It is very difficult to be consistent in everything. There's usually some character flaw or two where our walk doesn't match our talk.
Personally, I'm not as witty or even as nice at home as I come across in this column. I'm not sad about it, just honest about it. And honesty is a great policy: There is no sense in pretending to be something—or worse, having others assume the same—when we're not.
But it's the intentional double standard, the two-faced inconsistency, that's the rock in my runners (or for you cowboys, burr in my saddle). It's the moral outrage over here, but a “who cares?” over there.
So it is with a touch of confusion, but mostly anger, that I consider the consistent inconsistency of mainstream media these days, plus the people who support their viewpoint. Two seriously intentionally inconsistent events come to mind. We'll deal with one this week, the other next week.
The first case is Cecil the lion. He is not to be confused with Cecile the Lyin' (she of Planned Parenthood notoriety). On the one hand, much of the media, and its groupies, are up in arms over the killing of a lion in Africa a few weeks ago. I won't get down and dirty as to whether everything was above board in his death. That is not the thrust of today's comment.
All I know for sure is that there's a practice called “big game hunting.” You may have heard of it. In fact, you may know some hunters in your world of friends—or maybe you hunt yourself. Animals are hunted and killed legally (and illegally, to be sure) every day in Africa—and in, say, northern British Columbia, even in parts of Alberta. It's done by big game hunters from Europe and America, as well as by locals like your next door neighbour.
It's legal, necessary, and some say fun—though I myself would not find it fun. I know nothing of shooting an animal; I consider myself lucky if I swat a fly occasionally. “Big game hunter,” for me, would be “small pest flickerer.”
I'm sure as a result there will be some tightening up of rules and procedures. But the point is, it happens all the time, and, for the most part, there's no outrage. Lions and other wild beasts are to be hunted and killed. So long as it's humane, I have little problem with it.
In our “Cecil” story an American dentist stepped in, dropped Cecil, and all you-know-what broke loose. I know it's not quite that simple—let's all be reasonable—but in a nutshell, that's what happened.
Now his practice has been shut down (temporarily), his life has been threatened, and he has gone into hiding. The outrage and outcry from this everyday occurrence has been fascinating to see—with a touch of nausea. Within days, there were lawsuits, protests, and a general brouhaha over the killing of a lion.
Hit the pause button here for a moment. In another part of the world, there is a war on against defenceless victims. Not one killing, but thousands...indeed, millions; not an animal, but humans; not for sport, but for selfishness, greed and convenience. Yet there has been hardly a whimper about it.
We are now being exposed to the horrors of harvesting human body parts, of negotiating the sale of said body parts of living creatures. Those are rascals in China—right? North Korea—right? ISIS—right?
No, my friends, they are right here in the enlightened West, just to the south of us. Planned Parenthood has been exposed as both a killer of babies and now a negotiator of their body parts.
But where are the lawsuits, protests, and general brouhaha over the murder of innocent babies? Surely they are more innocent than Cecil? Are those same people trying to shut Planned Parenthood down? Are there threats against them?
Where are daily broadcasts and clips of this travesty? Where is the media on this one?
That inconsistency is appalling: There are now at least seven documented videos of the negotiations for human body parts (a truly illegal act), and there's hardly a word in the mainstream media. I have never seen clips of any of the barbaric acts against human babies on the news. Why don't they show them?
One lone lion gets killed and there is outrage. Thousands (in fact, millions) of human babies are killed, and there's hardly a whisper. I am sickened by both the deaths of human babies and the silence that accompanies it. Not sure which is worse.
I repeat: It is very difficult to be consistent in everything. We all make mistakes as we try to be consistent, no problem. But selective inconsistency is not an oversight—it's an ethical evil.
http://www.getpostbox.com
No comments:
Post a Comment