-By Warner Todd Huston
The Confederate flag has a very long and controversial history, to be sure. But a recent CBS report on a flag dustup in a school in Missouri shows just how slipshod journalism is today.
So, as the story goes, some kids at a Kansas City suburban high school have been playing with the Confederate battle flag lately and despite that there is no real news in the incident, the story made the news. Naturally the agenda journalists at CBS radio, KMOX, St. Louis tried their hardest to make it a story about “RAAAAAAAACISM!” despite that there doesn’t seem to be any proof at all that race is really a part of the story.
The report quotes a girl who noted that “some boy” was wearing a 3X5 sized C.S. flag as a cape and parading around “as if he was Superman or something.”
The assistant principal, as kill-joy officials are wont to do, took the flag away from the kid for whatever reason… not that school officials ever think they need a reason to take things away from kids, of course.
Then, according to the girl interviewed by CBS, the kid yelled an expletive–as teen boys are wont to do–and taunted the buttinski principal by informing him that he had a CS flag on his hat, too, so there.
CBS also notes that the flag had been floating around the school here and there lately, and a photo of the flag (the same flag that was confiscated, not a different one) was taken draped over a school balcony. The photo had been making the rounds, apparently.
And that is the whole story. Some punkish boy thought it would be cool to have a “rebel” flag to show that he is rebelling against the man at school.
Ah, but here is CBS to make it about “RAAAAAAAACISM!”
Here is how CBS ginned up the incident to “outrage.”
The flag-waving students say they are celebrating their family history with these displays.
But many students fear it’s being misused as a symbol promoting racism.
It’s a symbol with more than 150 years of history, much of which is controversial.
So, does CBS have any examples of racial problems at the school? Have there been any gang troubles? Any fights between the races at the school? Any problems with outside groups, like maybe the KKK, gaining influence in the school? Has even one kid been disciplined for racist taunts to other kids?
Well, if there is CBS didn’t bother to try and find any. No, instead CBS gave its audience this…
“The meaning of the flag isn’t about being a rebel anymore it’s more towards racism now,” Paige, a junior, told KSHB.
“They said that it doesn’t represent racism to them but you know the controversy over the flag. It’s okay for you to put it on your truck or whatever, but keep it at home for you to show it and bring it to school is inappropriate,” said another student to KSHB.
So, CBS relies on some kids who self-righteously think that their opinion is both important and correct–you know, despite that whole “freedom” thingie we are supposed to enjoy in the USA.
Instead of having any actual proof that the flag represented some sort of serious racial strife in the school, CBS decided to get two halfwit girls and present their opinions as some sort of factual evidence that there was a problem at the school.
Finally, notice the headline of CBS’ story: “Confederate Flag as School Causes Outrage.”
Did you see OUTRAGEOUSLY OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE in this KMOX story? Or did you see two self-righteous girls who think they know better than everyone else expressing a prosaic opinion?
This is called agenda journalism. KMOX wanted this to be about “RAAAAAAAACISM!” so they manufactured a story to further that claim quite despite any actual proof of same.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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