I don’t have any liberal friends trying to downplay coronavirus on social media. My conservative friends, on the other hand, from my perspective, have struggled to understand how bad things are. I wrote a post last week venting my frustrations, and a few anti-liberal friends filled me in on what’s happening, and why.

From their perspective, the liberal media has lost its way, picking on Donald Trump, incessantly calling for his termination, blind to his good parts, and, in general, spreading lies and harmful agendas. If it’s liberal, it’s not trustworthy.

Fake news.

Dangerous for America.

Rest assured that liberals feel the same way about conservative media outlets. Who in the world would support Donald Trump, or call him a good president? Come on, people. If a liberal president got caught with his hand in as many cookie jars as Donald Trump has, conservatives would be just as quick to call for his dismissal.

Either way, as a country, we’ve become divided in the way we process truth, which is getting in the way of our ability to process truth.

In my defense, as a human, I want to hear what I want to hear. I need to know that there are others on this planet who have sympathy for how I think, and more importantly, how I feel. I have strong tribal urges – we all do – and can easily be convinced that those outside my tribe pose a threat to our country, and more importantly, to me.

Media outlets on both sides know this, and make a TON of money from it.

They typically don’t lie, but they do spin, emphasizing things that are unimportant, taking things out of context, and editing key details that leave me thinking, and more importantly, feeling like the world is as I think it should be. No need to fact check, or head over to the other side to see what’s been left out of the story.

When my favorite media outlets reported that the president called coronavirus a “hoax,” I believed it. Sounds like something he’d say. Most of my liberal friends believed it too. Why fact check? This morning I looked a little deeper and read what Trump actually said: coronavirus isn’t a hoax. The way liberals are responding to it is. They’re overreacting, etc., etc.

There’s a big difference between a sitting president calling an epidemic a hoax, and critiquing the way his adversaries are responding to a national emergency.

But I’m bothered by the way the president seems to be downplaying things, so I posted this on Facebook yesterday:

 

A friend of mine who’s always been an objective thinker re politics, and a conservative, hit back pretty hard, claiming that the above quotes were taken out of context. Before posting this pic, I “fact checked” at snopes and factcheck.org – they’re both pretty good about catching out-of-context things. Seemed legit. But when thoughtful people start throwin’ flags, I’m compelled to dig deeper. I haven’t done that yet, it’s a lot of research – many speeches to pore over, etc., but if this was taken out of context, I’ll have to eat crow, disavow, recant, etc., which will hurt my soul. But that’s part of my process for now.

While I’m trying to be objective about politics, and take my cues from thoughtful people, I’ve come to realize that I need Trump to say stupid things. I need to know that my tribe is right about him. I need to believe that my favored media outlets are right and everyone else is wrong. Fact checking hurts. Questioning my own perspective causes pain. So I don’t usually do it.

I’m not alone.

According to Pew Research, 76% of white evangelicals believe that the coronavirus epidemic has been blown out of proportion by the media – liberal media, that is.

Fox News is aware of COVID-19 mortality rates, but it doesn’t wear this data on its sleeve, nor does it point out that COVID-19 is nothing like the flu, or H1N1, etc. 3 minutes ago, Fox posted its first article suggesting that self-quarantine might be a good idea, but it’s a sports figure talking about their views on quarantine, not an actual recommendation from Fox.

For anyone who believes that right-leaning media outlets are the only place they need to go for news, they’ll be left wondering why everyone’s so panicky over the flu’s second cousin. In the absence of a full picture, and at the suggestion of others, it’ll be easy to conclude that the panic is a hoax, and oh, look at that cheap flight to Florida.

To me, that kind of underblowing is irresponsible, and puts people at risk. But it’s not Fox’s fault, it’s the fault of people who’ve decided that there’s only one place to go for truth.

Moving Forward, Slowly

My liberal outlook on life shouldn’t keep me from listening to what my conservative friends have to say, or from heading over to Fox News to see how they’re reporting on different issues. Clearly, I’m not a fan, but Fox has a voice with nearly half of my country, and probably knows them better than I do. I have a responsibility to try and understand, and allow them some room to hold my views accountable.

And nothing should override the importance of checking the facts – typically a quick Google search away. But to do that right, I have to lay aside my tribal urges, my need to be right, and my partisan bullshit.

Easier said than done I find.

Conservative media outlets, via their audience, perspective, desire to make money, etc., will present news that my favored voices might be a bit shy to report on. So, when time.com alleges that Donald Trump abused his power with the Ukranian president, I want to know the other side of the story. Fox News says Joe Biden did the same thing.

Via a quick search on the internet, and an openness to the perspectives I don’t like, I can get a fuller picture of what’s happening – barring the emotional barriers, it’s easy. Turns out that one could listen in on the entire impeachment proceedings. Now, if you want to talk about Trump, Biden, and Ukraine, I can give you an earful.

You might not agree with me, but I’ll leave you with an understanding of why I landed where I landed.

Same with our current situation. If you tell me that the media has overblown coronavirus, I’ll have some things to say that, again, might not land you on my page, but will leave you feeling that I’ve done my homework, and that you might want to reconsider hitting your favorite bar this weekend.

Obviously, I have more faith in media outlets that lean liberal. Coronavirus coverage is simply another reason why. But It’s unwise to ignore how half of my country thinks, and to believe that mainline conservative media is completely incapable of reporting truth.

It takes a great fool to believe that only left or right-leaning media outlets are capable of truth, that fact-checking is not necessary, and that the voices who don’t tell us what we want to hear are spreading lies and trying to destroy our country.

But that’s where we seem to be. And while we judge, point fingers, accuse, and indict, the foundations are being laid for the destruction of our country, right under our noses. And because we’re in the process of trading truth for politics, we probably won’t turn this around.

It’ll always be someone else’s fault.

In the meantime, shame on any pundit or media outlet that makes their bread and butter exacerbating our partisan foolishness.

And shame on us, me included, for being such suckers for it.