David V. Matthews – 8/25/10

This page was last updated on August 28, 2010.

Media are to blame for cluelessness; David V. Matthews; Beaver County Times; August 25, 2010.

For background, in previous letters Mr. Matthews told us there’s no liberal media bias, President Bush committed treason, he’s positive creation played no role in our evolution, President Bush plans to nuke Iran this year (2006), “Centrism is Bushism,” the Bush administration may be “conducting warrantless surveillance upon” us, the Bush administration is “warlike and imperialist,” and President Bush “finds the war he started amusing.” Mr. Matthews also gave us a lesson in creative reading, refers to employers as “rich overlords,” and told us to “Use taxes to give peace a chance.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Thursday’s editorial, ‘A bad sign,’ bemoaned what it called the electorate’s ‘cluelessness’ by citing ‘an Aug. 4 CNN poll that found only 42 percent of Americans are now sure that President Barack Obama was born in the United States,’ down from 77 percent in July 2009.

“Who has spread misinformation (or disinformation) about Obama’s birth? How well have the news media combated these erroneous facts? The editorial does not blame anyone for the electorate’s cluelessness other than the electorate itself.

“The next day, The Times printed an Associated Press article headlined ‘Obama a Muslim? 1 in 5 say: ‘Yes, he is.’’ According to a poll released the day of the above editorial, more people wrongly believe he is a Muslim than they did in March of last year.

“Unlike the editorial, however, the AP article named some people who ‘have helped keep rumors about Obama’s religion and birth alive:’ Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs. These three men have spread cluelessness, in other words.

“If the news media identified (and disparaged) the sources of xenophobic, anti-Muslim lies about Obama, the electorate’s cluelessness might decrease.”

[RWC] It’s too bad Mr. Matthews didn’t take a couple of minutes to do a little research. As reported in my critique of “Fear and hatred,” only about one percent of those who said they believed Mr. Obama to be Muslim got that idea from talk radio. Then again, perhaps Mr. Matthews does know. Besides, does Mr. Matthews believe there’s something wrong with being a Muslim?