Mainstream Media Turned a Blind Eye Toward Terrorist Attacks on Planned Parenthood

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Planned Parenthood buildings began to burn when deceptively edited abortion videos began to circulate, including a facility in Pullman, Washington. Hours after a lie-filled Republican hearing, another Planned Parenthood burned in Thousand Oaks, California, in what authorities have determined was an arson attack.

It turns out, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), that the Thousand Oaks arson was the fourth Planned Parenthood building targeted by right wing terrorists in a 74-day period, reporting on October 2:

Arson is behind a fire this week at a Planned Parenthood clinic in California – the fourth terroristic attack of its kind since the release of controversial videos in July by a group linked to anti-abortion extremists.

The firebombing of the clinic in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Wednesday came 28 days after an almost identical arson at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pullman, Wash., home of Washington State University.

In both cases, authorities say, rocks were used to smash out windows before a petroleum-based accelerant was thrown inside before ignition. Arson attacks also occurred on July 19 at a clinic in Aurora, Ill., and on Aug. 1 involving a vehicle parked at a clinic under construction in New Orleans.

[…]

The latest attack came the same week that Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, told a congressional hearing that the organization did not break the law.

“Planned Parenthood has been in the news recently because of deceptively edited videos released by a group that is dedicated to making abortion illegal in this country,” Richards told a House panel.

What is equally alarming is what Media Matters for America has to say about the willingness of the media to talk about these episodes of terrorism:

A Media Matters review found that cable news shows and leading newspapers around the country remained largely silent on arson attacks that targeted Planned Parenthood clinics following the release of a series of deceptively-edited, anti-choice videos smearing the health care provider. Prime-time cable news shows and the nation’s three highest-circulation newspapers dedicated minimal coverage to the arson attacks. The LA Times and Spokane’s Spokesman Review provided the most coverage of the attacks.

According to Media Matters:

Cable News All But Ignored Clinic Attacks, Even After Some Were Determined To Be Arson: Cable News All But Ignored The Attacks, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Aired The Only Segment On Planned Parenthood Arsons: On the September 8 edition of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow reported on the September 4 arson in Pullman, Washington, connecting it to the national debate over federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Maddow described the attack as “one of those news stories that doesn’t look like a national story at first glance, but it is,” alluding to the “anti-Planned Parenthood rhetoric out there right now ” amid the fight to defund the women’s health organization

National Print Media Remained Largely Silent On Attacks: The Washington Post covered the arson attacks only once, briefly mentioning CNN’s report on an attack on a clinic in Thousand Oaks, California during an October 2 daily news roundup; The New York Times reported on the arsons only once, briefly mentioning the New Orleans, Louisiana, attack in a September 1 article about the impact of the national push to defund Planned Parenthood in Louisiana.

Local Newspaper Editorials Connected Arsons To Debunked Claims Against Planned Parenthood By Anti-Choice Group: Los Angeles Times Editorial Explained That CA Clinic Arson Followed Claims Made In Manipulated Anti-Choice Videos; Spokesman Review Editorial Noted That Arson Attack “Raises The Fear That It Was Motivated” By CMP’s Deceptively-Edited Videos; New Orleans’ Times-Picayune Did Not Cover Local Clinic Fire.

Local Media Offered Scattered Coverage Of Attacks: Spokesman Review And LA Times Provided The Most Detailed Coverage: Spokane, Washington’s Spokesman Review Included The Most Coverage, Reporting On The Pullman, Washington Attacks In 5 Articles, Including One Editorial; The LA Times Covered Thousand Oaks, CA Arson Attacks In Three Detailed Articles, Including One Editorial; The Chicago Tribune Reported On The FBI Investigation Into The Aurora, Illinois Clinic Fire.

Fox News was quick to tell readers the videos raised questions, but they were all the wrong questions. The real questions went unasked, and largely unreported even by the rest of the allegedly left-leaning mainstream media “elite.” Right wing terrorism is not going to be reported on by the right wing media, and let’s face it, the mainstream media, being corporate-owned, is right-leaning.

We live in a country where right wing lies and distortions get reported on and actual facts get ignored. There is nothing fair and balanced about what’s coming through our TVs, and we are increasingly unsafe as a result. For the Nazis it was synagogues that were the target. For our own breed of fascists, it is Planned Parenthood clinics. We cannot and must not remain silent about what is happening in this country.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said in a statement that “toxic rhetoric directed at Planned Parenthood has dangerous consequences. It sends a signal that using violence to close clinics and intimidate healthcare professionals and women is ‘OK.’ It is not.”

Unfortunately, there is a long history of violence against women’s health care clinics. There have been more than 200 arsons and bombings over the past 40 years. These acts are serious crimes at the state and federal level, and the criminals who perpetrate them must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

But it is “OK” according to the mainstream media, which aids and abets the right-wing agenda against America’s women. You’ll search in vain for news of right wing terrorism but see plenty of false allegations against Planned Parenthood that fuels terrorist attacks.

As Tanya Riordan, a vice president with Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, told SPLC’s Hatewatch, the videos don’t expose any wrongdoing on the part of the women’s health provider, but “they are simply inciting extremists and acts of violence.”

The mainstream media doesn’t want to tell you about the real wrongdoing, which is a right wing terrorism that is more prevalent than anybody imagines.

Image from SurvivalKit.com

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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