September 12, 2005

What the Word “Objectivity” Means in Practice

As I've noted previously, the word "objective" doesn't refer to anything that actually exists. There's no such thing as "objective." There is such as thing as the truth, and there is such a thing as being 100% faithful to the truth.

In practice, people attempting to be "objective" do something very specific. Whatever the opposition is between people in a given case, those attempting to be "objective" seek to give the views of those on both sides equal credence. So, for example, if Islamofascists declare the intention to kill the women and children of Americans, MSM reporters seeking to be "objective" work to support the views of those Islamofascists as much as the views of Americans who are protecting the lives of our own women and children.

It's nothing less than an abandonment by MSM of their responsibility to determine who is telling the truth. Finding out which side is telling the truth would not be "objective."

MSM thus becomes willingly, easily gullible. An example is here.

When MSM reporters discover that they themselves are in a perfect position to perform the noble and heroic action of separating fact from fiction, the mere thrill of it will encourage many of them to do so.

Note: the topic of MSM's bias against pro-America, Conservative views, appears to be an additional, separate subject.

Disastrous Effects of the Welfare State on Black Americans in New Orleans

From John McWhorter, writing in TimesOnline:

...the most grievous result of the new consensus was black American history’s most under-reported event, the expansion of welfare. Until now, welfare had been a pittance intended for widows, unavailable as long as the father of one’s children was able-bodied and accounted for, and granted for as little time as possible.

In 1966, however, a group of white academics in New York developed a plan to bring as many people onto the welfare rolls as possible. Across the country, poor blacks especially were taught to apply for living on the dole even when they had been working for a living, and by 1970 there were 169% more people on welfare nationwide than in 1960.

This was the first time that whites or blacks had taught black people not to work as a form of civil rights. Politicians and bureaucrats jumped on the new opportunity for political patronage and votes, and welfare quickly became a programme that essentially paid young women to have children.

Only in 1996 was welfare limited to five years and focused on training for work. But by then generations of poor blacks had grown up in neighbourhoods where there was no requirement that fathers support their children. Few grew up watching their primary parent work for a living.

Read the whole thing. 

(via LinkFilter).