That Darn Liberal Bias!
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published February 24, 2007, 4:01 pm in Ethics, Morality, & Justice.
This week's Time magazine has a cover story about crisis pregnancy centers. I have not yet read the entire article, but the little I did read sounded pretty negative. I'm not sure the point of this. Why would anyone attack a group of privately funded centers that attempt to help women in trouble?
Because of our society. An attack on crisis pregnancy centers is another sign of our anti-Christian culture.
I know, I know. I'm a leftist. If you read any of my articles, you may think that I'm a flaming liberal. And in many ways, I am. But I'm at least an equal opportunity liberal. I don't think that the media is generally liberal, although many times it is. I tend to listen to NPR and think that it's pretty balanced, but in reality, I know that it's quite liberal, and I think it's balanced because, well, I'm liberal, and I agree with it. Most people don't think of themselves as right or left; they're just right, as in correct. I don't think of myself as biased, although in many ways I know I am.
I can't stand the arguments from conservatives about how biased our media is. Listen to any conservative talk show, and they will rail against the liberal media. But then turn on a liberal talk show (of which their aren't any in my area), and they will probably do the same. Where does Fox News fit in, after all? It certainly isn't an example of our liberal media, dang it. And so many people trust it to be "fair and balanced," when it is anything but. But again, everyone likes to think of themselves that way. If someone watches Fox News, they probably agree with it, and then they think it's fair and balanced. The rest of the news channels, they're the ones that are biased to the left.
So even though I know the media is not always liberal as some conservatives critics like to argue, it is difficult to say that there is not any liberal bias. Watch any TV, or listen to any music and you will quickly see that there is one group that anyone can criticize, one group that anyone can talk badly about with impunity, one group that many people in the world simply hate.
That group is Christians.
As an example of this, I was at the Austin music festival called South by Southwest two years ago. Austin, Texas is actually a bastion of liberalism, and it hosts this second largest music festival in the U.S. The entire city becomes one giant club, and you can hear music there that you won't hear anywhere else, from little known bands to big names. It's a great time.
We went to one show to see the Scissor Sisters. At the time, this band was little known outside of New York, but since then, they have gotten a lot of exposure. I keep seeing their name crop up everywhere. They're a disco band whose music blends 70s dance with contemporary sensibilities, and we all thought they were great.
Until they started talking between their sets.
During one intermission, they said something like this:
"We're glad to see that their are gay people in Austin. We weren't expecting any. We love gay people. You know who we hate? Christians. They ought to bring back the Colloseum and start feeding Christians to lions again."
And the audience erupted in laughter and applause.
Now I understand the sentiment, believe me I do. What with an "evangelical Christian" in the White House and the furor over gay marriage and other issues, I understand why they think Christians are bad. I know what they're reacting to, after all. And they don't mean all Christians, probably. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt there. They probably just mean all Christians who try to get our country to do what they don't agree with.
And I understand that it's acceptable to criticize the majority or the group with power. Christianity has been such an important force in America that it is acceptable to criticize and fight against it just as one would any powerful group. It's like when white people say things like "Why isn't there a white history month?" Because whites have the power, and every month is white history month. That's the norm. It's what people always study. Giving African Americans one month out of the year is nothing. So it's okay to criticize Christianity.
But is it okay to say that Christians should be fed to lions?
I would say that such statements are NEVER okay. Imagine if this were said about any other group: Jews, Muslims, Catholics, students, old people, Californians, alcoholics, etc. People would be in up in arms about such a statement. Does anyone remember when Sinead O'Connor performed on Saturday Night Live and said that we should fight the enemy--the Pope? People thought she was either stupid, biased, or insane. But it seems okay to say this about Christians. I have seen this anti-Christian bias on TV many times--Christians are often the bad guys, and their badness stems from some portion of their Christianity.
Remember the statistics I mentioned several articles back about how people wouldn't vote for certain candidates because of their religion? There was a surprisingly large percentage that said they wouldn't vote for Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and evangelical Christians. I imagine those that said they wouldn't vote for evangelicals were mostly liberals. Sure, there are some other religious groups in there, too, but I imagine that these are primarily the liberals who don't want another George Bush. Imagine what they would say about their biased comrades. If someone wouldn't vote for an African American, they would call them racist. If someone won't vote for a Jew, they would say that they're closed-minded or anti-Semitic. And the list goes on and on. We should accept everyone, these people would say.
Just not Christians.
And no, this isn't bias, they would claim. It's just good sense. The idea is that all people and ideas are acceptable, just not those that don't accept other ideas. That's the problem with Christianity. Christians think they're right, and they won't listen to anyone else. And those are the people that liberals can't accept. It's a dangerous idea, and it bothers me that it has become so acceptable. I wonder when such thinking will stop. Maybe not until Christianity is finally wiped out.
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