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Backtalk: Are You Saying You Believe the Government, Man?
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Last Thursday, we had some fun with One America News Network “journalist” Chanel Rion, who first spent time “investigating” whether Chinese researchers in a secret lab at UNC-Chapel Hill had manufactured the coronavirus and released it in Wuhan.
It had been a long week, and we figured you could use a laugh.
As it turns out, Rion has some MAGA fanboys who are very mad that we are not taking her journalism seriously. Here is CHARLES ST. JAMES: “Rather than simply writing that there are different opinions and that a number of these opinions have been engendered over the years precisely because people do not trust, justifiably, governments and the elites often given to lying to people and engaging in blatant forms of psychological propaganda, the writer chooses to use ad hominem attacks and references.
“In my view, journalism should mean, or perhaps, used to mean being willing to investigate and explore various theories and ideas as well as different explanations. Or does the writer believe that the government and those in power never have lied to people and, at times, do not seek even more power, wealth, and privileges and that there are times when no strategy or set of tactics is beneath them?”
Because we enjoy being right, let’s venture back to Sunday, March 15, when Sarah Edwards wrote a piece discouraging people from going to still-open bars and spreading COVID-19.
“Unless the author of this article is going to pay the rents for the businesses and all of the business’s employees, it’s irresponsible for her to tell businesses that they should shut down,” JOHN SMITH replied on March 16. “Everybody is going to be exposed to this virus. There’s no reason to make countless people homeless and wreck lives with this sort of insanity. I was just at my local bar tonight, and I’ll go back again tomorrow, and every day until all of this has passed.”
“Not going to get my medical advice from the INDY,” added HONK HONKLER on March 17. “If that is needed, the folks in charge of the pandemic response will say so.”
That day, Governor Cooper closed dine-in restaurants and bars across the state.
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