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PolitiFact Hates Facts From Campuses

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  May 08, 2024
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Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT

  • We assume there is a difference between arriving from off-campus and being "Outside" campus.

To establish a baseline, we have been told that those involved in the pro-Palestinian/disinvestment/antisemitic demonstrations springing up across the country are "campus protests" conducted by "student activists." One major problem for the narrative has been that a large number of those arrested at these protests are not from the student body. In many cases, at least half of those taken into custody are not students, with many in their 30s and 40s and one professional agitator in her 60s.

But Politico has a problem with people describing them as "outside agitators," despite them being from the outside, marshaling students, directing many of the activities, and bringing funding into the movement. The best is Politico turning to experts to decry this type of reporting:

'It was used as sort of a phrase that would link protesters, no matter how peaceful they were, to Communists and other infiltrators who were causing disruption.' [Timothy] Zick said the term is used by those seeking to discredit protests by casting doubt on the protesters’ sincerity. People who want to cause disorder may show up.

Regardless of whether it has been used in the past, currently, it is entirely accurate, but the facts are a tad inconvenient for this one.

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Body Checking the Fact-Checkers – POLITIFACT

There was a brilliant dose of comedy about the idiocy of these college protests when Seattle music star Macklemore released a music video highlighting one of these uprisings in a sign of earnest solidarity and not in a craven move to cash in on the hottest movement of the moment. Entitled "Hind's Hall," the song is centered on Columbia University, where the activists stormed the Hamilton Hall building.

In one segment, the video montage shows an aerial shot of a college building with support for the cause spray painted on the steps. It is safe to say that it is a good thing protesters are still in school.

As this idiocy was getting mocked, our favorite viscount of vérité at PolitiFact, Ciara O'Rourke, jumped in to let us know this claim of the misspelling of "Palastine" was FALSE, despite that we can see and read the error.

It turns out the building is not, in fact, at Columbia, but is an image from the University of Ottawa. Uh…huh. And what about the incorrect labeling, Ciara? Any way you'd like to address that accuracy, which is the main point of all the commentary?

As for the incorrect building being named – take it up with Macklemore. He cut the video and made the claim it was Columbia.

DNC PR Firm – THE NEW YORK TIMES

Rather than analyzing what the Biden administration is doing, the press is focused on two men: His opponent, Donald Trump, and the man who can tilt things away from Biden, Robert Kennedy Jr. 

Due to polling showing the negative impact on Biden's voting fortunes, anything that can be done to diminish Kennedy's chances is seen these days as just as important as defeating Trump. The New York Times delivers this gem of a headline, as it unearthed a detail from a previous divorce case the candidate went through. In that testimony, Kennedy explained he was discovered to have had a brain parasite, and it affected his memory for a duration.

The press has long wanted to say Kennedy has lost his mind – now The New York Times has codified it!

Reporting on the Mirror – POLITICO

  • The people constantly attacking Trump do not have enough "swagger"!?

Once again, we get an example of a journalist wanting to address the problem with the industry but failing to truly look into a mirror to seek out the core problems. Jack Shafer bemoans how the news industry lacks the bravado it once exhibited:

Wounded and limping, doubting its own future, American journalism seems to be losing a quality that carried it through a century and a half of trials: its swagger. Swagger is the conformity-killing practice of journalism, often done in defiance of authority and custom, to tell a true story in its completeness, no matter whom it might offend…and gives journalists the necessary courage and direction to do their best work. Swagger was once journalism’s calling card, but in recent decades it’s been sidelined.

To some extent, I would agree with Shafer here. But when he looks into the current environment – one that sees the newsrooms filled with whiny woke activist types who grouse about diverse views or declare they feel unsafe if a conservative opinion is expressed – he lapses into the very same mindset. Try to reconcile how a columnist will call for a return to the swaggering attitudes of yore, but then turn sniveling and complain about reporters daring to be faced with criticism:

But thanks, in part, to a fall in status, as well as ever-irrational attacks from politicians like Donald Trump, today’s journalists routinely experience ridicule and harassment at public events like rallies and demonstrations. They’re not precisely pariahs in the new environment, but they’re no longer considered heroes in many places. 

In summation: "We need to return to a time where journalists were bold, when they strode with a fierce confidence – also, stop picking on us!"

Anti-Social Media – THE ATLANTIC

  • Don't support schools blocking porn on computers – and do not call journalists opposing this legislation "groomers."

Writing about online protective measures put in place for children, Louise Matsakis tells us this is folly. By regularly invoking China and its oppressive censorship methods applied to its entire society, Matsakis establishes that foundation as the dystopian future ahead if we take steps to keep young children from accessing pornography – which has long been the law in this country.

It should set off warning bells for Americans that many states have explored legislation limiting internet access for minors in ways that mirror what China has done. Last week, the Supreme Court refused to block a controversial law in Texas that would require pornography sites to verify a user’s age with a government-issued ID or other means before they access sexually explicit content. Although creating obstacles to prevent children from stumbling upon sexual material or signing up for TikTok without their parents’ consent may seem justifiable, the courts have held for decades that forcing adults to verify their age puts an undue burden on the right to access constitutionally protected speech online. 

So, let the kids watch porn or this will become "Fahrenheit 451" before we realize it.

Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • If only the media would stop being distracted and focus on Gaza, say the media.

If you want an indication that the college protests are delivering negative results, a number of press members are complaining that members of the press are not covering the Gaza issue properly because press members are too focused on the college protests.

Mehdi Hasan, unsurprisingly, made this complaint recently, as did Wajahat Ali. Chris Hayes also whined over this imbalanced attention, as outlets like The Boston Globe and Poynter have started to ask about the imbalanced coverage. 

Even college newspapers are being urged to turn away from the domestic demonstrations...taking place on their own campuses.