According to conservative author Ann Coulter in her book
“Treason,” “the fundamental difference between
liberals and conservatives is conservatives believe man was created
in God’s image; liberals believe they are God.” If
that’s the case, Coulter will have difficulty explaining why
conservatives went berserk playing God last week ““ acting as
the almighty arbiters of right and wrong by trying to censor, sue,
or attack any form of popular entertainment that criticized or
opposed conservative viewpoints.
The Bill O’Reillys and Rupert Murdochs of the world should
be ashamed of themselves for trying to keep entertainment that does
not conform to their beliefs from the American public. Behind their
ignorant bluster, I think the conservative media moguls have taken
such hypocritical, drastic action because they fear their
propaganda machine cannot stand up to scrutiny.
In O’Reilly’s case, he condemned the media for its
positive treatment of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill
Bill” and said on Oct. 24 on his show, “The
O’Reilly Factor,” that instead of praising the film,
the media should “call it the way it is” and inform
potential moviegoers that the film “is damaging our
country.” Never mind that film is a contemporary art form in
which value statements like “too violent” or “not
violent enough” are for each individual viewer to decide.
O’Reilly decided the media wasn’t doing its job because
they disagreed with him.
In a similar story, the conservative Media Research Center
called for a boycott of the upcoming CBS miniseries about former
President Ronald Reagan and asked 100 major companies to avoid
buying ad time on “The Reagans” because they disliked
the script’s portrayal of Reagan. Among other complaints,
critics asked CBS to remove a “handful of vile scenes”
that do not portray Reagan positively, criticized the choice of
liberal actor James Brolin to play Reagan, and wrote in an Oct. 28
letter to potential sponsors that the miniseries was a
“blatantly unfair assault on the legacy of one of
America’s greatest leaders” ““ even though critics
haven’t seen the movie yet.
Finally, the makers of “The Simpsons” were almost
sued by Fox News Channel, whose managing director is Rupert
Murdoch, over a parody of Fox News’ politically right-wing
position. During the episode in question, there were multiple fake
Fox news bulletins, including, “Study: 92 percent of
Democrats are gay. … JFK posthumously joins Republican Party. …
Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple.” Although the
lawsuit was never filed ““ Fox would not gain much from suing
its own hit show ““ new content restrictions were enacted for
future episodes, as reported by the Agence France-Presse.
The actions of O’Reilly, the Media Research Center and Fox
News ignore the concept that writers, actors and viewers are
entitled to their own opinions, especially when it comes to
entertainment. Indeed, their outcries are also hypocritical.
After all, no conservatives clamored to sue “The
Simpsons” a few years ago for its portrayal of President
Clinton as a sleazy horndog who spends most of his day making
whoopee in the White House tool shed. I never heard O’Reilly
or the Media Research Center complain that Saddam Hussein was
unfairly treated by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who depicted
Hussein as Satan’s gay lover in the film “South Park:
Bigger, Longer and Uncut.” In fact, when interviewing Ann
Coulter about her latest book, O’Reilly commented,
“Although I disagree with some of it, “¦ you have a
perfect right to say it.” Funny how Ann Coulter can say what
she likes, but the media is in dereliction of duty for praising
“Kill Bill.”
The reason for the double standard goes beyond the obvious party
lines. I suspect it rests on conservative insecurity ““ the
realization that conservatives know their propaganda is built on a
shoddy foundation. Perhaps Fox News was infuriated by the
“Simpsons” parody because Fox News knows it is overly
conservative and does not want the truth shown on a popular
television show. Perhaps the Media Research Center does not want
Reagan portrayed as a “hateful half-nut,” as center
President L. Brent Bozell III is quoted as saying in The Mercury
News, because there’s some truth to the statement.
According to my copy of “A Pocket History of the United
States,” “The gaps in Reagan’s factual knowledge
were extraordinary. He could not remember the names of aides,
Cabinet secretaries and foreign heads of states. Sometimes he could
not speak coherently without cue cards. Most critical was that he
was often uninformed and uninterested in the programs of his own
administration, except for a very few.” Yikes. If I were
conservative, I wouldn’t want the public to know that
either.
While we’re on the subject of entertainment and lawsuits,
maybe a concerned citizen should bring suit against Fox News for
false advertising claims that it is a “Fair and
Balanced” network that provides “news.” I
don’t think conservative loudmouths interrupting and
belittling their liberal guests could pass any meaningful litmus
test of unbiased coverage.
But maybe I’m wrong. I’m willing to acknowledge that
possibility, which is more than I can say for my conservative
counterparts.
Burke is a fifth-year political science student and former
Viewpoint editor. E-mail him at dburke@media.ucla.edu.