Partisanship again on full display
Joe Biden is the greatest president in the history of mankind.
No, that’s not what last week’s editorial said. But judging by the hysterical comments on our Facebook page regarding said editorial, you would have thought that’s what we said. No, if you recall, last week’s editorial spent about 450 of the 500 words talking about how we should rally around President Trump and try to come together for the good of the country.
Judging by the tone of the comments, we suspect that part of the editorial was fine and dandy with the commenters. It was the other 53 words or so that really set them off. You see, we dared to thank President Biden for his service, and listed a few of his accomplishments. Apparently, we aren’t allowed to do that.
Forget that prior to that we wrote about how he should have never sought reelection and listed off several of his gaffes. Nope, we complimented him, and that just doesn’t fly in these parts, we were told. We can’t wish him well—we have to call him derogatory names and try to throw him off a building. Well, we have never and will never do that. Sorry.
We believe there were positives as well, including Biden’s support for Ukraine and Israel, expanding how many more Americans could afford health care, and improvement in the economy post-Covid, although the battle against inflation was a losing one, as while it has slowed, it has yet to be fully gotten under control.
The above italicized passage is the extent of the praise offered to President Biden. But that was too much. While a few messages praised the even-temperament of the article, there was also messages like this: “Haha. This propaganda piece is an example of why small newspapers are dying. This is how you lose half (or more in SD) of your audience.” Another claimed us to be liberal rag. How original.
We lose half our audience by dedicating 53 words to thanking a former President of the United States for his service? Is this really where we are in this country? That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Sadly, the answer is yes.
We have said this before in this space, but apparently it needs repeating. We will never, and we mean never, carry the water for either political party. Ever. Period. End of story. We are an equal-opportunity praiser/criticizer.
If it’s the biased type of news you crave, there are plenty of news outlets—both print and television—that you can watch and/or read that will allow your echo chamber to go unbothered. If you want to read a newspaper that goes after both sides of the aisle when we feel it’s appropriate, you have come to the right place.
That’s the way it is. That’s the way it is going to be. We know Facebook comment sections aren’t the most rational places on earth, but the fact that even the faintest of praise given to Biden received such indignation was jarring.
We will not be bullied. Too much of the news is already woefully biased, and that’s not an avenue we are interested in driving down.