“YOU DOMINATE THIS CULTURE. YOU MADE THE RULES. YOU NOW GET TO LIVE IN THE SAVAGE WORLD YOU MADE BRICK-BY-BRICK, MEDIA:” Ace of Spades on media pants-wetting over being yelled at by angry citizens, in a series of tweets collected at Storify.
Back in 1992, at least one Washington Post employee admitted on C-Span she wore a button at that year’s Republican convention that read, “Yeah, I’m in the Media — Screw You.” Today, as Ace tweeted to CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Jake, have you noticed the media destroys average citizens just because their SJW blogs spotlight them?” In the age of Twitter and other social media app, the media all-too-frequently runs stories knowing full-well (and secretly loving) that it will likely fuel a social media frenzy that can wreak havoc on an average citizen’s life because he or she dared to commit doubleplus ungood crimethink. And vice versa: Internet shamings become greatly amplified when they’re picked up and reinforced by old media.
See also: Joe the Plumber, Ken Bone, Justine Sacco, the dentist who legally shot a lion, assorted Christian bakers and pizzeria owners, Elizabeth Lauten, and numerous police officers over the last eight years.
To borrow a warning from Mr. Obama shortly after assuming office to a fellow Democrat who was hesitant to toe the party line, “Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother.” Or as Ace tweets, “The media loves to ride the the tiger of Mob Hatred when that tiger is devouring a plebeian. Well, sometimes the tiger bucks, old chaps.”
Related: Rolling Stone found liable in $7.5M defamation lawsuit.