Over some months since the inauguration of President Trump I have commented on the vile nature of CNN’s news presentation. It descended into a miasma of anger, bile, hatred, fake news, personal attacks, and general plain rubbish worthy of the National Enquirer. In the process they completely lost any pretence to balance. I had never before seen such extreme slant and brazen hatred masquerading as reporting in my entire life. They made Russia’s RT channel sound entirely sensible and Al Jazeera distinctly preferable. It started to seem as though they got together every morning to decide how they could possibly be more vile toward their duly elected president. I eventually suggested they just put up a camera and vomit into it, because it would cost less money and would be less revolting to viewers than what they were doing. I refused to watch them any further and I am pretty sure millions of decent people in North America did the same.
When Kim Jong-un threatened the United States with a missile strike, CNN’s attention was diverted only slightly. It seemed that nothing in the field of real news or dire threat could move them from their devotion to wall-to-wall 24-hour Hate & Bile.
Then came Hurricane Harvey. CNN slapped their heads and hearts a few times, but returned to their standard fare of Hate & Bile. Over this period, some liberal professor somewhere actually suggested that it was “instant karma” that Texas was struck by Harvey, because the state of Texas had voted for President Trump. His “humanity” is simply “overwhelming”.
Finally, it seemed that literally the heavens themselves decided the United States needed a third great message. And so it came to pass that a Category 5 hurricane by the name of Irma was sent spinning into the Caribbean from the Cape Verde Islands off Africa. It worked its wrath on the paradise islands of this unfortunate sea, and then, after corkscrewing along the north coast of Communist Cuba, it broke from that coast and set off northward for Florida.
And THIS… FINALLY…was when CNN was saved from itself by the circulatory wrath of the Earth’s atmosphere and its equatorial heat and humidity. It literally took a threat of a nuclear missile strike plus TWO extreme hurricane events to save them from themselves, because they finally reported real news for more than just a few minutes. It was possible to watch Chris Cuomo report actual news for a few hours rather than just belch bile as the ordinary decent folks of the United States suffered. My shock at CNN reporting actual news was greater than my shock at the sight of Hurricane Irma roaring through Naples and getting Chris Cuomo wet. As a scientist I knew what to expect from Irma, but CNN doing their job was a shock to the system. I do not believe for a minute that I was alone.
Ironically, this time the hurricane hit Tampa, which is where the “good professor” had been employed at the university. Not only had he duly been fired for his evil comment, but he hereby had been served his own suggested “instant karma”. One wonders whether he thought the hurricane strike on Florida was deserved. I ask, because Florida also voted for President Trump. Perhaps the professor does not realize that.
Perhaps I just don’t respect sociology as a subject. Or, perhaps it is just that I always thought universities were places where one might expect scientists rather than sociologists; particularly ones who tweet bile in between brainwashing impressionable students with fake science. Or maybe it is just that Karl Marx was a sociologist and I know the death and mayhem he caused. The Florida professor should rather just shut up and be thankful that his home was not at Cudjoe Key, where Irma first hit Florida.
Nevertheless, CNN has been almost tolerable for the last few days. Will this forced return to nominal reason survive yet a few more days? I do not know**, but I wish no more hurricanes upon the decent people of the United States. On the other hand, given the example of the professor, I should point out that there is a finite chance that a tornado might go through 190 Marietta St NW, Atlanta, the headquarters of CNN. The White House and Trump Tower in New York, by contrast, are both much less likely to be hit, given classic tornado touchdowns.
I just thought I should mention that. Not that I wish a tornado on anyone, but some reconsideration of the cultural attitude and incestuous groupthink within CNN is in order. They could try speaking to real people rather than their bile belching talking heads. By now it is likely to be a revelation to them.
Meanwhile, being decent neighbours of the United States, Canada has sent linemen to help restore power in Florida where more than seven million people lost power due to Irma.
I wonder if the professor knows how power gets to his home?
**: This article was written on Wednesday 13 September 2017. By Friday 15 September, CNN was back to trashing their president, and Kim Jong-un had fired another missle over Japan.
— Harry Booyens
My mother was a manager at a periodicals distribution company in South Africa, responsible for the distribution of Time, Life, and Newsweek, each very influential in its era. They were the “New York Times” and “Washington Post” of the news magazine genre. As a result, when I was a child, I always got unsold copies of these news magazines. The first thing that struck me was that what they reported about South Africa did not match what I could see if I stuck my head out of my own window. I always wondered why they found it necessary to lie, twist, and generally mislead. It did not occur to me that South Africa was too far away for decent Americans to realize the horribly slanted nature of the reporting.
