What’s more embarrassing,
hateful, ignorant and racist than a “right-winger”? Not much, according to MTV.
The youth oriented network’s reality show “True Life” ran an episode called “I
hate the government [1]” last Friday which detailed the lives of three
“right-wingers.”
The episode description reads: “Amelia, Caleb and Andrew are three right-wingers who despise the very thing that holds our country together, the U.S. government.”
The evil conservatives include Andrew, a pro-life activist; Caleb, a teenage Tea-Party group leader; and Amelia, a militia leader.
From the very beginning of the show, MTV paints conservatives as ignorant, bigoted, and extreme. The narrator began by posing the question, “What would it be like, if you despised the very thing that’s supposed to hold our country together?” Heavens.
She went on to say: “Today on ‘True Life’, meet three young right-wingers, who distrust government so completely, they become obsessed with changing the system.”
Even leaving aside the creepy statist assumptions, there’s a lot wrong with this. Would MTV characterize a young gay activist as “obsessed?” A budding feminist? And all three kids wanted to change the system back to the more modest vision of the Founding Fathers, not initiate the “fundamental change” that the left applauds President Obama for hyping. And anyway, didn’t the left used to tell us that dissent is patriotic?
The narrator’s voiceovers weren’t the only bias in this show. MTV selectively edited its video to show the characters in the most unattractive ways. The militia organizer was introduced in camouflage, with her guns strapped on her, looking like she was at war; the teen was shown silent as a friend criticized the Tea Party as extremists; and Andrew, the avid pro-lifer was shown yelling threatening remarks at abortion supporters and getting arrested at a protest. Needless to say, such behavior would be courageous or proof of his commitment were he on the other side of the issue.
As The Blaze reported [2], the edited information on this show was produced without the participant’s consent and it wasn’t even current. Apparently, MTV started filming this episode three years ago. The teenage Tea-Party participant, Caleb, expressed his disappointment in how MTV gave a biased presentation of conservatives.
“In terms of selective editing, I am not too discontent with it since most of what I said was what I truly believed in. However, there were multiple times when I talked about how both sides need to work together, cut down the debt, and limit government spending regardless of party lines. I also stressed the importance of the youth getting involved through education and information, but they only put in my criticism about the Obama administration, making me seem very partisan.”]
But that’s no surprise. The media wants to portray conservatives as fringe members of society who stick to party lines at the expense of common sense, compassion, and compromise. It’s easy for MTV to set up a straw man and let their viewers knock it down.