Poisoning The Legacy Of A Physician

by Dick Mac

Most mainstream media promote a conservative agenda that is so far to the right that famous Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon would have likely distanced themselves from the embarrassment that is American media.

The way the right-wing protects the mainstream media from criticism is by referring to it as the "liberal" media; but, short of The Nation and Mother Jones, there is hardly a liberal media outlet available in the United States.

The brilliance of this is that the mainstream media continually refers to itself disparagingly as "liberal" so it becomes fact.

In reality, mainstream media continue a persistent and effective attack on all things modern, intellectual, liberal, and progressive in the American mind.

Most recently, a murderer took the life of a physician while he was serving his community as an usher in church. The victim, Dr. George Tiller, had been shot in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. This past weekend's assault ended his life. Dr. Tiller was an obstetrician who provided abortion services.

The mainstream media have found perfectly negative terms in which to denigrate Dr. Tiller, knowing that the words they put to him are the words that American will remember.

Associated Press, via Yahoo!, referred to him as "abortion doc" in this article: Kan. abortion doc killed in church; suspect held.

The Los Angeles Time referred to him as "Abortion doctor" and a "late-term abortion provider" in this article: Abortion doctor George Tiller is killed; suspect in custody.

ABC News referred to him as an "Abortion doctor" in this article: Abortion doctor shot dead at Kansas church

Reducing a physician's life to that of an "abortion provider," knowing full well that it would taint public opinion against the doctor's memory and minimize the crime of his murderer, as if Dr. Tiller somehow deserved to die, is a consistent and persistent trick of the mainstream media.

They have to stop. They have to be told to stop. If you don't write to your newspaper or other news outlet to tell them that this sort of reporting is offensive, they believe you accept it.

Speak-up, speak-out.

God bless Dr. Tiller. May he rest in peace.