Charles Cooke’s deadpan sarcasm captures the debate over Arizona’s S.B. 1062 perfectly.
Thanks to widespread journalistic deceit, leftist lies and carefully loaded phrasing, the “debate” was consumed by dishonesty, ignorance and misrepresentations of proposed changes to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. “Jim Crow” and “anti-gay” were the phrases of the week on many news programs.
Regardless how you felt about #SB1062, we should have never known how the media felt about it – Yet from @AP to @MSNBC, we knew exactly
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) February 27, 2014
Indeed.
According to many headlines, anti-gay Gov. Jan Brewer was considering anti-gay legislation by anti-gay politicians plotting nefarious anti-gay anti-gayness. Some of the headlines after Brewer vetoed the bill:
Intentionally deceitful headlines like these would be an embarrassment if their authors had any shame. pic.twitter.com/qhtmqkd72e
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 27, 2014
@seanmdav fortunately, considering their employer, "shame" isn't a prerequisite for a job
— Ben Hardee (@BenHardee) February 27, 2014
MORE: Arizona Gov. Brewer vetos controversial legislation seen as anti-gay http://t.co/sncgFAagqD
— TIME.com (@TIME) February 27, 2014
Details: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoes controversial anti-gay legislation http://t.co/4wxRtf3ojU #SB1062
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) February 27, 2014
Gov. Jan Brewer on anti-gay legislation: I believe the bill has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve.
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 27, 2014
Arizona Gov. in No Hurry to Decide on Anti-Gay Bill http://t.co/w0dBGQrJp1
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 22, 2014
From @NBCNews: Gov. Brewer to announce at 7:45 ET/5:45 MT likely veto of #SB1062: http://t.co/rbPuMnOkYN
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 26, 2014
McCain praises Brewer veto of anti-gay bill: "I hope that we can now move on from this controversy" http://t.co/TXktuuHPkm
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) February 27, 2014
And by the way, while cases involving religious freedom and same-sex marriage were certainly on the minds of those who drafted S.B. 1062, the word “gay” didn’t appear in the bill.
Fun Fact: No! RT @stephenkruiser: Did the word "gay" even appear in the text of SB1062? Asking for CNN.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 27, 2014
Not that you’d know that from our oh-so-esteemed media. And funny, this didn’t get much headline love:
Law profs at top schools (Harvard, Stanford, etc.): AZ religious freedom bill has been "egregiously misrepresented" http://t.co/LVd3UB9Ii6
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) February 26, 2014
https://twitter.com/AndrewCQuinn/status/439046264291065856
Jedediah Bila shares another discussion of whether the bill would have codified a “new license to discriminate.”
The best, most accurate read I've seen on SB 1062, and I've read a lot: http://t.co/M6V0Alrwmf (h/t @willcain)
— Jedediah Bila (@JedediahBila) February 27, 2014
National Review editor Rich Lowry also tackled the misinformation about the bill in this Politico Magazine piece.
"The bill was the subject of a truly awe-inspiring tsunami of poorly informed indignation." – NRO's @RichLowry http://t.co/wQBgjRvz7o
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) February 27, 2014
There are many Americans who support religious protections and worried the Arizona bill was poorly-designed. Was the bill too broad? Too vague? Was it likely to have unintended consequences? What would constitute a “substantial burden” on the free exercise of religion?
Those would be reasonable questions in a fair, informed debate. But instead, thousands of column inches were devoted to demonizing Americans concerned about religious freedom as “anti-gay” bigots. A mob composed of ignorant parrots and willfully deceitful tools skewed the debate, aided by media malfeasance.
Whatever flaws might have existed in the bill, all most Americans heard was “it’s bad because shut up, homophobe.”
What % –in real, uncovered by media– of RFRA cases deal with gay stuff. According to media right now, it's 100%. I bet it's closer to 1%.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 27, 2014
So when you call a RFRA bill an anti-gay bill, whatever you're doing is not journalism. Not that anyone cares.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 27, 2014
Religious Freedom Restoration Acts rarely deal with gay anything. What percentage of "news" stories right now are using phrase "anti-gay"?
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 27, 2014
Only media outlet I've seen to not erroneously call this bill anti-gay is WSJ. Any others? Everyone else is, um, crapping the bed on this.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 27, 2014
Headlines make a difference. pic.twitter.com/7gEOyigXte
— Chris (@forewit) February 27, 2014
Headlines and narratives do make a difference. And the media know that all too well.
How many of these MORONS even read #SB1062 ? Instead Media perception becomes reality. #Clueless
— Bobbi Smith (@palmaceiahome1) February 27, 2014
Astonishing malfeasance on part of the presstitutes in the media referring to AZ law as an anti-gay law. A Disgrace. @USATODAY
— Doc Jerzy (@Headlines4You) February 27, 2014
