Rolling Stone greeted news of Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick with the article “4 Reasons Mike Pence Is the Absolute Worst.” The article provides a great opportunity to learn how the media routinely distorts basic facts.
When the media says … The Governor of Indiana “signed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.”
Translate it … The governor applied a smidgeon of common decency to abortion laws.
What shocking thing did the governor do? He refused to veto a bill that says:
- Having Down Syndrome should not be punishable by death
- You can’t do deadly experiments on human beings; not even the very young.
- You can’t throw dead unborn children in trash cans.
Additionally, Rolling Stone, like much of the rest of the media, calls these two provisions “onerous restrictions on abortion providers”:
- Abortion businesses need to meet the same standards as other ambulatory surgical centers.
- Abortionists need to be doctors with admitting privileges.
Why does the media misrepresent abortion this way? Because when people learn about the reality of abortion, they become pro-life.
When the media says … Pence “signed a bill that made it OK for Indiana businesses to discriminate against LGBT customers.”
You can translate it … Pence allowed businesses to refuse to participate in gay weddings if doing so violates their consciences.
Rolling Stone says the bill’s “sweeping language permitted Indiana businesses to refuse to serve LGBT Americans, much like Southern businesses used to discriminate against African-Americans during the days of segregation.”
Which is a bizarre comparison. Catholics, for instance, believe that “Every sign of unjust discrimination” with regard to homosexuals “should be avoided.” Refusing to participate in an illicit wedding is nothing at all like turning someone down for service based on the color of their skin.
Barack Obama until recently opposed gay marriage, saying “Marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.” So did Hillary Clinton, saying “Marriage is as a marriage has always been, between a man and a woman.”
For the media to suggest that sharing those beliefs is the same as racism is irresponsible and inflammatory.
When the media says: Pence “blocked the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Indiana — and illegally tried to cut off federal aid to existing refugees.”
You can translate it … In the wake of terrorist attacks, Pence suspended asylum status until “proper security measures are in place.”
Rolling Stone called this “xenophobia,” but it sounds more like a compromise between the “stop everyone” and “let everyone in” positions.
When the media says … “He’s an unreconstructed drug warrior.”
You can translate it … he thinks unconstructed drug dealers should get jail time.
According to the Northwest Indiana Times, “The Republican signed into law House Enrolled Act 1235, reinstating a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term for a person convicted of dealing meth or heroin who has a prior conviction for cocaine, meth or heroin dealing.”
So readers beware. Recent remarks by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg show that, for abortion supporters, partisanship trumps judicial objectivity. The media abandoned objectivity long ago.