When progressives help Drudge spread lies

[impik]

From today's NYT:


If a squadron of mad scientists surrounded by supercomputers gathered in a laboratory to try to conjure a single news topic that would blow up large, they could not touch the T.S.A. pat-down story.
It began with a Drudge Report link to a video on Nov. 13 of an intrusive pat-down, and then leapt to social media and the rest of the Web.

___________

Cue the media mushroom cloud: by Tuesday, there were print reports about the new scanning technology, heavy-breathing blog posts about the government using the technology to alter or gather DNA (yow), and every cable channel featured wall-to-wall speculation about what would happen when people got to the airport on Wednesday and how many would be carrying lanterns and pitchforks.

“This story tapped right into the central nervous system of the collective consciousness,” said Mark Ghuneim, chief executive of Trendrr. “It was huge.”

But then, in the real world, nothing happened.

A few passengers opted out and, if anything, lines were shorter because airport security was staffed up and people arrived early just in case.


_________________________________________________

The pat-down story was the equivalent of vaporware — it seemed as if something huge was about to happen, but it turned out that it was a story about a story, the noisy, fervent sound of a news system feeding on itself.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/business/media/29carr.html?_r=2



But hey. let's impeach Obama!

[jaxx]

1. 'cue the media mushroom cloud'

Perfect. And then add the poutrage.

[displacedvermoter]

15. Oh, I love it when you say "poutrage"!

It makes me feel so ashamed of having my own opinions!

[earthside]

2. Oh, brother.

Not much happened on 'opt-out' day because TSA just didn't require many x-rays or gropings ... how hard is that to figure out?

But more to the point of the title of the OP -- how about "When progressives abandon fighting for civil liberties just because Drudge latches onto a legitimate outrage"?

New flash ... anything that the federal government does that turns out to be bad does not mean there is some kind of right-wing conspiracy to "impeach Obama". Sometimes, as in the TSA fearmongering, the federal government is just wrong and needs to be called to task by both the left and the right.

[treestar]

5. What an excuse

If the protest were so widespread, someone could have gotten to do it on such a heavily traveled day.

So is the protest going to continue to a day where the TSA allegedly is requiring its regulations?

Talk about being persecuted. They can't even protest because the government refuses to do its evil deeds! :rofl:

[Whisp]

13. what did Drudge 'latch onto' during the Bush years....

I don't recall much cheering the good ole Drudge in those days.

o please spare me. us. the world.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. That's easy for you all to say.

For us minorities who have been the target of these pat-downs since 9/11, it's not something that is easily dismissed. It was bad enough to have my breasts touched before this upgraded pat-down began, but to have to decide between sexual abuse or physical damage when the radiation screenings began--that was too much. The only consolation was that everyone had to go through it, this time. Despite what you say, I think people are very angry about this. At this point, the NYTIME's reporting is very effy. Not since the Judy wotshername fiasco, do I take them as a reliable source.

[Enrique]

9. everyone had to go through it

that is the ONLY reason this blew up in the media. In fact, a big reason it bothers a lot of people is that minorities are the ones doing much of the patting down. A lot is being made, on RW radio, of the fact of how many TSA employees are black.

[peace13]

4. Radiation is radiation.

People need to refuse to have their health compromised by the TSA! Also, like it or not we have many people who have been physically abused, adults and children, and they deserve to know what to expect from these exams.

[treestar]

6. They should not fly then

Where they will get a lot more radiation.

[peace13]

7. Like it or not this stuff accumulates.

Yes we are exposed to it when we fly but these folks propose to use them on trains, subways, at ball fields. You name it they want them them. We have to make a stand on this issue. First they take our health care and then they radiate us at every turn. Go figure.

[stevenleser]

20. delete, wrong spot

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[hlthe2b]

11. NYT's further demise.....

As Glen Greenwald so clearly pointed out when asked which of the five newspapers he went to, to begin perusing the Wikileaks material--it sure as hell wasn't the NYT.

[Whisp]

12. of course since Bush is now gone, the media is back on track

and honest and we should always believe every Balloon Boy story they have for us.

[Uzybone]

14. many of the "progressives" you meet on the net are poseurs

they suck at the same teats as RW idiots.

[Kaleva]

16. There isn't much difference between left and right wingers

The comedy they provide is priceless.

[Union Scribe]

18. So what are you?

[awoke_in_2003]

21. obviously a "new"democrat...

because only a "new" democrat would say something that patently stupid.

[Number23]

17. Ain't that the damn truth.

[Hello_Kitty]

19. Tell it to the "federal employees make too much" crowd here.

Oh wait...President Obama supports that position.

[Name removed]

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