At Tea Party and conservative events, the press routinely seeks out any shred of evidence of far-right extremism, racism or even uncivil behavior exhibited by attendees. If found, it then tries to portray even one or a few such people out of thousands as somehow typical.
Rallies in support of liberals' pet causes get a completely different treatment. The press almost invariably ignores rampant left-wing extremism clearly on display. Sunday's "Climate March" in New York City, along with other smaller marches in other parts of the world, exemplifies the blatant double standard. The Blaze, Gateway Pundit, and others reported no shortage of Gotham protesters often uncivilly advocating an end to capitalism and its replacement with "a socialist future." The Associated Press and the New York Times ignored it all.
Here's what The Blaze's Oliver Darcy found (Caution: Darcy's dispatch indicates that "the Associated Press contributed" to his report; we'll see later that AP did not include negative information about the protesters in its own coverage; bolds are mine throughout this post):
‘F*** the Police’: Communists, Radicals Spotted Throughout Climate March in New York City Demanding ‘Revolution, Nothing Less’
Tens-of-thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of New York City Sunday to demand political leaders take action on climate change.
While the protest remained peaceful, much of the “People’s Climate March” appeared to be made up of fringe elements of the political left.
Dozens of signs denouncing capitalism were spotted at the demonstration, often held by self-proclaimed socialists.
“Capitalism is destroying the planet,” a sticker on one woman’s shirt read, “We need revolution, nothing less.”
In one instance, activists shouted “f**k the police,” demanding justice for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The AP report by Verena Dobnik and Michael Sisak referred to none of these, but was responsible for Darcy's relayed claim of "tens of thousands of marchers." (By contrast, crowd references in coverage of the annual March For Life in Washington, where well over 100,000 are present annually, have routinely only referred to "thousands.")
Here are several paragraphs from the AP pair's coverage, which gave the impression that the event was almost carnival-like:
GLOBAL MARCHES DRAW ATTENTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Tens of thousands of activists walked through Manhattan on Sunday, warning that climate change is destroying the Earth - in stride with demonstrators around the world who urged policymakers to take quick action.
Starting along Central Park West, most came on foot, others with bicycles and walkers, and some even in wheelchairs. Many wore costumes and marched to drumbeats. One woman played the accordion.
... Organizers said more than 100,000 marched in New York, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly. They were joined in midtown Manhattan by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Vice President Al Gore and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
On Tuesday, more than 120 world leaders will convene for the United Nations Climate Summit aimed at galvanizing political will for a new global climate treaty by the end of 2015.
"My sense is the energy you see on the streets, the numbers that have amassed here and in other cities around the world, show that something bigger is going on, and this U.N. summit will be one of the ones where we look back and say it was a difference maker," de Blasio said.
Ban agreed.
"Climate change is a defining issue of our time and there is no time to lose," he said.
Don't hold your breath waiting for anyone to ask Gore, De Blasio or Ban Ki-moon to denounce the socialists and revolutionaries in their midst, something the press routinely does to prominent Republicans and conservatives when they are involved with meetings and demonstrations.
Ban Ki-moon joins Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and so many others on the left as clearly placing "climate change" — the science of which "is not settled," as Steven E. Koonin, described as "undersecretary for science in the Energy Department during President Barack Obama's first term," clearly stated in a Saturday Wall Street Journal op-ed — as the world's number one priority. That makes it more important to them than containing global terrorism.
Though it was far longer than the AP pair's report, Lisa Foderaro's Sunday New York Times story, which will appear on the front page of Monday's print edition, still managed to avoid any reference to the march's significant socialist and fringe-left contingents. "Concerned ordinary people" gathered:
Taking a Call for Climate Change to the Streets
Legions of demonstrators frustrated by international inaction on global warming descended on New York City on Sunday, marching through the heart of Manhattan with a message of alarm for world leaders set to gather this week at the United Nations for a summit meeting on climate change.
Coursing through Midtown, from Columbus Circle to Times Square and the Far West Side, the People’s Climate March was a spectacle even for a city known for doing things big, and it was joined, in solidarity, by demonstrations on Sunday across the globe, from Paris to Papua New Guinea.
“I’m here because I really feel that every major social movement in this country has come when people get together,” said Carol Sutton of Norwalk, Conn., the president of a teachers’ union. “It begins in the streets.”
From the scientists holding an oversize chalkboard to the Hurricane Sandy victims toting life preservers, the march was a self-consciously inclusive affair, with the organizers intent on creating a very big tent, which they hoped would hammer home the relevance of climate change and its effects.
The march attracted leading lights in the environmental movement, most notably former Vice President Al Gore. It drew the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, who will preside over this week’s United Nations climate summit meeting. And it included Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, fresh off his announcement that he was committing the city to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
But it was mostly an event for concerned ordinary people ...
Sure it was, Lisa:
The absurdity of people calling for the end of the system that has made the availability of virtually everything they touch and experience on a daily basis possible — including the cellphones and tablets they were doubtlessly using in abundance — never ceases to amaze. How do these people believe these items came about?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
