Brit Hume & The Case Of The Double Standard

When Fox News’s Brit Hume says that Tiger Woods might be best served by turning to the Christian faith instead of Buddhism, the fire storm erupted from the left.  How dare he?  Who does he think he is? He has no business.  Why is it that when someone invokes Christianity into a conversation, the loons go batty?   Well, clue number one, the man who started it all said it best when he told his followers that if they hate me, they’ll hate you.  By the way, those are the words of Jesus.  So it really should be no wonder that it goes on.

But when I read comments like that one at  TheHill.com , I really have to question the logic.  In the column, author Terence Kane quotes Ingrid Creppell, a political theorist who he says writes on what religious toleration means in a modern republic.  Apparently Creppel, who is a professor at George Washington University, argues that members of the media have a special responsibility to refrain from what Kane and Creppel call proselytizing: “of course the public sphere ought to tolerate a vigorous debate about the distinct merits or offerings of religious beliefs. The issue is not about what ought or ought not to be floating about in public discourse, but what this particular person’s perch enables him to do.”  King says that because Hume is a former news anchor, he should have thought twice before expressing his religious views with regards to Woods.

First of all, Humes comments were in the context of opinion and clearly stated as such and second of all there is clearly a double standard here.  News anchors, reporters and other “journalists” pepper their copy or comments with personal views, ideologies and beliefs all the time.  The difference is they don’t tell you ahead of time and try to mask what they interject as fact or “just part of the story”.

There is no danger at all in what Brit Hume did on Fox News Sunday, the real danger are those on the left who interject their personal opinion and ideology into a news story day in and day out and it’s so subtle, you never catch it.