The failure to point out that an ideology is deadly represents another kind of lethal politics (Washington Post, 12/16/22).
The Washington Post (12/16/22) had a recent headline: “Can Politics Kill You? Research Says the Answer Increasingly Is Yes.” And the lead of the article, by Akilah Johnson, told readers of two studies that reveal what it calls “an uncomfortable truth”:
The toxicity of partisan politics is fueling an overall increase in mortality rates for working-age Americans.
But when you read further into the article, you find that politics is not really the problem here. One of the studies, the Post reported, found that “people living in more conservative parts of the United States disproportionately bore the burden of illness and death linked to Covid-19.” The other found that “the more conservative a state’s policies, the shorter the lives of working-age people.”
So the problem is not so much “politics” as it is conservatism. Indeed, the article noted that one of the reports found “if all states implemented liberal policies” on the environment, guns, tobacco and other health-related policies, 170,000 lives would be saved a year.
Still, the analysis in the piece centered around the idea that it is not right-wing ideology, but lack of bipartisanship, that is to blame—as in, “The division in American politics has grown increasingly caustic and polarized.”
You know what would actually benefit politics in the United States? A media system that was willing to point out who was causing demonstrable problems, rather than pretending that “both sides” are always to blame.
Reporting like that could actually save lives.
Thanks for spotlighting new research findings: on average, conservatives (loosely, folks in red states) suffer higher mortality than the rest of us do.
Other research shows that people in comparable (rich, developed) nations enjoy 5+ years longer life than Americans do. Contributing factor: universal healthcare. The Washington Post almost never mentions this bit of context, keeping it out of public view and thus out of political consideration.
In WaPo comments I constantly call out the Post on this vanishing act — always ending with a riff on the paper’s slogan: “…because democracy isn’t the only thing that dies in darkness.”
I invite FAIR to tally articles in which universal healthcare would be relevant, but is not mentioned even in passing. I call this pattern, “organizational omertà”. If you develop the data, I’d be glad to draft the piece for you if desired. Regardless, go for it!
Thank you.
Liberals are also part of the problem. Both sides seem to be lying to themselves or just bull…iting each other. So called liberals have moved to the right. States with more liberal laws have homeless under every bridge, gentrification, mass incarceration, etc. same as more conservative states. Capitalism has basically the same effect no matter where you live in this country. Challenging media bias? GTFOH
Beginning with the third paragraph, its a dead give away … “So the problem is not so much “politics” as it is conservatism” guess what ? Correlation doesn’t equal causation. Go to jail, don’t collect 200, put some fucking effort in it and perhaps try again. Lazy supposition BS. i
I think you are right. If the writer had put “So the problem is not so much “politics” as it is capitalism”, then he would have hit the nail on the head, with the obvious corollary that a working class socialist revolution is the solution. I’m glad we agree on this, Mr Grower.
“Partisanship” is a much referenced word in a plethora of MSM reports, but, predictably, the economic chasm between a dozen or so oligarchs and the 99.9% is a taboo subject…because those oligarchs happen to own the MSM. Anybody who goes to the MSM for straight news is not paying attention.
So true!
Chiming in from Texas where once again our conservative state government has failed to adequately regulate the electricity grid and as soon as the big freeze came in, tens of thousands were – as in 2021 – without electricity. In some places the natural gas system broke too!
If only we didn’t have “partisan politics”!
The Washington Post article said exactly what was desired (and just a little more subtly than you did). I’ve got to stop reading you guys. You’re worse than mainstream, lately.
Could someone please inform WAPO??!!
I feel this is space that could have been dedicated to the Edward Snowden revelations, perhaps with some meaty quotes by tech-oligarch-funded Glenn Greenwald telling us we’d be better off if we just let the tech oligarchy that funds him run things and stop being such hard ons. The NSA leak is the most important news story of my lifetime which didn’t have any observable results apart from a minor shift in public opinion toward a tech-oligarchy-ruled world, and here you waste important platform space on this? Pffffffffffffffffffft.
This article makes a really good point. I would submit however that as used here and very often generally, the word “conservative” needs to be in quotes to not in fact purvey a false equivalence.
Wow. Succinct!