During the Trump administration, the media and the Left in general were obsessed with Trump’s lying, reporting breathlessly everytime he said something that was the least bit inaccurate as a “lie.” (I will admit he very often got things wrong and may have even intentionally lied at times, but I’m not going to cry to the heavens because a politician may have lied … that’s what they do.)
And, as a corollary to this obsession, the Left also told us how Biden was going to tell the truth and how they, in general, were paragons of truth and virtue and could be trusted to tell the truth, unlike those baddies in the Republican/Conservaitve/Trump-supporting camp.
The latest example is Biden himself saying that when he came to office, there was “no plan” for distributing the vaccine, even though on the day of his inauguration, nearly 1 million vaccines were being administered per day.
If one does a simple search, you can find a press release from Sept. 16th from the Department of Health and Human Services outlining the details of the distribution plan, including the announcement of a contract with McKesson Corporation, signed in August, to execute the task.
This is DISTRIBUTION, not development of the vaccine, which was well underway at the time and, as we all know, achieved the amazing feat of delivering the vaccine in less than 12 months (i.e., Operation Warpspeed).
But nevermind. Biden and his entire administration lie repeatedly about what the Trump administration did, but never express a single iota of appreciation for their unprecedented work to fund and remove barriers for the vaccine’s development.
Does the media call him or them on that? No. They echo those sentiments and report them uncritically. The hypocrisy of it all is too much to take! How can we trust the “4th Estate” to properly monitor and hold to account our government when they lie about one administration while allowing the other administration to lie without limit?
It’s bad for democracy, and not in the fake way the ninnies in the press cried about it when Trump criticized their biased coverage. This is REALLY bad and can lead to corruption and abuse on levels unimaginable. Why would anyone in the Biden administration feel the need to be truthful and transparent when they know the media will carry their water at every step?
But if we move away from the strictly political sphere and into the world of entertainment, which has become so political as to be nearly inseparable from politics, we see more such blatant lying.
Disney+ recently fired Gina Carano, star of their hit series “The Mandalorian,” for the following reason: “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” This is a serious charge. I wouldn’t blame a company for firing someone who expressed such sentiments, but what if this charge weren’t true?
That is precisely the case. I will try and summarize as briefly as possible. Her two actions on Twitter that led to these charges were as follows: she identified her gender as “beep/bop/boop” on her profile page, and likened the hatred that some people are showing to their fellow citizens to what happened in Nazi Germany leading up to the Holocaust.
Carano was accused of making fun of trans people by listing her gender as “beep/bop/boop,” but explained very clearly at the time that that wasn’t her intention and that rather she was pushing back against Twitter’s demands that all people must list their preferred pronoun. She was pushing back against Big Tech censorship and political correctness. But her explanations were routinely ignored and she was instead convicted of being transphobic, thus the accusation of her “denigrating people based on their culture.”
Her tweet about Nazi treatment of Jews was not in the least anti-Semitic. Only someone 100% bent on misinterpreting it could come up with such a ridiculous charge. She made it clear that she was referring to the tendency of people to hate their neighbors as being a bad thing, a dangerous thing that could lead to worse things, and did not accuse either side specifically of being guilty of such behavior. She was criticized for using the Holocaust analogy too casually and apologized for her overreach in that regard, but her clear intention certainly wasn’t to denigrate people based on their “religious identity.”
And yet, here was Disney, lying about who she was, and lying in a particularly horrible way.
Just play the “flip-it” game and imagine if Disney fired a liberal actor for comparing something to the Nazis … oh wait. That happened, at least the liberal actor part. Pedro Pascal, the lead actor in “The Mandalorian,” compared the Trump administration to the Nazis for their treatment of illegal immigrants, and used a picture from the Obama administration to “prove” his point. Of course, he faced no such charges from Disney or anyone else, much less termination.
The hypocrisy is so brazen, so shocking, I’m not sure what to do or say anymore.
It is a sad day to realize that we live in a country when the major powers in our culture — government, media, entertainment — can simply lie about important topics and get away with it scot-free, all the while accusing their opponents of being inveterate liars.
It is truly a kind of totalitarianism, one not so much imposed by armed revolutionary guards, but by subtle yet nearly complete control of the channels of communication by one side to achieve their ends. Lying is par for the course for them because they genuinely believe that the ends justify the oh-so-noble means.
Just know that when you destroy truth in a culture, when you need it to defend yourself it won’t be there for you. The only way to halt this precipitous and destructive trend is to demand truth, real truth, from all sectors of society and to not tolerate it yourself. Tell the truth, for the truth will set you free.
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
Thanks for the letter, Trey. A lot of Americans, myself included, feel the exact same way about our media. I’m afraid for my country and where we will be in another 10 years. We can look at Venezuela circa 1997 for a sneak peek. Once the Liberals controlled the Venezuelan media their country crumbled in less than a decade.
This letter is the epitome of Mr. Hoffman’s lack of integrity. He offers a weak-kneed criticism of the prevarications of our 45th president that ends up excusing Trump’s unprecedented level of disingenuity as “what [politicians] do.” Then he proceeds with a full-throated attack on the 46th president who has been in office less than two months. As always, his tender sensitivities have been aggrieved by the nefarious news media.
Hoffman loves to quote the 1st century Jewish shaman, but cannot bring himself to follow any of the guy’s advice. He’s quite adept at “straining at gnats and swallowing camels.”
Stranger than Fiction,
You sound sorta biased about subject matter we should all agree on – a fair and balanced media. However, you seem to attach Trey bc he’s a Trump supporter. Trey even made a point to say Trump didn’t always tell the truth. His comments stayed on topic about the media’s bias throughout the letter. However, you still tried to dismantle his argument using not references, but instead, poorly crafted elementary school insults. It’s very obvious this is what you are doing and jeopardizes your chance to convince anyone of anything other than maybe your low IQ. Thanks for your comment though. Says a lot.
Oh, and would you care to weigh in on Biden’s performance in office now that we are in September? There’s quite a selection of “prevarications” (as you put it 🙂 to discuss in regards to vaccines, racial slurs & but of course:
AFGHANISTAN
Let’s see if you can respond without mentioning Trump once. It’s harder than you think.
Technically, construction of pipelines….elections have consequences…y’all enjoy..
Feeble, but I’ll give you a solid B for effort.
Trey, you seem to be a little… hmmm, what’s the word I’m thinking of… “unhinged” or maybe “triggered?” Yeah, that about sums it up. Man, you just don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you whining and crying about this new administration. Please, please, pretty please, will you wail and gnash your teeth every week here in The Citizen? Everyone so, looks forward to your diatribes. I bet you’re the life of the party – pre-COVID.
Yeah, we should have re-elected the most corrupt president in the history of our nation, one who continues to spread lies that he defeated Biden and continues to tear apart our democratic process. But I’m not worried. Without the presidency to protect him, Trump will be in jail soon, and the Republican party will be better off.
Wow, we have an other insane Commu-crat over here guys! The Democrats are a crime syndicate and the only thing the past 4 years has done for them is to completely remove their vail and expose them for the corrupt, unGodly people they truly are.
Trey Hoffman–
In your previous letter, your “truth” was that Rush Limbaugh was
unfairly maligned in death; in fact the victim of impropriety. This
time, you are proclaiming the “truth” that it was not ex-president
Trump that routinely lied; rather he was the victim of the dishonest media.
I realize that we all view life through our own biases; our own
various points of viewing, as it were.
But your version of truth is tragic. Mostly I would think, for you.
It seems to have left you angry, bitter, and frustrated. You opine,
…I’m not sure what to do or say anymore.” Hardly my definition
of being set free.
May I suggest embracing a different truth? A truth that we
hold to be self evident–that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that
among them are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
THIS–working for justice, equality, charity, and mercy for all–
is the truth that will set us free. And it makes our lives hopeful.
Who knows? It might even make your missives more readable.
How could Biden lie ?!
He is reading from 3X5 cards….he would never actually write down a lie and repeat it in public.
Hey ya’ll enjoy the $3 gas this Summer, higher food prices and fewer jobs coming your way. McDonalds is testing automated voice service drive through …..$15 an hour spurs automation and efficiency…kiss your after school jobs goodby….get ready to compete with illegals taking over entry level jobs…all you who folks who thought $15 an hour was a gift from the Democrats get ready to shake your heads.
How many now are sorry they voted early and it was too late to change your mind on election day….the Democrats gamed you….now live with it.
Thank you Pres. Trump for the heroic efforts to get us the Covid vaccine in less than one year….now that was no lie when he said it could be done.
Hey vics, when oil last year at this time was $53 and dropped to $17 two months later, why did gas at the pump only drop by 20-40 cents? Gas should have dropped to at least a $1 at that point. But no the past administration turned a blind-eye to the profits being made during a global pandemic.
As for your latest Fox News rhetoric you are parroting, the latter part is a bit amusing … “heroic efforts to get us the vaccine.” You do know it’s been in development for more than 10 years when the Obama administration invested heavily into the new technology (messenger RNA vaccines)? And for getting those vaccines out quickly and within a properly guided framework, well let’s just say that real leaders don’t hide out and sulk in bunkers (on a golf course).
Crude Oil prices only account for about half the price of gas…but you knew that didn’t you?
Yes, EIA has it at 53% these days. And with refining, transportation and excise tax remaining constant, price at the pump here should have been about $1.49. That’s doing the math when crude drops by 68% and gas here was about $2.29. You know Spyglass, I see above in my post from this morning, where it’s typed $1 when I intended $1.50. Ha, good catch sir!
I’m more concerned about future energy cost. Lets see if the current admistration pursues a cap-and-trade scheme or simply taxes energy use. The wrong choice could have political consequences.
Premium at Costco was at $2.72. just a minute ago..I was paying $1.90 or less not long ago…I suppose shutting down pipelines etc..has consequences…
Spyglass – what pipelines are you referring too?
Well Spy, one way of getting back at those oil companies jacking things up is to invest in them. Yeah you pay at the pump but you do get a return too.
Your arithmetic is flawed, Doon. Part of the costing mechanism around any mass production is based on economies of scale. When refinery capacity has to be reduced, you lose economies of scale and the marginal cost of production actually goes up.
To wit, I have a picture on my phone from last April where I paid $1.53/gal at the pump at the Kroger on Crosstown Avenue in Peachtree City. This was only about 20 cents below the national average at the time. And no, I didn’t use my discount.
Yes, I am aware of the marginal loss of economies of scale when production is inefficient. I’m also aware that profits fell by 66% for the year but net-profits came in at $4.06B beating expectations of $3.86B too.
You’re clearly aware of nothing, since economies of scale occur regardless of relative efficiency. And don’t try that tired communist rhetoric about pRoFiTs ArE eViL – net profits of $4.06bn on revenues of 826.5bn is a paltry 0.49% margin. The oil industry is the only industry that could operate with that slim of a margin and survive.
You’re arguing refining costs, the lowest cost factor at a mere 12%. Transportation & retail combined with excise taxes are 35%. The price of oil as previously mentioned (above) is 53% of total cost. And you’re arguing refinement costs, the lowest common denominator in order to make your case.
You’re blaming oil companies and your argument is that marketers and retailers are adding costs?
I get the strong impression that you don’t know how any of this works…