Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Friday, January 11, 2008

Opinion as News.

Remember my piece on the VPC's report on "declining gun ownership"? Well, Reuters published a "news" story on that topic a short while ago. I meant to dissect it, but that's not necessary now - others in the blogosphere have pulverized it.

Yesterday, Say Uncle noted that the story appeared to be just another VPC press release reprint, and proceeded to demonstrate that fact. Today, he notes, as I did in my piece, that the source material for both the Reuters article and the VPC paper comes from the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. What I didn't know at that time (but suspected), however, is that the NORC is funded by the Joyce Foundation - a group that only gives money to people who help advocate for more gun control. That bit of information was part of a truly outstanding post at Free Constitution that I urge you to read. Take a careful look at the difference between opinion polling, and push polling.

Now, if we could only reach as many eyeballs as Reuters manages to...

UPDATE: Via SayUncle, Reuters pulled the piece from its original location and reposted it with this caveat:
Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Hey! Even they recognized it as an opinion piece! Perhaps we're reaching the media after all.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.