“I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime…”
So claims Washington Post reporter Sarah Kliff in explaining why she did not report the unbelievable carnage at Dr. Gosnell’s Philadelphia charnel house which called itself an abortion clinic.
This is not about abortion, but infanticide. (I don’t approve of abortion, but there is an important difference.) The man illegally delivered live, late term fetuses and then murdered them without regard to the health of the mothers or proper medical hygiene.
Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure
I liked the way Glenn Reynolds put it.
I’m pro-choice, but that doesn’t excuse this sort of thing.
No it certainly doesn’t.
But I want to focus on the stated explanation for why the story isn’t being reported in the national news. If it’s because Gosnell’s carnage is considered “local crime,” I have a question for the national news.
Wasn’t the Sandy Hook school shooting just as much local crime as Dr. Gosnell’s human butchery?
What’s the standard? Is there one?
Or is it just whatever is decided by some sort of undisclosed media groupthink narrative dynamic?
Comments
6 responses to “The meaning of “local” depends on what we consider national! And the meaning of national depends on what narrative we want!”
After 6 months an abortion is infanticide. This doctor is is a butcher and should be tried for murder.
The U.S. Libertarian Party political platform (2012) states: “Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.”
Ideas have consequences.
Scott,
Humans is an ugly lot. And there is no government solution to that. See this comment:
http://classicalvalues.com/2013/03/life-at-conception-act/#comment-87915
You can’t correct human nature with laws. At best you can punish the worst excesses. Try to go farther than that and you create a disaster.
Look at Alcohol Prohibition. Look at Drug Prohibition.
Look at the Gun Prohibition now on the table. The idea is to punish all gun owners for the excesses of a few.
Anti-abortion laws will have similar results.
The difficulty is that utopians just focus on solving one problem. But you can’t just solve one problem. There are side effects. And sometimes the side effects create more problems than the “solution” solves.
Utopians NEVER consider side effects.
We have sufficient laws to deal with the likes of Gosnell.
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Of course the national media is not reporting the story. And in this case I think they are wise. They want government to stay out of abortion. And the clamor that would create would force Congress to “act”.
OTOH they WANT Congress to act on guns.
[…] made me decide to post this? It is in response in part to Eric’s post The meaning of “local” depends on what we consider national! And the meaning of national depends… and the people who think that There Ought To Be A […]
[…] Classical Values » The meaning of “local” depends on what we consider national! And the meaning… But I want to focus on the stated explanation for why the story isn’t being reported in the national news. If it’s because Gosnell’s carnage is considered “local crime,” I have a question for the national news. […]
Umm – what Simon says… (all references to children’s games entirely intended.) But seriously.
What that is, is murder. NOT abortion.
And reporting it nationally will only energize those who deny the difference between the two.