Dear Friends,
It seems to me… those in the unbiased media should take heed of the old story about the frog and the scorpion. To forget this old adage will result in the painful death of the unbiased press and the drowning of their passenger… If you don’t remember the story I’ll retell it here.
There once was a scorpion who wanted to cross a pond. He couldn’t swim so he asked a passing frog for a ride across. The frog responded, “I cannot take you, you are a scorpion and will sting me.” The scorpion replied, “I cannot swim so if I do, I will drown, so you see, you can safely carry me across and I will be in your debt.” The frog considered this for a bit and thought, “It would be nice to have such a powerful friend.” So the frog accepted the job. The scorpion jumped on the frog’s back and they headed off across the pond. A wave came. This alarmed the scorpion so it stung the frog. In pain and despair the frog turned to the scorpion and said, “Now we are both doomed! Why did you sting me?” The scorpion said, “I am a scorpion it is my nature.”
To parse this story, the unbiased media is the frog, the scorpion is any political leader who seeks arbitrary power, the pond is public opinion and the other side is absolute power. The unbiased media carry the political leader across the water of public opinion so the political leader can have absolute power. The media figure that if they help this leader they will enjoy the favor of a person with arbitrary power. All they have to do is carry that politician over the barrier of public opinion for that political favor. Inevitably the tide of public opinion will create waves that alarm the potential tyrant. The politician will then sting the media with the power he or she has amassed, drowning him or herself in the depths of public opinion, and poisoning the media forever.
We see this daily by those that claim the mantle of unbiased arbiters of information. CBS fabricated documents out of thin air, then reported them as fact, only days before a close election. This is an example of the unbiased media carrying a scorpion across the tide of public opinion. In the case of CBS, it was a blogger who pointed out that the font that CBS used in their fictional account, was not even invented when the document was supposedly created. The journey was stopped before it began.
This same paradox was played out when Newt Gingrich balanced the US budget for the first time in generations. His efforts were roundly criticized by the unbiased media and attacked by Bill Clinton. CNN called Gingrich’s “Contract With America,” the Contract ON America! When the republicans had done the heavy lifting, limiting spending and actually balanced the budget, Bill Clinton got the credit and Newt Gingrich was charged with a crime. (Teaching a conservative biased class in college). The unbiased press to this day only mention Clinton when talking about the balanced budget and omit any reference to Gingrich.
Today the unbiased media continue this folly by misrepresenting the sequester debate. In doing so they carry Obama over the waters of public opinion. Universally among the unbiased press, they claim the cuts will be draconian, and will result in chaos. They tell the story Obama wants told, dutifully blaming republicans for any negative outcomes, while crediting Obama with any positive results. The unbiased media never call Obama out even when his rhetoric is obviously fallacious. Like when Obama claimed that police, firefighters and teachers will be laid off due to the “drastic cuts,” when these public employees are locally paid and not funded by the federal government. The unbiased press go along like lap dogs, as Obama claims he had nothing to do with the sequester, even though it was Obama’s idea. The unbiased media even follow the party line that the sequester is a cut, when in fact, the government will spend 15 billion dollars MORE this year than last! They eschew facts and the truth to carry the politician who openly seeks arbitrary power across the pond of public opinion.
On the surface it would seem that the frog has been ferrying the politician who seeks arbitrary power without worry or fear. This is an illusion however, because the scorpion hasn’t reached the middle of the pond, where waves are the most alarming. As the unbiased media bring Obama ever closer to the shore of absolute power the waves of public opinion will inevitably grow higher. The ego of Obama will grow and eventually he will turn on the very people who made it possible. Just as Stalin, Hitler and every other politician who sought arbitrary power has done. Those in the unbiased media will be arrested and purged for whatever slight the dear leader finds offensive.
The reason this is so is the nature of arbitrary power. Those that seek it are scorpions in the truest sense of the word. The closer they get to the other shore, the more impatient they get, and the more fearful of coming short of their goal they become. It is at that time they are most dangerous. Some wave will alarm Obama and the unbiased media will feel the poison of censorship fill their veins. The would be tyrant should take heed as well. His very nature will undermine his goal. Once his nature does come out, and he stings the foolish unbiased press, he will drown in the tide of public opinion, washing up on the shores of history as flotsam, along with other failed socialist dictators, like Pol Pot. People are loathe to remember history… and another frog will fall victim to another scorpion. It is the nature of frogs.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
