No question, the deterioration of modern society is a subjective thing. What some consider problematic, others cheer. What some see as economic stagnation, others call “recovery summer.” But some things are, or at least should be, beyond refute. They aren’t, not anymore.
Katie Couric, formerly of the Today Show and now apparently host of a web show on Yahoo News (which, seriously … who watches it? Did you even know about it before you read it here?) produced a “documentary” about guns in America.
I know what you’re thinking, “Finally, someone is going to cover the gun issue from a liberal prospective,” right? It’s virgin territory, something leftists have shied away from for years.
The reason “documentary” is in quotes is simple: It was about as close to documenting reality as Michael Moore is to slim. She and filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig knew what they wanted to show, what they wanted the film to “say,” long before they shot their first frame. And you can guess what it was.
After it aired, the Washington Free Beacon reported one pivotal scene wasn’t what it seemed. After the journalist (most known for having a colonoscopy on live TV) asked Second Amendment supporters, “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?” the camera showed participants “sitting silently for nine awkward seconds, unable to provide an answer.” Only that wasn’t what really happened.
From the Free Beacon:
"However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric’s question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league’s members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked."
The Free Beacon provides the audio. Go listen for yourself.
What you’ll hear is that Couric’s show perpetrated a fraud – a lie. EPIX, the network that aired the “documentary,” stands behind it because, well, it knew what it was getting when it bought in.
For her part, Soechtig courageously granted multiple interviews to defend her work. Wait, no, she didn’t do that. She released a statement to the Washington Post, not the Free Beacon, which read, in part:
"My intention was to provide a pause for the viewer to have a moment to consider this important question before presenting the facts on Americans’ opinions on background checks. I never intended to make anyone look bad and I apologize if anyone felt that way."
Making people look bad was precisely her intention. She didn’t like the answers she got because they didn’t fit her narrative. She needed the “gun nuts” to have no answer; to be “rubes.” When she didn’t get that, she created it.
For her part, Couric released a statement saying, “I support Stephanie’s statement and am very proud of the film.” Yes, the recipient of countless plaques for her “journalism” stands by the person who apologized to those who “felt” her editing lie made them look the opposite of what really was. (Someone should go back and re-watch Katie’s colonoscopy footage to see if they can spot her integrity, though it’s probably obscured by her head.)
As exposed as Couric, Soechtig and EPIX are now, this all soon will be forgotten and the movie will live on. The damage will continue to be done as it repeats on cable and finds its way to iTunes, Netflix or wherever it ends up. Unsuspecting viewers who stumble across it will be treated to a deliberate falsehood in perpetuity, but the stories exposing it will slide down the memory hole.
This is what liberals do – they create lies that last forever. Search the documentary section of iTunes or Netflix, and you’ll find multiple documentaries on every made-up issue the left cares about. Global warming, “income inequality,” Wall Street, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, food insecurity … you name it, they’ve propagandized it. And unsuspecting people looking to pass some time and learn something will be indoctrinated.
Liberals have always played the long con. They have the patience conservatives lack, which ultimately brings victory to them if only they persist.
Republicans win the House, and we expect to have a conservative agenda enacted the next week. Add a slim majority in the Senate four years later, and we get angrier when Obamacare isn’t repealed while Obama is president. Government never has worked that way – liberals fought for decades to get us where we are now, and we abandon the team the minute the first-round draft pick doesn’t lead us to the Super Bowl.
It’s time conservatives get in the real game, start embracing the mediums we too quickly dismiss as “liberal” and reach out to the unsuspecting middle with some truth in all aspects of the culture. Calling out deception when it occurs is great. Combating it by offering an alternative is better. The best part is we don’t need deceptive editing or lies to make our case.
The choice is simple: Fight fire with fire, or prove ourselves to be as dumb as they think we are.