{"id":531,"date":"2011-02-07T17:30:28","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T22:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=531"},"modified":"2011-02-07T17:30:28","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T22:30:28","slug":"self-centered-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/self-centered-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Centered Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an otherwise good article at Politico on How President Obama plays media like a fiddle<\/a> authors John Harris and Jim Vandehei attempt to refute the notion that \u201cthe vast majority of reporters at mainstream news organization are liberals.\u201d After creating a straw man of the conservative belief, they go on to claim that instead being liberal, \u201cthe majority of political writers might more accurately be accused of centrist bias.\u201d To their great credit, Harris and Vandehei go on to define what they mean by centrist saying that,<\/p>\n

the majority of political writers\u2026 believe broadly in government activism, but are instinctually skeptical of anything that smacks of ideological zealotry and are quick to see the public interest as being distorted by excessive partisanship.\u00a0 Governance, in the Washington media\u2019s ideal, should be a tidier and more rational process than it is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have no doubt that this is what they really believe; yet it is a very revealing definition.\u00a0 Let\u2019s start with the last part, that governance should be tidier and more rational.\u00a0 While no doubt true, how relevant is it?\u00a0 Is there anyone who believes that it should be messier and less rational?\u00a0 Yet the authors include this in their definition as if it somehow distinguishes them from those on the left and the right; as if only centrists want tidier and more rational government.<\/p>\n

This is a great example of self-centered bias; a bias that views and judges everything through the self. They believe that they look at things objectively, rationally, and therefore, since others disagree, those others must not be looking at things as objectively or as rationally.<\/p>\n

Much the same can be said about their middle claim of being skeptical of \u201cideological zealotry\u201d and how this hurts the public interest.\u00a0 Again there is a self-centered bias here.\u00a0 What they want is in the public interest, so those who disagree must be pushing ideology.\u00a0 As a conservative, I have no doubt that Harris and Vandehei would classify much of what I write as ideological zealotry.\u00a0 But what makes what I believe, or for that matter, what a counterpart on the left believes, ideological zealotry, yet what political writers believe in the public interest and somehow not ideological zealotry?<\/p>\n

Granted that excessive partisanship, i.e., putting the interest of one\u2019s party ahead of the public interest can be a problem, but I believe it is vastly overrated.\u00a0 Conservatives oppose Obama, not because he is a Democratic, but because they disagree with his policies.\u00a0 Even when party concern is apparent, they are often backed up by more long term concerns.\u00a0 Thus while some on the far left are unhappy with some of Obama\u2019s policies, they still support him, not because he is a Democrat, but because they believe the policies pushed by a Republican president would be worse.\u00a0 Again it is not ideological zealotry or partisanship, for most people it is simply who, given the limited choices, will come closest to what they want.\u00a0 This is the same, left, right and center.\u00a0 Yet Harris and Vandehei see the views of political writers as being somehow different and better.<\/p>\n

This brings us to their first and most revealing statement; that political writers, \u201cbelieve broadly in government activism.\u201d One of the key distinguishing differences between liberals and conservatives is over the role of government.\u00a0 Conservatives for a number of reasons push for limited government, and seek solution in a market place governed by choice and competition.\u00a0 Liberals, for a number of reasons, push to control the market place and seek solutions in government.\u00a0 As such, Harris\u2019 and Vandehei\u2019s claim that \u201cthe majority of political writers\u2026 believe broadly in government activism\u201d would place them solidly on the liberal side of the spectrum.<\/p>\n

So how can they label this centrist?\u00a0 Because a self-centered bias would naturally place one in the center, being neither left nor right, but looking objectively at the evidence; as if those on the left and the right somehow do not seek to look objectively at the evidence.\u00a0 This self-centered bias is reinforced by the size of the political spectrum and the number of people in the United States.\u00a0 Except possibly for the most extreme of the extremes, those on the left can find plenty of people who are further left than they are, and those on the right can find those further right.\u00a0 So to some extent virtually everyone has some claim to being \u201cin the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we look at the current political make up, the Democratic Party is generally on the left and the party of Government activism, while the Republican Party is generally on the right and is the party of limited government.\u00a0 So if Harris and Vandehei are correct, and \u201cthe majority of political writers\u2026 believe broadly in government activism\u201d is it really any surprise that conservatives see the major Media as tilted toward the Democratic Party; especially given that they label this as centrist?\u00a0 Yet Harris and Vandehei wrote this to refute claims of a liberal bias.<\/p>\n

So Obama may be playing them like a fiddle, but the simple fact is that they are more than ready to be played, and will remain so at least until they open their eyes to their own bias.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an otherwise good article at Politico on How President Obama plays media like a fiddle authors John Harris and Jim Vandehei attempt to refute the notion that \u201cthe vast majority of reporters at mainstream news organization are liberals.\u201d After creating a straw man of the conservative belief, they go on to claim that instead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,25],"tags":[166,242,1994,400,656,720,733,2006,843,845,934,1011,1100,1165],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberal","category-major-media","tag-bias","tag-centrist","tag-conservative","tag-democratic","tag-ideological-zealotry","tag-jim-vandehei","tag-john-harris","tag-liberal","tag-media","tag-media-bias","tag-obama","tag-politico","tag-republican","tag-self-centered-bias"],"yoast_head":"\nSelf-Centered Bias - 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