OPINION
Premium

Right-Wing Cause the Oscars to Snub ‘Barbie,’ Media Strikes Fail, and Childbirths Upset the Press

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jan 26, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

01.26.24

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • How come when the Oscars act sexist, it proves the country is sexist…?

The Academy Awards nominations were announced this week, and there was pure humor to be had concerning the fortunes of the film “Barbie.” It received eight nominations, but director Greta Gerwig and actress Margot Robbie did not earn nods – but co-star Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The howls of gender injustice over this sexist result were heard across the entertainment media, made more precious by the fact they pointed out that this was directly addressed in the storyline of the film. 

Yes, the industry that loves to lecture us about living a proper life in society could not even abide by its messaging. But many blamed this on the US being sexist, despite audiences launching the film to become the #1 film of the year. One would think a sexist nation would have led to failure.

More perplexing was the need by some to invoke conservatism into this formula, as if this had anything whatsoever to do with Hollywood’s decision-making. At the Hollywood Reporter we were told, “Some right-wingers seemed to celebrate the snubs.” (It needs to be pointed out that we do not see anyone outraged by the snubs labeled as “left-wingers.”) Meanwhile, at CNN, Sara Stewart was deeply impacted by these nomination problems and went on to describe how the movie was so warmly received by audiences. “Who didn’t love the movie, besides reactionary right-wing dorks?”

Recommended

Trump Campaign Operative Reveals the Most Effective Ad Against Kamala Matt Vespa
Bill Maher to the Left: 'F**k Off, You F**ks' Matt Vespa

Given that I took no enjoyment from this pink polemic of a picture, I now need to adjust my online bios to reflect that I am now a right-wing dork.

Blue-Anon – AXIOS

  • It would appear the absence of data impacted this report, so alternatives were resorted to being used.

In an analysis of the after-effects of the stricter abortion laws going into effect, Axios looked into the matter and found that stricter abortion laws have led to more births. More dire, there was a sharp increase in those births that were the result of rapes. Now, you might be thinking that this is confusing since most of these laws have carveout allowances for instances of rape, incest, and the mother’s life being imperiled, and you would be in the proper position. So how does Axios explain its claim of 65,000 additional rape births taking place?

Well…Axios guessed at it. This study is based on “Estimates” — “projections” — “assumptions” – because it has no solid data to point to, and it relied on information from years before the law even being drawn up:

Of note: The research contained a lot of statistical assumptions since sexual assaults are hard to measure accurately in surveys. The CDC and Bureau of Justice Statistics data don't include state-level data, so researchers turned to the FBI's most recent uniform crime reports, which include rapes reported to law enforcement in 2019.

Also “Of Note” here – this research team was led by the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Montana.

Presentation Paradox – NBC NEWS

  • The dastardly result of a law that ends up saving Hispanic lives!

There is so much going on in this report on the effects of the stricter abortion law in Texas. Right at the top, we have the implication from the network that more Hispanics giving birth is seen as a negative — a curious position, given the sympathy for the Hispanics arriving here by crossing the border. 

Next, the report claims this law led to a rise in fertility rates when what is shown is an increase in teen births, but that is just us being nitpicky by following the science. Then we see two other details not explained. One is how the teen birth rate for whites dropped in the same time frame, so we have to wonder how this law somehow only impacted Hispanic teens. The other is how much other factors affected the numbers, as the rise in births was rather negligible, by only 1.2%:

Hispanic women faced more challenges in getting reproductive care, including abortions. “We don’t see any other reason,” said Elizabeth Gregory, the institute’s director.

Would the flood of arrivals crossing the border maybe have a contributing factor to that slight uptick in births?

Pre-Written Field Reports – NBC NEWS

  • The way they are covering Chaya Raichik you would think she is running for office.

Amidst all of the talk of DEI hiring practices at airlines and Boeing coinciding with stories of various plane failures, it was understandable that Libs Of TikTok would weigh in on the topic on her account. Less understandable is why NBC News is so focused on the source behind the account, Chaya Raichik. We covered earlier this week how another NBC News hit piece was claiming she was inciting bomb threats on her account. Now, she detailed how she had been contacted by another reporter at the network over her posts about the plane affairs.

Showing a clear method of the already written article, Dave Ingram tells Chaya he is “planning” on including her post, where she commented on Virgin Atlantic featuring a Ru-Paul flight crew as a Virgin Atlantic plane was grounded when a passenger spied bolts missing from a wing. Ingram accused her of alleging DEI hiring was leading to safety problems, something she did not actually say, but is certain to make it into his piece…if not already there.

Reporting on the Mirror – FORBES

  • It’s just that true journalist work-stoppages have not been tried yet!

Over the past year, we can think of several times journalists have staged strikes against their publications. The New York Times last year, the Washington Post last month, and the Los Angeles Times last week. Each one of these led to their management trimming jobs.

Undeterred, the union members of Forbes Magazine decided it was a wise move to repeat this effort on their behalf, convinced that this time it would work out for them.

Okay, so how well did this work out for them?

It is still a little early to say conclusively, but we are leaning toward “unwell.”