Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Continuing Journalism Check



Because sloppy journalism doesn't take a week off.

And while it's old news, the narrative of what Rep. Ilhan Omar said to and about CAIR has always pretty much accepted the critical view that she was wrong, or at least "out of line."  The transcript was supposed to correct that ("Let's go to the tape!"), but the reality is facts never matter as much as interpretation of the facts matter.  And the interpretation of these facts is starting to shift; almost seismically.  Because the newest narrative is that the criticism not only doesn't invalidate Rep. Omar's point, it actually supports it.

The clip was initially shared by a well known imam on Twitter who is opposed to CAIR. After Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted the fragmented portion of Omar’s sentence — “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something” — the hysteria snowballed. Breitbart, The Washington Times and Christian Broadcasting Network all covered the quote, which the right concluded en masse meant a sitting Muslim lawmaker was trying to diminish the 9/11 terrorist attack.

In reality, the congresswoman was trying to distinguish terrorists from all Muslims. The comment was made as part of a larger portion of the speech that focused on encouraging fellow Muslims to embrace their rights and not allow themselves to be bullied by bigots who view them as terrorists.
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Even in context of the portion of the speech specifically relevant to the quote in question, it’s clear the mania is further perpetuating the congresswoman’s point.
Follow the link for the full transcript of the speech (it's not much longer than the Gettysburg Address, actually).  "Context is all," but the narrative decides the context, and the narrative rules.  Sometimes, all we can do is to break the narrative.
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