Meet one of the media' experts. The progressive press' double standard on labels. Do you have strong feelings about the cage free egg law?
Meet one of the media' experts.
Haven't touched on this in a while, but I thought a reminder might be due.
Remember that when you see experts, or professors of the topic du jour in an article, do not assume that these people have no motive, and have no perspective. Depending on the field (liberal arts, I'm looking in your direction) and media outlet (public media, yeah, you too) it's probably better to assume a leftward lean. I.e. you're not getting an unbiased perspective.
This is all too apparent in the first link below, a CPR interview with DU political scientist Seth Masket.
Nominally, this interview looks at a recent essay by Professor Masket on "norm violations" in politics. Fair enough. I would say that off the top of my head anyone, of either party, from Clinton (remember that cigar? and the lack of impeachment?) on bears some built on this.
The top line of the article gives you a sense. Quoting: "The concept of a “norm violation” didn’t begin with Donald Trump, but the phrase’s ubiquity in political discourse is certainly tied to the incoming president."
And there it is! You knew that was coming right? I mean, liberal arts, public media. Who could be surprised that we'd head that way right out of the gate. A simple word count of Professor Masket's interview, pulling phrases that mention Trump and/or Republicans and violating norms vs. those that do the same for Democrats you see about a 3:1 ratio of Republican dirty laundry (heavily weighted to Trump) to Democrat dirty laundry.
I'll give you a quote from Professor Masket near the end of the interview that I wonder if it doesn't sum up the good professor's ideas on the subject of norm violations:
"If he attempts to do these things[he being Trump and the things being trying to acquire new land from places like Greenland], there's likely to be significant pushback: Democrats trying to restrict his authority in some places or working on some other ways to simply slow down what the government's doing. Those will likely also be portrayed as violations of norms, but also just in response to the things he's doing that are just sort of wildly outside what we normally expect as kind of regular government behavior."
You get the gist.
To help further illuminate the fact that this professor is there not so much to provide an academic and balanced discussion as he was to provide the sheen of authority for saying bad things about Trump, links 2 and 3 below give you Professor Masket's Denver Post author page and a Google site search of CPR.org for "Seth Masket".
Take note that experts brought in on articles and interviews (no matter what their perspective, be it one you agree with or not) are not neutral arbiters of truth. They have a perspective that guides what they say, what they see**, and what they believe just as much as it does for you or I.
**Note: here I include "seeing" meaning what they "see" in the data they take--confirmation bias affects us all.
https://www.cpr.org/2025/01/15/interview-political-scientist-seth-masket-trump/
https://www.denverpost.com/author/seth-masket-dp/
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:cpr.org+%22seth+masket%22&sca_esv=7eb926410e39e903&sxsrf=ADLYWILtOKUFFkpvIDcdFUXBUSM8J9TA1A:1736946978547&ei=IrWHZ-mSIbDHkPIP6YqF2Qc&start=10&sa=N&sstk=ATObxK7AuoC94v88D2F20Vb_-1pKC68jP54N_O5sOommLpteHTySqZ-VgwarK8rsqyiuSpxaLh5mry1xcyFH1Q5tPDV41HK41wHCKw&ved=2ahUKEwjpq5nd5_eKAxWwI0QIHWlFIXsQ8tMDegQICRAE&biw=1920&bih=919&dpr=1
The progressive press' double standard on labels
Let's stay on media for one more. I wrote an op ed recently about labels. In particular, it was about the labels media use.
As you might imagine, the disparity between who gets labeled, and what, is pretty high. I'll give you a hint: it's mostly conservatives.
More in the op ed linked below.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2024/12/26/gaines-the-progressive-press-double-standard-on-ideological-labels/
Do you have strong feelings about the cage free egg law?
Got just the thing for you. Rep Gonzalez and Senator Kirkmeyer are sponsoring a bill (see the first link below) to repeal the standards of the earlier bill re. cage free eggs.
This has been a tough one for me because I have a certain feeling about it, but (as with the Venezuelan gangs and apartments) it's hard to find firm ground to stand on.
But, if you have strong feelings and have found that ground, you have a chance to weigh in on this bill. It's up for committee on the 1/27 (next Monday) at 1:30 PM.
Stand up. Speak up.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1074