The usual suspects on the CNN and MSNBC claim no president has ever called on the National Guard or the Army to put down riots and revolts.
âUnprecedented,â said Larry OâDonnell on MNSBC.
âDictatorship,â declared CNNâs Don Lemon.
Once upon a time, people in journalism had good historical educations. Reporters of the past didnât necessarily study history in college. Most learned history by researching current stories. This is how most people learn most of what they know. Itâs similar to the scientific method: observe, form a hypothesis, research to see how this instance might relate to events in the past, report your findings.
Modern journalists, though, lack curiosity and humility. Don Lemon believes only in what he has seen and rejects the possibility that there are things he doesnât know.
Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, the man who invented behavioral economics, calls this cognitive bias âWhat You See Is All There Is,â or WYSIATI.
Don Lemon and Larry OâDonnell are extreme examples of WYSIATI. They donât remember the 1992 Rodney King riots, so those riots didnât happen. If someone attempts to remind these journalists of the incident, they will accuse the guest of racism and conspiracy theorizing.
Writer David Harsanyi provided a little history lesson to Messrs. Lemon and OâDonnell:
George H. W. Bush called the LA riots "anarchy" on day one, and by day three oked the activation of 10,000 Army National Guard troops. On day 4 he sent another 3,500 federal federal troops. Afterwards he called the riots "purely criminal."
â David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) June 2, 2020
Iâll repeat the text since Twitter will likely remove this post. It doesnât conform to âofficialâ guidance.
George H. W. Bush called the LA riots âanarchyâ on day one, and by day three, okayed the activation of 10,000 Army National Guard troops. On day 4 he sent another 3,500 federal troops. Afterward, he called the riots âpurely criminal.â
Mr. Harsanyi went further, quoting then-President Barack Obamaâs statement on riots in Baltimore in 2015:
Twitter has censored this tweet
Obamaâs comments on the 2015 Baltimore riots: âPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned the âcriminals and thugs who tore upâ the city of Baltimore.â
To dig up this arcane piece of history, Harsanyi simply searched Google. Thatâs more work than Lemon and OâDonnell have done in a decade.
This enlightenment is lost on the new journalists, sadly. Leftists in general wallow in their ignorance. Ignorance to them is like a billboard on the side of the road that says, âWhatever you think, itâs right!â
Curiosity and learning require humility. But Don Lemon and Lawrence OâDonnell know theyâre right. They have nothing left to learn. What they see is all there is.