The Associated Press is proud of its reputation. When you go to the AP website, this sentence starts the second paragraph in the “About us” page:
AP’s mission is to be the essential global news network, providing distinctive news services of the highest quality, reliability and objectivity with reports that are accurate, balanced and informed.
And yet, in today’s news analysis about the Democrats bad week, Charles Babington wrote, and his editor let stand, this insult to the Tea Party movement that has swept America:
Also, it’s not clear that Republicans can tame and harness the volatile “tea bagger” activists. The fiercely independent conservatives helped Brown win in Massachusetts, but they triggered a damaging right-wing split in a special House race in New York last year.
The fact that they put the epithet in quotes indicates that they know full well that “teabagger” is a vulgar term. I never knew it existed before the so-called objective media types (we mean you, Anderson Cooper) were calling Tea Party activists “teabaggers.” It is a deliberate insult. It is not the way an objective news organization should describe the millions of Americans from all walks of life who attended rallies and town halls to protest the expansion of government by this administration and congress.
The AP owes the Tea Party movement a retraction and an apology. And I really think that the people who don’t like the Tea Partiers (see, that wasn’t too hard to call them, was it?) should stop mainstreaming “teabagger.” It’s childish and reflects more poorly on those that use the word rather than on those they are insulting.
Act like an objective news organization, AP. Don’t mainstream “teabagger.”
Update: Looks like the editors replaced “tea bagger” with “tea party.” No correction out there that I can see, just an updated story across the wires.
I am sure they will retract that as soon as they start reporting objectively on Israel. That is scheduled to occur on the 12th of Never.
Yourish
I wrote here a few years ago about Ward Churchill but now an even more disturbing visitor will be tarnishing this campus with their presence
On February 5 the Westboro Baptist Church is going to be standing outside the Hillel of UC Davis condeming Jews for being the children of Satan. I thought you could pass this along.
Actually, instead of triggering a “damaging” right wing split, they almost had a “Scott Brown” moment in New York and revealed Dede Scozzafava as a Democrat in disguise.
[Off topic, but I am sure you will appreciate the significance of this issue]
A British blogger has been intimidated by the police. The Reverend Stephen Sizer didn’t like comments and criticism made on the Seismic Shock blog, so got the police to physically intimidate the blogger, to take down that mild criticism.
This is a clear freedom of speech issue, the police should not be used to intimidate bloggers.
I urge you to publicise this issue and support Seismic Shock, as “I too am Seismic Shockâ€
For more information see http://modernityblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/reverend-stephen-sizer-uses-british-police-against-a-blogger/
And http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/anglican-vicar-uses-police-to-intimidate-blogger/
The vile attack on Tea Party people is as mainstream as it gets these days. Including Saint Barack the Unready and Putz Schumer (in an email describing Scott Brown just before the election this past Tuesday).
By the way, as a Baptist, I might be embarrassed by a group calling itself “Westboro Baptist Church.” Might be, if they were actual Baptists. Or Christians. By my lights (Southern Baptist) they are neither.
Elitist Texan sounds off:
“Preppies” used to be rich kids in preparatory schools who were
getting ready to join dad’s East Coast Establishment. Today “preppers”
are worried teabag types stocking crowbars and road-flares in the
basement. Neither one of ’em seem to be prepared for anything that’s
particularly plausible.
http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/373/Bruce-Sterling-State-of-the-Worl-page05.html
Bruce Sterling is a long-winded bore who is also a Harlan Ellison wannabe. I happened to be at an ICON with the both of them, and managed to get out of a conversation with Sterling wherein he talked, and I tried desperately to get away. Subsequently I was delighted to see him try to outdo Harlan in a snappy comeback and come off as a little kid trying to be just like his grownup idol.
In other words, I already had no respect for Sterling. You’ve managed to make me remember that and somehow make me respect him even less, which is apparently about the respect he has for Americans who disagree with him politically.
This “trick” of the leftists in the press and the Democrat party makes me so angry I could just spit. The MSM can’t die soon enough for me.
In retaliation, we should start calling DemOcrats the PedOphile party. It bears as much resemblance as Tea Party does to “teabagger”.