Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to educate journalists about firearms. (Photo: NBC).
Human rights activist Malcolm X once said, “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”
Malcolm X was certainly wrong about a lot of things, endorsing violence as a means to agitate for social change, for example, but with respect to that comment about the media, he hit the nail on the head. The media is the most powerful entity on earth.
Given this reality, one shouldn’t be surprised that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is making a concerted effort to “educate” working “reporters, editors, news directors, photographers, producers, and bloggers” on firearms and gun-related violence.
Last week it was announced that the billionaire business magnate would work together with the Columbia Journalism School, sponsoring a two day workshop on April 17 and 18, to “enhance the practical ability of journalists to report on guns and gun violence knowledgeably, ethically, and effectively.”
Participants who attend the workshop, or let’s call it what it is, “indoctrination camp,” will hear from a number of “national public health and policy experts; researchers and clinicians; award-winning journalists, and prevention advocates and survivors.”
It goes without saying, but none of these speakers are affiliated with gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America or National Association for Gun Rights, which virtually assures that participants will be given a one-sided view of the debate. That’s Bloomberg for you. It’s his interpretation of the Second Amendment that matters. Not yours, not mine, not anyone else’s.
Yet, Columbia’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma state’s that “the workshop will cover such topics as state and federal gun laws; patterns of gun sales and gun trafficking; national trends and polling; education and prevention initiatives; social, economic, and public health impacts; and special populations (e.g., children and youth, women and returning veterans).”
Although they don’t say it explicitly, embedded in that course description are a number of obvious Everytown for Gun Safety talking points, most of which are spurious, but will likely be covered during the workshop, e.g., 92 percent of the public supports universal background checks, women are five times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner when a firearm is present, putting more firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens puts everyone at risk.
Yup, it will be workshop full of disinformation. However, according to Dart, it will “provide practical tools to enable journalists to successfully produce meaningful stories on guns and gun violence.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. This workshop has only one purpose. That is to create more Bloomberg disciples.
Hello, I have a felon friend of mine that washes my cars and when He found out I have a piece in my auto(Ihave a permit to carry) he got excited and told me to take it out of the car, because he would be liable if the police stopped him, while we were on the subject of guns, I asked him how long would it take him to get a piece ? HE said tomorrow——–so much about background checks and lawbreakers can not buy pieces, etc, etc
This makes me so mad when I hear or read comments like yours. Your last statement is 100% wrong. That simple. It is very hard for a felon to buy a firearm. I know, bc I have a family member who is and tried to buy one many times and was denied each time. What he probably meant by saying he could get one tomorrow is illegally. Yes it’s very easy to get your mits on a firearm if you know the right people or hell ask around. Plus anybody with any common sense knows that if he’s a felon and wants to have and use a gun, buying one and having it registered in their name is just dumb. Felons and criminals alike are resourceful. And no one wants a link between them and an item that if caught in their possession is a one way ticket back to (pound me in the *^%ville.) it never ceases to amaze me how little the Dems think about their comments and arguments before they make or say them.
I do not think anyone in the News Media needed this course as they are all aware that if they want to keep their jobs they had better be anti-gun and the more sensationalistic they are the higher the pay they get. Did you know that Anderson Cooper just paid over 1.1 million for Shawn Penn’s gun collection. His Australian girl friend demanded either the guns go or he goes. Anderson Cooper is then going to have an anti-gun artist weld them all together into some strange twisted mass of metal.
The only icing on the cake is when Penn’s girl friend dumps him he will come back to reality and realized what he has done. He should have realized he could have dumped her and replaced her in minutes but his rare gun collection will probably never be able to be replaced.
Money does strange things to people. For most, it’s so vital to have enough to live on that they will put up with any amount of crap to earn a paycheck. For those with so much that it almost becomes meaningless, it has the effect of insulating them from common sense and ordinary wisdom. Henry Ford developed a bunch of weird theories, hated Jews and was a friend of Hitler. Very few billionaires end up benefactors of mankind. Their internal discussions become an echo chamber, and nobody can afford to gainsay them. Michael Bloomberg has persuaded himself that his lifelong mission is to take guns out of the hands of Americans, by any and all means necessary. And, truth be told, the vast majority of Americans will never need a gun to protect their lives. But when you need one, you REALLY need one. Bloomberg won’t let you. His complete and utter disregard of the US constitution and his contempt for the rights of ordinary Americans, are both breathtaking and chilling. A generous paymaster will always have a legion of sycophants and leeches, but these people are obvious in their intentions. They just want to make a buck. No journalist with any integrity will be involved with this.
This is the truly dangerous side of unrestrained capitalism. Any Wall Street money maker has sold his soul to the Devil. In a wise society they would be locked up for moral turpitude. Instead they are lionized and can buy public office. Americans need to take back their democracy so that wealth is no longer the chief criterion for entitlement to office. Nobody should be surprised by what is happening.
Bloomberg, with all his millions, has lost every fight he ever started. Let’s keep it that way. Oh ..and the new guy DeBlasio is a caricature of Bloomberg. He has done what we in the south call….shxx in his mess kit. Not only that but he appears to have diarrhea.
Bloomberg doesn’t need to profit from his anti 2a rhetoric, he makes plenty of money elsewhere, he’s just an elitist douche bag.
As for his “journalist workshop”, how about some of the Pro groups approaching Columbia and either demanding they be included in the class to insure “fair and balanced” reporting or put on their own workshop immediately following Bloomturds.
True, but I still think a dog like that is motivated by money and/or power and that he probably considers money to just be one form of power. King Bloomie.
I wonder if Bloomie will include how top Democratic legislators like former CA Senator Leland Yee have made careers of forcing gun laws on us that violate the second amendment, and then making big bucks by running guns to criminals. Fortunately, we was found out and arrested for high crimes. If you want to clean thing up, start at your own house. Ever wonder how Bloomberg profits from all this anti-gun nonsense? He must or someone like him would never support it.
That Yee thing was hilarious wasn’t it Carl?
One can only imagine who sponsors the anti American.
Since Bloomberg’s agenda is common knowledge, my question to S.H. BLANNELBERRY is; Did you learn anything from attending?
Buck Flumberg!