The mainstream media paints Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a dangerous sexual predator. Yet, every story they push falls apart immediately. Last weekend, The New York Times had to correct an article that claimed Kavanaugh flashed another woman when he attended Yale. The correction stated that the woman doesn’t remember such an incident and refused to be interviewed about the matter.
Ultimately, the correction doesn’t matter. Kavanaugh is perceived as a sexual predator and this latest hack job only reinforces that smear. The facts can’t change that.
Here’s how the mainstream media and prominent Democrats reacted to the latest New York Times story:
“New Reporting Claims Brett Kavanaugh Did Touch Yale Classmates With His Penis—Twice”
“Democrats Call For Kavanaugh Impeachment After New Report On Sexual Misconduct Allegations”
“Did Brett Kavanaugh perjure himself during his confirmation hearing?”
“New Sexual Misconduct Allegation Against Brett Kavanaugh Emerges”
This was almost a year ago.
It is unsurprising that Kavanaugh, credibly accused of sexual assault, would lie under oath to secure a Supreme Court seat.
Because sexual assault isn’t a crime of passion – it’s about the abuse of power.
He must be impeached.pic.twitter.com/9PhrgeYuHv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 16, 2019
The Times’ correction doesn’t erase this coverage or quell the calls for impeachment. Even the new revelation that a key witness to Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh disputed her story won’t stifle the outrage. Kavanaugh is a sexual predator, damn the facts.
Too Cowardly to Question
The Left has foisted all kinds of narratives on the public that contradict the facts. The police shooting of Michael Brown is a famous example.
Brown was fatally shot by the police officer he assaulted and was planning to charge in 2014. His death set off riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and empowered the Black Lives Matter movement. The media spread the story that he had his hands up and asked the officer not to shoot. Thus, the creation of the slogan “Hands up, don’t shoot!” That story was later officially squashed by a Department of Justice investigation conducted by the Obama administration. The officer’s actions were ruled justified self-defense and Brown never had his hands up.
Those facts did not change the popular narrative that Brown was murdered in cold blood by a racist cop. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris—either of whom could be the next president of the United States—declared Brown’s death a murder as they memorialized the shooting anniversary last month. Some outlets dared say the presidential candidates’ statements were false, but PolitiFact refused to do so.
The media insists that “facts matter.” In reality, they mean, “our narratives matter more.”
“[E]experts who have studied police-related deaths and race relations said that focusing too much on the linguistics in controversial cases comes with its own set of problems,” PolitiFact stated. “Because the significance of Harris’ and Warrens’ use of the word is open to some dispute, we won’t be rating their tweets on the Truth-O-Meter.”
This generosity never would have been extended to a Republican politician who made a false claim. PolitiFact knows the Black Lives Matter version of Brown’s death is false, but the fact checker is too cowardly to question their narrative. The lie remains enshrined in the public’s mind.
The same can be applied to Trayvon Martin’s death. The incident that led to the creation of Black Lives Matter was also falsely covered by the media. We were told Martin was stalked by a white supremacist and shot in the back while doing nothing wrong.
In reality, Martin was pounding a Hispanic man’s head on a sidewalk when he was fatally shot. The exoneration of George Zimmerman, the Hispanic man who shot Martin, hasn’t diminished the narrative one bit. Martin was an innocent victim of white racism.
Fake Narratives Infect Politics
This questionable narrative scheme extends into electoral politics. Stacey Abrams would be Georgia’s governor if it weren’t for voter suppression. Georgia’s record-high turnout and the lack of evidence for this theory has not stopped major Democrats and Abrams from endlessly repeating this claim.
Russia stole the election for Donald Trump is a popular meme that has been disproven by basic logic and the Mueller report. Yet, it still persists and animates the progressive base. Democrats still want investigations into a matter that has been investigated to death.
These false narratives can be made into official history. We are all told about the bad days of Joseph McCarthy and how he hurt innocent people with his witch hunt against communism. It’s rarely mentioned that there were communists in high-levels of power, such as Alger Hiss. McCarthyism is now an epithet thanks to the official history written by leftists.
Future generations may be taught in school that Republicans put a rapist on the Supreme Court and Michael Brown was an honors student murdered with his hands up.
These false stories and impressions shape how we see the world. Thousands of liberals experienced mass hysteria at the news of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They truly believed he was a predator and no amount of evidence could change their minds. The impression stuck and it was not challenged by the media.
The American Right is criticized for believing it lacks power when it controls the Senate and White House. But political power pales in comparison to cultural and social power. The Senate can’t dictate how people perceive the world and current events. The media can, and the Left has a stranglehold over it. Conservatives have little cultural and social power. Conservative media can spread the truth about Trayvon Martin and Brett Kavanaugh, but our outlets can’t write official history. Hollywood is not going to adapt Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino’s book about Kavanaugh’s confirmation for the big screen. The New York Times’ is more ripe for a film adaption.
The media insists that “facts matter.” In reality, they mean, “our narratives matter more.”