Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Damn the facts, full speed ahead with the narrative.

It is very challenging to discern the truth of what is happening when two left-wing pillars of the mainstream media not only can't agree with one another, but are reporting diametrically opposite versions of the truth. Maybe they are reporting their own subjective truths, having dispensed with factual universalism.

On Tuesday the 23rd, according to the Grauniad,

Click to enlarge.
US detention centers that hold migrant parents and children have been nearly empty for months, despite Donald Trump’s administration repeatedly warning that the US-Mexico border is at a “breaking point” because of the surge in Central American families fleeing poverty and violence.

There were nearly 2,000 empty beds in two detention centers last week, with a facility in Dilley, Texas, at 26% capacity and a facility in Berks county, Pennsylvania, at 19% capacity. On 1 April, the third family shelter was temporarily changed into a facility for adult women only.
Their social justice enamored left-wing American cousin, The New York Times, however, on Monday April 22nd, insists that:

Click to enlarge.
Populations in the long-term detention facilities have grown markedly under President Trump, both because of increasing border crossings and his administration’s aggressive moves to arrest more undocumented immigrants in the interior of the country. ICE is currently housing 50,223 migrants, one of the highest numbers on record, and about 5,000 more than the congressionally mandated limit of 45,274.
One day apart and our border detention centers are either overburdened (NYT) or they are nearly empty (The Guardian). Which is it? And more to the important - how could two such respected members of the mainstream media have such opposite reports of reality.

If you are an old fashion classical liberal rational empiricist who believes in human universalism and objective reality, this sort of reporting is a first class symptom of the failure of the mainstream media. As Farragut might have said, "Damn the facts, full speed ahead with the narrative."

While the NYT and the Grauniad can't agree on the underlying facts, at least they agree that the facts on the border support the underlying truth - Orange Man Bad.

No comments:

Post a Comment