Media is the enemy of the People -- Charlie Hebdo shooting

On January 7th, 2015, two Islamic terrorists murdered 12 people and injured 11 more at the satirical weekly newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" (akin to "The Onion" in the US) because they felt the media outlet was an enemy of the people for mocking their leader. It's wrong to murder people and it's wrong for leaders to advocate murdering people simply for having a difference of opinion.

I think our nation is moving to an extreme form of "alt-RW" behavior, behavior that is sure to have a violent end for some people. Sure, Trump and his followers will half-heartedly denounce the murders, then dance around the fact they think the murders are justified. You know, just like we've seen them do on this forum in other instances defending the violence of alt-right actors. E. G. Charlottesville. Most Americans are in the middle. Politics swings like a pendulum and, no matter which direction it was swinging, eventually it peaks or otherwise reverses course. In this instance, if reporters are actually murdered by RWers claiming they are "the enemy", than I believe most Americans will turn against them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting
On 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with rifles and other weapons, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The gunmen identified themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, which took responsibility for the attack.

President Trump has repeatedly called the media "fake news", something his apologists have repeatedly tried to clean up, but the fact remains Trump thinks any negative press is "fake news". In his tweet he named the organizations that published negative reports about him AKA "fake news". We've already dodged a pizza restaurant massacre due to RW false reports. How long before we have the equivalent of a "Charlie Hebdo" in the US with RW "freedom fighters"?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html
President Trump, in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation’s press organizations, wrote on Twitter on Friday that the nation’s news media “is the enemy of the American people.”

Even by the standards of a president who routinely castigates journalists — and who on Thursday devoted much of a 77-minute news conference to criticizing his press coverage — Mr. Trump’s tweet was a striking escalation in his attacks.

At 4:32 p.m., shortly after arriving at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Trump took to Twitter to write:

The message was swiftly deleted, but 16 minutes later Mr. Trump posted a revised version. Restricted to 140 characters, he removed the word “sick,” and added two other television networks — ABC and CBS — to his list of offending organizations.

The president has referred to the media as the “opposition party” to his administration, and he has blamed news organizations for stymieing his agenda. But the language that Mr. Trump deployed on Friday is more typically used by leaders to refer to hostile foreign governments or subversive organizations. It also echoed the language of autocrats who seek to minimize dissent.

 

Here are seven times CNN botched the news in 2017.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/08/7-times-cnn-botched-the-news-in-2017/

Maybe if they reported the truth they wouldn't be the enemy of the people but they are.

The people elected Trump and the media is fighting actively against Trump by printing false things.

The media is the enemy, make no mistake about that.

It was their choice.

 

Only 7? WTF? I'd expect 7 a day from any cable news outlet.

Disagreed that "the media is the enemy", but if you want to hate someone and pray some "patriots" shoot up CNN, that's your choice.

 

That was all I needed to prove a point but believe me, its just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Sorry, but I don't believe in "vast Left Wing conspiracies". OTOH, I do have some expertise in human nature. We're all fallible. Most people try to do their best as individuals, but in groups, things tend to become fuzzier. Not as bad as "mob mentality", but it seems the larger the group, the dumber it gets be it government, corporations and, yes, news groups.

 

delete

 

Agreed and there is nothing wrong with Trump calling it out either.

Or you and me calling it out.

Groupthink is a real thing and it happens and probably not even their fault.

I don't think what the media is doing is some vast conspiracy either but its getting out of hand.

Basically all they do is sit down and type stuff out based on their beliefs and add in "unnamed sources" and think that covers them.

According to one administration official I talked to its bullshit.

See how easy that is.

 

Max, what has happened to you? I want the independent thinker back.

 

No, the media is not an enemy, not at all. They botched the news 7 times? Does Trump ever botch anything? How many times? No? It's your choice.

 

I readily agree that calling out errors, falsehoods and wrongness are good things. Where we disagree is whether or not that is what Trump is doing. His declaring the media is the enemy, despite the cowardice of hiding behind "fake news", is wrong....which is why I'm calling it out.

What level of position was this "administration official"? What, exactly, did they say was bullshit?

 

I'm still here and pissing off the Beta mentality on a daily basis.

 

Every day the MSM branch of the Complex pushes out hyperbolic false narratives aimed at sowing dissent among the U.S. citizenry, at stirring people up wrongfully, that do in fact result in violent episodes with alarming frequency. They have been doing this for decades, it is in fact how they make their $$, if there is no real tragedy to keep people watching, MAKE SOME THE F UP, STIR THE POT, AND CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED. But since the 2016 Election, this rotten media tactic has become epic in scale. These aren't just tweets and complaints, but a grand multibillion dollar effort to make people disturbed, unhappy and reactionary, to tacitly encourage people to hate and act out against their fellow man, in an otherwise healthy, functional country.

But of course, it's Trump calling the above out for what it is, and some nebulous "alt right" out there that is the problem. Horseshit.

That anyone could stoop to compare the fundamentalist Islamic terrorism of the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, where some Imam somewhere specifically preached, planned and enabled that atrocity, to a sitting POTUS, ANY POTUS, complaining and jawboning generally about 95% negative coverage in the press, calling the tactics in the above paragraph out as "fake news," something rational adults have already known for decades, is beyond the pale, one of the most flagrant examples of intellectual dishonesty I've ever seen on this forum. Congratulations OP, you have taken the proverbial cake.

 

I only posted 7 times by one news organization, believe me, there are plenty more.

And you say Trump is untrustworthy because he botches things yet you won't hole the media to that same standard?

 

The thing is the news should be a source to inform the public. Not a source to needlessly inflame people and that's exactly what happened with Hedbo and the mainstream media in the States now.

 

Many presidents have called out the media.

FDR did it and its why he started his fireside chats, Lincoln simply threw them in jail, Jackson passed the sedition acts which made it illegal to print anything negative about the government.

 

Yes and politicians should be honest, Presidents should never lie, people should never hurt one another and big business should never cheat customers.

It's nice to dream, eh? The fact remains cable "newz" channels are big business and successful businesses always give customers what they want.

 

Of course. Most Americans love to bitch about their government. The difference here is that only the nutjobs label the press, the government or any other group of Americans "enemy of the people" simply because of differences of opinion.

 

No one is saying/advocating all that. The media has a piss poor trust rating for a reason. Their only job is to inform the public and they can't even do that.

 

And what are you worried about exactly?

I assume that you, like most of America, will simply blow this off as another Trumpism.

 

Completely baseless fearmongering thead about an imaginary event of imaginary Trump supporters slaughtering journalists.

And the Islamists who shot up the Bataclan didn't feel the media was an "enemy of the people", they're not even part of the French people, they're foreign invaders.

Fail.

 

News is NOT supposed to be opinion. Commentary is different. Cable news has been losing viewers as people drop cable TV more each day. Payment for cable is divided up between channels whether you watch it or not.

By the media's OWN POLLING the media is now at the lowest levels of TRUST by the people in HISTORY. I strongly suspect that poll is still biased in favor of the so-called "news."

Steve

 

Which news organization? The press makes mistakes, yes? I watch the news and haven't heard plenty of botched news accounts. Trump deliberately recreates history for his benefit. He uses the term "fake news" when he knows that the news account about him is accurate.

 

Utter and complete nonsense.

 

Islam had to kill Hebdo because Islam didn't have the intellectual fortitude, honesty or integrity to face it in the arena of wits and ideas. Pro-Trumpers have not shot up the MSNBCNN&CO because we DO have the intellectual fortitude necessary to fight it peaceably with words instead.

Thus, MSM-allied Social Media has taken to shadowbanning Pro-Trumpers so their peaceful responses to MSM BSery cannot be heard. The question then becomes- if you are barred from making a peaceful response in the arena of wits and ideas... what is the next ethical step to take? (note: remaining forcibly unheard is not an acceptable answer).

 

The shooting at the Annapolis newspaper I believe is a result of this anti-media rhetoric.

Trumpets will say there is no connection but it’s doobtful there isn’t. Trump has put a bounty on journalists.