dangerous ground.
For better perspective, the two newspersons might look back to the spectacular fall of one of their colleagues, Peter Arnett. He, too, thought he could get away with just following orders, on an earlier CNN hoax, "Operation Tailwind." And now Arnett is free-lancing, or whatever he is doing with himself these days .
Sanchez and Phillips might ask themselves: "Do we really believe that we can report fiction--fiction that effectively maligns the silent majority of tolerant and law-abiding Americans--and not pay a severe price, in terms of our Q Score?"
