"There are actual people—not trolls under a bridge—whom he & his prejudices represent"

[kpete]

…what they (journalists) have yet to come to grips with is that Donald Trump is a democratic phenomenon, and that there are actual people – not trolls under a bridge – whom he, and his prejudices against Latinos, Muslims, and blacks, represent.

I do not believe that journalists are so powerful as to disabuse this group of their beliefs. But there is something to be said for not contributing to an opportunistic ignorance. For much of this campaign journalists have attacked Hillary Clinton for being evasive and avoiding hard questioning from their ranks. And then the second Clinton is forthright and says something revealing, she is attacked – not for the substance of what she’s said – but simply for having said it. This hypocrisy carries a chilling implicit message: Lie to me. Lie to the country. Lie to everyone. This weekend was not just another misanalysis, it was a shocking betrayal of the journalistic mission which should urge the revelation of truth as opposed to the propagation of hot takes, Washington jargon, and politics-speak…

The safe space for the act of being white endures today. This weekend, the media, an ostensibly great American institution, saw it challenged and – not for the first time – organized to preserve it. For speaking a truth, backed up by data, Clinton was accused of promoting bigotry. No. The true crime was endangering white consciousness. So it was when the president asserted that it was stupid to arrest a man for breaking into his own home. So it was when the president said that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. And so it is when reformers suggest police not stop citizens on so flimsy a pretext as furtive movements. The need to be white is a sensitive matter – one which our institutions are inexorably and mindlessly bound to protect.

MORE:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/they-are-all-breitbart-now/499511/





http://shareblue.com/odonnell-delivers-the-most-epic-rant-on-news-media-of-2016/