There is no doubt the media will use a Laura Loomer to unfairly paint all Republicans as Laura Loomer. Studies show more liberals know about QAnon than conservatives due to coverage by major media. That perception isn’t helped by cowardly Republicans that stay silent on the growing movement of conspiracy theorists in their own party out of fear of alienating that vote or wanting to ignore it to avoid more bad press. By avoiding it, they end up getting more bad press, so I am sympathetic to the right’s views that they just can’t win with the media.
The constant scrutiny of the right causes Republicans to run towards Whataboutism due to outrage over the hypocrisy. This reads as tacit consent and abandonment of principle. If one truly cares about fighting predatory behavior by powerful men, then articulating that towards one’s own in-group means more than criticizing the out-group. So for instance, if I take to task Trump’s cheating on his pregnant wife with a porn star and a Christian Conservative friend mentions Joe Biden’s accusations, this hypocritical statement shows they care more about power than treating women as Christ treated women.
This inconsistency then breeds more hypocritical coverage by the media. “Look! They don’t believe what they say!” Then it is a tit-for-tat that continues to define down the norms in society.
As a classical liberal that wants an individual to define their own norms while society makes space for those values to be lived out, I am not terribly upset about that. I do somewhat care about these conversations because I am being forced to participate in these differing worldviews.
The solution is to ignore the press and for us to stop letting them live rent-free in our heads. Constant hand-wringing over the power of the press continues to prop up their power. This obsession is a function of the President’s need to be liked by the New York Press that spent decades dismissing him. As much as he says he doesn’t care about fake news, all evidence points towards a man that cares about good press more than doing his job well. The right has adopted this obsession while pretending this person is a truth-teller that rejects the opinions of others. Again, another inconsistency that leaves the rest of us scratching our heads.
