Dappling In the Dangers of the Right Wing News
From the beginning of this process, I didn’t have the slightest idea how to stumble upon platforms that were filled with right-wing news and perspectives. My Google searches included “conservative news”, “right-wing platforms”, “sources opposite to my political views”; the last one proving to be wildly unsuccessful. After minutes of searching I was able to click on a website called Liberty Nation, that kindly graced me with the most informative article I could find on the topic:
After making my way to this wondrous list, the simple titles of these news sources resulted in several chuckles. Complete with Newsbusters.com that “exposes and combats liberal media bias” the list went on and on. Finally, I decided to make my way to a few different platforms in order to maximize my reading experiment.
My first victim (and therefore the focus of this piece) was Breitbart.com which, according to the writers at Liberty Nation, is the #1 news source of 2020. Upon my arrival on the website I was bombarded with an advertisement for a ‘MAGA Claw’, a Trump-like take on the infamous White Claw cooler that has been taking every university campus by storm. The ad, decorated with Trump paraphernalia, gave me every indication of what I was going to be in for.
After my encounter with the MAGA ad, I was taken to the main page where majority of the stories featured Trump in a positive light and any politicians from the developing world (China, Turkey and Venezuela) in a negative light. I proceeded to dive into my first article reading and was astounded at how firmly people can believe in something.
The article, written by Ann Coulter, claimed that the public would be ridiculous for not asking about crime, immigration and the “endless riots” during the vice presidential debate; their focus would be on white supremacy just as they did with Trump. From this first paragraph it was clear that this was written by someone with conservative (and possibly racist) views. The following section of her piece did not sit right with me whatsoever.
This declaration was followed by the repeated idea that BLM peaceful protests are quite the opposite and that the media targets Donald Trump as the inevitable leader of white supremacists. Her writing creates a pathetic fallacy for the President and gave me more insight to the kind of manipulation these news sources perform. As a faithful supporter of the Black Lives Matter Movement and as a person of colour myself, reading this writer’s hostile ideas and feelings about the movement rippled anger through my body. She went on to criticize the manner in which protesters chose to express themselves with an air of ridicule and an attitude that lacked sympathy for others. The writer seemed to be someone who could never understand what it would feel like to be the social minority in the United States and one who could never bother to understand. She perfectly encompassed the majority of right-wing Trump supporting conservatives who live in a world that is molded to their needs and desires. How could anyone want to change that?
Needless to say I did not spend more time than necessary on this platform as it was starting to hurt my brain and my spirit. I do believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and while I am so set in my liberal left-wing ways, I should be able to understand that there are others on the opposite side. I am aware that I should respect everyone’s views and beliefs but I do not need to force myself to read about them. Although it was annoying to undergo this experiment, it was enlightening to step into someone else’s shoes and take a look at their side of the story! That doesn’t mean I will ever do it again.
