Thursday, April 19, 2007

WingNut Founder Blathers Away

Back on April 10, WorldNetDaily and its founder Joseph Farah published an article in which he pointed fingers at various "activist pressure groups," he believed were shaping or, rather, controlling press coverage and the media in general. In his attempt to point out the various forms of bias that exist in the media, something that anyone with a functioning brain stem should be aware of and able to recognize, Mr. Farah decided to address specific groups...pointing out how they distort the truth and pressure news outlets to do the same. Starting with the Society of Environmental Journalists, Farah implied that the media are shamelessly bullied into reporting only what would bolster their stance on global warming and other hot-button environmental issues.

Now, like any self-serving demagogue, he skipped over the part where he should have offered some substantive evidence to back up such an egregious claim and went right to promoting his latest book...

"If you really want to understand how America's great and unique institution of
a free press has been deliberately undermined by radical activists masquerading
as journalists, backed by big business and encouraged by big government, you
have to examine this phenomenon," says Farah, author of "Stop the Presses: The
Inside Story of the New Media Revolution,"
hitting the nation's bookstores
for official release today. "

Nice, objective reporting...right? The next group on his hitlist was the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Farah says....

"Not only is the organization successful at working inside the media to ensure
favorable coverage of homosexuals and their political agenda, it even persuades
the corporate press barons to pay their freight,"

The first thing I notice is the word 'favorable.' I honestly think we are way past looking for favorable reporting and simply want equal reporting...something other than a raving politician screaming about how giving equal rights to homosexuals would, in fact, bring about the end of civilization. The part of this quote that bothers me the most his comment about gaining corporate sponsorship. If being well funded is a sin, I know of several current presidential candidates who need to seek some serious retribution. I suppose being well funded is palatable only when the cause is just in the eyes of those who weild the power.

Farah continues his rambling and attempts to say that homosexuals don't want opposing viewpoints to be allowed in any open media forum. I find this assertion ridiculous for one very glaring reason...wherever homosexual rights activists gather, the opposing viewpoints inevitably follow. What usually happens is the activists spend their time responding to and debunking the opposing viewpoints. How that should be interpreted as a refusal to allow the other viewpoints is beyond me. If an opposing group doesn't want their viewpoints challenged, then they need to stay out of the public debate arena. The exchanging and debate of varying opinions and convictions is the cornerstone of free speech.

Today on WNDs site is a new article by Farah attacking the site Queerty.com for a blog article which took exception with the article I referenced above, as well as a comment Farah made equating homosexual activists with "fascist mind-control freaks." Avoiding my initial impulse to mail Mr. Farah a dictionary so he could discover the meaning of the word fascist, then recognize it when he looks in the mirror every day, I decided to hop over to Queerty and see what they had said that had all the little WingNuts in such an uproar...

"He curiously concludes that the gay agenda will lead to the "implosion" of
"lamestream" media, a destruction of which Farah infuriatingly remarks, "...It
couldn't happen to a more arrogant bunch of fascist mind-control freaks." What's
funny about all of this is that Farah has never made any secret of his Christian
conservative slant. This group, we feel, has a much bigger claim on "fascist"
mind-control. They do have about 2007 years of practice, after all."

Okay, so they quoted Farah and then had the audacity to point out that he has an enormous conservative Christian slant, proving that he definitely has the whole fascist thing down to a science. Of course, Farah and his fellow WingNuts were aghast and interpreted Queerty's remarks as and attack on his Christianity...

"Their opposition is not so much to me and what I say, it is opposition to
Christianity itself, which people like this believe has been practicing fascist
mind control for two millennia," he said. "Christianity, and its older brother,
Judaism, formed the very foundation for Western Civilization, for the moral code
that has guided us and defined freedom in this fallen world. When you get right
down to the bottom line, it is Christianity, Judaism, the moral code they gave
humanity and the Western Civilization that sprang from it that is the enemy of
these people. They are fundamentally at war with God."

Here's where I have to just throw my hands up in disgust at the utter ignorance of Farah and his entire organization. No one is attacking his or anyone else's Christianity. In fact, there are many homosexuals who are Christians. What we take exception with is the notion that one segment of the Christian population thinks they have the divine right to inflict their own beliefs on everyone else. There are many Christians who are open, loving and accepting of homosexuals, and they are unfortunately being lumped into this category of fundamentalists who seem to have nothing better to do than lord over the rest of humanity, pointing out each and every fault.

While Mr. Farah is looking up the word 'fascist,' perhaps he should consider researching the Pharisees.

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