MSNBC Anchor, Karen Finney, Refuses To Acknowledge Objective Reality

NOTE:  All posts in the “PC Water Torture” series are meant to illustrate the arguments presented in one of The OYL’s primary secondary topic series.  The “PC Water Torture” posts are intended to provide a constant drip of posts about related stories that – when taken individually – may not appear to indicate an agenda, but when taken collectively, over time, form a clear picture of an agenda.  It is hoped that, over time, the constant ‘dripping’ of these stories will make the point – much the same way the constant dripping in the proverbial Chinese water torture is intended to break the victims will to resist.  In this case, this post illustrates how the media deliberately uses a modern day form of McCarthyism against its political opponents by claiming they are modern day McCarthy’s.

Aside from the usual historic revisionism, one of the ways the media tries to protect its narrative is by refusing to acknowledge objective fact.  This is usually easy to spot.  If you are watching a supposed news piece or listening to a journalist in an interview where they are asked a direct question that they refuse to answer, or try to reframe then answer, the chances are you are watching a refusal to acknowledge an objective fact.  If the proof of this fact is presented to try and force an acknowledgment, the journalist will most often respond by denying the fact and the evidence that proves it.  It essence, these people play a child’s game of sticking their fingers in their ears, squeezing their eyes shut and screaming “I can’t hear you!”  What’s more, they do this until rational people realize they are dealing with a child in an adult’s body and give up.  Then the journalist puts on their happy face and starts pretending like they made their point and won the argument.  Any time you see this dance, you need to understand you are watching a person who has lost touch with the real world.  Here’s a perfect example:

Flustered MSNBC Anchor Hangs Up on Conservative Radio Host in the Middle of Explosive Debate: ‘I’m Not Doing This Game with You!’

Hewitt began the interview with a clip from Finney’s weekend MSNBC show in which she compared Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to Joe McCarthy in their shared “paranoia” and “fear-stoking” behavior. Things just got more and more tense from there.

Hewitt then pressed Finney on whether she believed there was any actual communist infiltration of the government during the McCarthy-era.

After being extremely evasive, Finney finally said: “No, there weren’t communists that infiltrated our government. That’s like Michele Bachmann accusing my friend Huma Abedin of being Muslim Brotherhood…”

Finney eventually hangs up on the call because she didn’t know how to deal with someone who was willing to confront her on the facts of her own claim.  Her problem is made all the more difficult for her because she is making a claim that is known to be false.  McCarthy may have been a despicable person, but he was right!  Time has revealed that there were Communist infiltrators in our government, and many of the people he named proved to be among them.

Most-hated senator was right

Scholars: Joseph McCarthy’s charges ‘now accepted as fact’

WASHINGTON — Although Joseph McCarthy was one of the most demonized American politicians of the last century, new information — including half-century-old FBI recordings of Soviet embassy conversations — are showing that McCarthy was right in nearly all his accusations.

Now, if you are a ‘journalist,’ aren’t you supposed to be concerned with the facts and not protecting your narrative?  And shouldn’t a ‘journalist’ have known the facts before she made a statement that a simple search of the Internet would have proven to be false?  So what are we to make of a ‘journalist’ who knowingly and willingly promotes a lie to further her attack on political opponents such as the TEA Party and other conservative groups?  In fact, isn’t she doing exactly what she claimed McCarthy did?  And doesn’t that mean she is actually accusing herself?  And doesn’t all of this mean she is not a ‘journalist,’ but a propagandist?  What this woman is actually trying to do is attack and discredit political opponents such as the TEA Party by calling them modern day McCarthy’s.  In so doing, she is actually practicing what McCarthy was accused of doing only — in her case — she cannot claim to be telling the truth like McCarthy could.

Turning our attention to the interview in the story, notice how the person interviewing this ‘journalist’ kept to his question and did not allow her to deflect or reframe it.  He was polite but persistent.  He stayed on point and pressed her for a simple yes or no answer to a question about something she said.  Now, I can’t be sure, but I would suspect that the interviewer was well aware of the information I just presented which proves that McCarthy was right.  And I am equally as certain that he would have presented it had Finney given him the chance.  But what did she do when she was caught in her lie and held to the topic at hand?  She cut and run – because she knew she was caught in the lie and had no defense against it. 

So, here’s the lesson we should take away from all of this: make sure you know your facts and can support them, then, when confronted with someone you know is lying, confront them.  Stay calm, be polite, but stay on point.  Force them to answer the question you ask.  If possible, phrase it in a way that only requires a yes or no answer and simply refuse to advance the conversation until they answer yes or no.  If they refuse to answer, don’t taunt them: stay on point, stay calm, stay polite and just keep asking the question.   Once they realize they are going to be forced to confront someone who has the facts and commands the Truth, they will cut and run.  When they do, they will discredit themselves without any further effort from you.

NOTE:  For more information on McCarthy, I suggest you consider giving this book a read. 

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies