The Boston Globe is a reliably neoliberal rag with a clueless doofus for an editor, an outlet so far removed from the working class that its reporters bragged all Sunday about their token delivery of newspapers to make up for a lapse in distribution.
But while the paper is a regular disgrace, this past weekend the broadsheet showed just how ignorant things get when editors run wire copy about shit happening thousands of miles away. It’s hard to stomach considering the hostility the Globe has toward activists at home, but following a takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge out west, editors actually ran the headline, “Peaceful protest followed by Oregon wildlife refuge action: In an email to supporters, Ammon Bundy criticized the U.S. government for a failed legal process.”
That appears to be the original Associated Press headline, traces of which remain in the Globe’s URL for the story (even though they ran the Washington Post article by Peter Holley, making matters even more confusing). Other bigs including ABC published the same naive marquee, only to switch to the more politically correct likes of “Militia Members Occupy US Building in Oregon After Protest” after being understandably trolled by people saying the obvious: that their coverage would have sounded slightly different if, say, Black Lives Matter protesters took over the State House with rifles. As Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson wrote in a Facebook post:
It baffles my mind how a peaceful Black Lives Matters Protest, even the one that blocked the highway was described with inflammatory language and some even referred to them as Domestic Terrorists while this ARMED MILITIA who is occupying a Federal Government Building has a story title that stresses the peaceful protest ( WHERE ALMOST EVERYONE HAD AT LEAST A GUN) and the Occupation of Federal Government Property is referred to as an: “Oregon wildlife refuge action”…all to support members who were convicted of arson-HYPOCRISY is alive and well.
Like ABC and others who were shamed, the Globe appears to have scrubbed their original ridiculous header and in their case replaced the benevolent marauders posturing with “Armed militia members occupy US building in Oregon.” Finally, we’re getting closer to the truth.
MORE ON THE PEACEFUL ARMED PROTEST HERE
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.
