Ivy League Conservatives

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Today, Matthew Sheffield of NewsBusters posted about the way liberal protesters are portrayed in the media. 

Besides sanitizing the party affiliations of scandal-ridden Democratic politicians, one of the more blatant examples of media bias we regularly see is how the usually disturbed people who turn out for left-wing protests are routinely portrayed as normal.

 

There’s no better way of observing this disparity than seeing uncensored reports of what lefty protests are actually like. And  there’s no better chronicler of these events than the anonymous blogger Zombie. 

OK, I’ll bite. Here’s what Zombie had to say (and snap) about the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. All images are courtesy of Zombie, www.zombietime.com. 

The first half of the day was supposed to revolve around a series of “direct actions” in San Francisco’s Financial District, in front of various corporations deemed by the organizers to be “war profiteers.” The direct actions were supposed to be coordinated from two locations on Market Street (the city’s main thoroughfare). As things played out, however, the direct actions were too scattered and too ill-attended, so the focus of the protest became Market Street itself, where everyone was congregating as we waited for instructions on what to do. 

 

Things kicked into high gear when a small group of dedicated activists carried a mock coffin into the middle of Market Street and sat down, blocking traffic. The police, who had been waiting in the wings, immediately tried to isolate the “die-in” participants from the rest of the crowd, and forced everyone back onto the sidewalk. As would be expected, every journalist within a five-mile radius instantly descended on the artificially photogenic die-in. Let the dance between attention-craving protesters and narrative-swallowing reporters begin!  

 This guy hasn’t left the 60s: 

There’s more on Zombie’s page, way more.  You really must go here to see the entire series. It’s kind of fascinating, actually, to see so many rebels without a cause milling around, watching the oddball few who so passionately attempt to create chaos. This, I’m sure, will change the world.Well, now for the fiction. How was this portrayed in the media? Here’s MSN’s take, via the Associated Press:

On the West Coast, police arrested a handful of protesters outside of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, police Sgt. Steve Manina said. Black balloons were tied to trees along San Francisco’s main downtown thoroughfare, and protesters at a table offered coffee, oranges and “unhappy birthday cake” to passers-by. 

 

And the Los Angeles Times:

In San Francisco, police arrested about 100 protesters by early afternoon for blocking traffic and chaining themselves to buildings, police said. 

 

And NPR:

The rallies, which drew hundreds to the city’s busy financial district, were mostly peaceful, though some demonstrators threw glass Christmas ornaments filled with paint at police, said Sgt. Steve Mannina, a San Francisco police spokesman.

 

Black balloons were tied to trees along San Francisco’s main downtown thoroughfare, and protesters at a table offered coffee, oranges and “unhappy birthday cake” to passers-by.

A few hundred protesters banging drums and waving banners that read “Was it worth it” took to the streets for a parade that blocked morning traffic.

 Unhappy birthday cake. How deliciously provocative. Unlike the uninspired writing of the newspaper journalists who covered the protest, who all appear to have read the same AP press release.