Liberal News Bias

Luke Goodman
4 min readDec 8, 2021
Photo by Gerd Altmann, via Pixabay

While there is no limit it seems, to the extreme misinformation coming out from the political right these days, it's only fair to acknowledge that the left often has its bias too. Granted, bias is not necessarily the same thing as a lie, but it should be called out just the same.

Just in the last week or so I've noted several trending headlines that show problematic exaggerations. Here are some of them:

First, this story at the Daily Kos, about comments made by Rep Madison Cawthorn during a House floor speech. This pro-Trump congressman gave an anti-abortion speech comparing abortion to tearing up a Polaroid picture before it could be developed. And then stated the fetus was essentially "eternal souls woven into earth vessels".

Suddenly a flurry of Twitter users began claiming Cawthorn had compared American women to clay pots. Having gone back and read his actual speech, this is clearly mistaken. There's no question in my mind, he was quoting from II Corinthians 4:7, and that he was simply saying the child's body, was an earthen vessel, being formed to house its "eternal soul".

Never mind the theological issues here, where biblically the spirit is linked with the "breath" of life, and that God only has immortality. But to claim he was insulting women by comparing them to dirt jars is unjustified. You may not agree with his position, but let's not so obviously distort what he said. (You can read more here).

The second incident, is a story that came out in The Hill entitled "Neil Gorsuch's Terrifying Paragraph". Apparently, Gorsuch (along with Alito and Thomas) dissented on a decision that allowed Maine to continue refusing religious exemptions for covid vaccine requirements among health care workers.

According to Gorsuch, "stemming the spread of Covid-19" continues to qualify as "a compelling interest" (which justifies not requiring Maine to provide a religious exemption). But, he continues, "I would acknowledge that this interest cannot qualify as such forever". He then mentioned broader access to vaccines, and better treatment options, today. And then concluded by noting "civil liberties face grave risks when governments proclaim indefinite states of emergency".

Personally, I'm not so sure what is so terrifying about that statement. As a Christian, I hold a high view of the importance of religious liberty--while also respecting the right of government to pass laws that protect public health. It seems to me, Gorsuch is simply arguing some tension exists between these two--and that we must navigate that tension carefully. As a libertarian, I agree: that fine line is tricky.

The author of the editorial implied a kind of cruelty on the part of Gorsuch to think 1000 deaths per day is not significant enough to merit government intervention. But I don't read his statement that way at all. Rather, he's simply arguing some measure of weight should be given to religious liberty to counterbalance mandates that are to some quite oppressive. And practically speaking, he's right. We'll ultimately have to make some kind of assessment, at some point, as to what kinds of continuing losses are tolerable for there to be any kind of return to normalcy.

Yes, your religious freedom to refuse a vaccine needs to be balanced with my freedom to not be infected by you. But the fact Gorsuch postulates a balance must exist is thoughtful, not terrifying.

And last but not least, this story at the Daily Beast, about the decision by Florida's governor to try and launch (revive) a state military unit, answerable directly to him. A unit that President Biden would not be able to "take over" like those units in the Florida National Guard.

The article called it "Ron's army" and promised to tell the "disgusting reality" behind this new military unit. I'm certainly no fan of DeSantis and the thought of him having his own personal militia is disturbing to me--but the article utterly fails to prove any malicious intent.

The reality is, it is only going to consist of about 200 soldiers (compared with 12000 in Florida's national guard). Furthermore, its stated purpose is to serve as a "civilian volunteer force that will have the ability to assist the national guard in state-specific emergencies". It's also worth noting that nearly half the states in the USA have "state guards", including democratic leaning states like New York. In New York, they were actually activated to assist with covid mitigation efforts!

Granted, DeSantis may have nefarious purposes, and I'm skittish about the possibility of these "troups" being used for "crowd control" at left-leaning protest rallies. But nothing in the article gave evidence something along these lines is in the works--other than documenting some distant history of a "state-before-nation" sentiment in Florida. Like the other pieces above, it struck me more as a disenginuous hit piece. It was more clickbait, than substance.

My point in highlighting these articles is this: we don't have to agree with the views of those on the right in terms of abortion, vaccine mandates, or even state militias--but we should hold ourselves to a higher standard in our reporting and editorials. Stoking up your partisan readers with these kinds of stories is little different from media on the right doing the same to their readers. And it does nothing to strengthen your credibility, or help you retain the loyalty of thoughtful readers.

Integrity seems largely gone from the Republican party. If the left decides to follow down that same path, what hope is there for America?

The Bible encourages us to not compromise our convictions, just because others are compromising theirs. To quote Psalms 41:12, "as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever". We can focus on speaking truth, and leave our ultimate fate in God's hands.

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Luke Goodman
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I’m pastor Luke Goodman. This blog documents the endtime unraveling of Christianity predicted in the Bible. This blog represents no one’s view but my own…