calbear93 said:
okaydo said:
Can we agree that credibility is important in journalism? Can we agree that if we cannot trust journalists to tell us the truth, we are left vulnerable to believing propaganda and conspiracy as truth?
Can we also agree that Trump will make so many errors that we do not need to compromise our integrity to make him look bad?
Have you heard the full speech? In what context was Trump saying this? About jobs or about efforts to provide equal protection?
Granted he is tone deaf and no one is viewing him as a promoter of equal protection and justice for all, but do these journalists not care that even one instance of spreading false message for a quick gotcha means what they say in the future will be discounted? For what?
I honestly would like to know. Who does this help?
93 - I got a phone notification on this shortly after he made the statement. The source I read presented it in context of Trump talking about providing equal protections. It provided the whole surrounding quote. At the time, I did not know that it was given as part of a speech on the economy and did not tie it to the issue of unemployment. I was more infuriated by this than by anything else Trump has ever said. I'm not saying it is the worst thing he has said, but that was my personal response. I'll come back to that it in minute.
I have seen media that have conflated the issue of unemployment with the comments about Floyd. It is either shoddy, sloppy journalism or people trying to make a point. Frankly, too much of our media sucks at doing their job. Right, left, and center. I try to as much is feasible look at source material because the press gets it wrong more often than right. In this case when I was so upset, I looked at the source material because I owe it to even Trump to judge him on his words and actions, not what someone else says he said. I may not succeed in that endeavor all of the time, but I try. I will say that most of the sources I saw covered it reasonably correctly - that the statements were made in discussing equal protection measures. As I said, I have seen some conflate, sometimes I think intentionally, some I think just sloppily the statement with unemployment. That is bad journalism and unfair.
Back to my fury. The unemployment issue is not the gotcha even if some morons in the press want to try and make it one. As I said, I didn't even know about that connection when I saw this. Partially, my anger is fueled by Trump's actions over the last week and a half and my view that he has not only done little for equal protections but has harmed them. But, that is political opinion and it is not what really upset me. It is the complete insensitivity and stupidity. It is plain and simple this.
George Floyd does not have good days. All of George Floyd's good days have been taken from him.
You know the old bit about comedy equals tragedy plus time. That you couldn't make the joke "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" right after the assassination, but now you can? George Floyd just died. People are mourning him. If we have some great piece of legislation or something that MLK had championed but had never gotten done, you can say "MLK is having a great day today". You cannot say someone who was just murdered by police, whose family is still mourning him, is having a great day.
It is very clear that Floyd's family does not like Trump and does not like how he has dealt with them or with the whole issue. I am confident that Floyd would not want his name used in support of Trump's actions. You do not do this unless you are extremely sure that this person would stand behind you (and even then it is too soon). It is an insult and it is upsetting to his loved ones.
There has been no major legislation, no major policy changes, nothing to indicate that the next George Floyd won't happen. It is a great day for George Floyd based on what?
George Floyd does not have great days anymore. The comments were just mind-blowingly stupid and insensitive.
