THE "CONSPIRACY" DODGE | 2004-09-25
Where did this ridiculous idea that newsmen can be trusted or professors can be trusted or priests can be trusted come from? No group of people on earth can be trusted if they are allowed to judge each other, with no outside interferences.
Somehow we have gotten the idea that if we say newsmen and professors and preachers hide each other's errors, we are saying there is some kind of Giant Conspiracy.
In other words, if I say Dan Rather is not a saint, I am saying there is some kind of Media Conspiracy.
In other words, if I assume that media bigwigs act like human beings, I am a Conspiracy Theorist.
In order to make his living in the media, every conservative has to pass the "respectability" test. He must be sure that no liberal can call him one of the Fatal Names like racist or Conspiracy Theorist.
If a conservative had said exactly the same words Hillary Clinton did, "vast right-wing conspiracy," but had said "a vast LEFT-wing conspiracy" he would be excluded as a serious newsman or commentator from all the national media.
Every conservative says that Hollywood is hard left politically. But that same conservative has to hurry and say there is no discrimination in Hollywood against rightists. Every conservative has to agree that Saint Dan the Rather is a Great Journalist who just "made an honest mistake."