It’s been a recurring theme of my columns that liberals are out of touch with what the average American believes and cares about. Since the 2016 election results were such a shock to their system, even the left is beginning to recognize flyover country isn’t interested in its snake oil anymore.
No group was hit harder than the left-wing media. As such, one outlet has decided to hit the road to see how the other half lives and why it has so roundly rejected them. It won’t end well.
The Huffington Post, now calling itself “HuffPo” after jettisoning its founder and namesake, has been a progressive activist masquerading as journalism kiosk on college campuses across the country since its founding. Leftists love having their beliefs of how “rigged” our country is in show up in blog entries written by celebrities who’ve made millions in that system, or so it seems.
But the new management at HuffPo is beginning to realize that preaching to the choir isn’t the key to growth, so it is looking to expand. Rather than do something crazy like cover news without bias or hire people with perspectives that are not exclusively progressive, they’ve decided to hit the road.
Showing just how insulated they are from people not currently living in New York, Washington or Los Angeles, HuffPo staffers are going on a progressive safari to Middle America to find out what matters most to the people they routinely deem inferior.
HuffPo staff will be embarking on a 23-city bus tour in September to “listen and learn what it means to be American today,” according to a story in Politico.
One would think the Americans on your payroll would know what it’s like to be an American, but progressive journalists apparently don’t, so they’re hitting the road.
Politico described it as “a unique project for a media organization,” but this is the problem with hiring like-minded drones. With a parking lot full of Priuses, each with its own “celebrate diversity” bumper sticker, HuffPo is not a bastion of differing thought.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery, so kudos to them for taking that first, long look in the mirror. But that look may not been enough.
Their safari of Middle America isn’t going to small towns and blue-collar enclaves; it is island-hopping from Democrat Party area to Democratic Party area in otherwise Republican states.
Politico reports “they’re not visiting ‘Trump country.’” Rather, they are traveling to visit an interesting community college system in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Detroit’s large Arab-American population.
Only, having been born and raised in Detroit, the city doesn’t have a “large Arab-American population.” Dearborn and Hamtramck do. You’d hope someone involved would know that.
Second, once you admit you’re an alcoholic you don’t swear off liquor and just drink beer; you quit drinking. If HuffPo is simply going to travel from liberal city to liberal college campus, this safari will be a waste of carbon footprint.
If the staffers were to speak to hardworking Americans they’d discover average middle-class Americans are not interested in having a man who considers himself a woman using the bathroom with their daughter. They’re sick of being called racist for not being down with throwing bricks at police officers. They’re tired of seeing people who look down their noses at them telling them they’re “voting against their interests” when all they’re interested in is being left the hell alone.
Most of all, they love this country. They don’t think it’s perfect, but they know it is not the cesspool of hatred, bigotry and oppression progressives chant about. They don’t attend protests because they realize their lives are a direct result of the decisions they’ve made, and so are the lives of others.
As a former roofer I can tell you there’s a sense of satisfaction in an honest day’s work that doesn’t exist in the journalism bubble. When you write a piece it’s a 2-dimensional culmination of thoughts, but when you look back at something physical you’ve done, it matters. I still remember which buildings in Detroit I put a roof on and make a point of driving past as many as I can when I visit.
Just like you will never be able to explain what it’s like to have a kid to someone without one, you can’t convey the feeling of satisfaction from physical work to someone who only breaks a sweat walking to their office on a hot day.
I’m glad at least one outlet in the liberal media world recognizes it has a problem and exists in an insulated bubble. But the HuffPo progressive safari isn’t going to change anything or open any minds unless the staffers speak to the tow truck driver who rescues them when their bus breaks down on the highway somewhere between liberal bubbles.
But they’ll probably be too busy tweeting jokes about how dirty his clothes are to notice.