PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

Right wing books often contain more lies than truth

Since I review books, I get a lot of them and read a good many. Some, I just glance at a few pages and realize I don’t want anything to do with them. Perhaps once a month or so, I take a look at a right wing oriented book that comes my way. There are reasons behind this. One, if you have a set of beliefs, I think you should be able to test those beliefs against other information. I don’t think you should be afraid to see what other people are saying and, having read what they offer, perhaps one might change, slightly, the thought processes.

Except. Well, I don’t like being lied to or misled. MOST of the right wing books that I see, whether in my office, in the library or in book stores, resort to lies and distortions to make their points. I don’t like this at all. It makes me angry and disgusted and it also makes me wonder why people feel they need to do it. Further, what is the overall affect of these lies on public opinion?

                                                                                               The latest example is a book that arrived yesterday entitled WHY OBAMACARE IS WRONG FOR AMERICA.  “Obamacare” and wrong are written in bold, red letters, just in case you don’t get the point. My test for a right wing book is fairly simple: if I read portions of it and can find distortions or outright lies in five minutes or less, I’m done.

There are four different authors on this book, which probably means they wanted to turn it out fast and wanted to spread around the dreary task of attacking the health care reform legislation passed in 2010. It also reduces the cohesion of any narrative and means that mistakes can be spread around. This book does not pass the five minute test.

In one early section of the book, they say that up to 100 million Americans are likely to change their health insurance policies because of the evil Obamacare. Okay, there is a claim that can be carefully considered. researched and perhaps proven wrong (since it involves a prediction for the future, it is impossible to deal with completely). THEN, later in the book, the authors have a series of headings about the supposed ill affects of the reform package. Under the heading, “Losing your health insurance”, they again cite the figure of 80 to 100 million Americans changing their insurance policies. Changing is not losing, is it? Yet, that is the impression given by the heading on the paragraph. This is distortion, pure and simple, but it is compounded distortion because it is based on a prediction, not on fact. In other words, it is just a lie.

Millions of people believe lies about changes in America’s health care system. They believe them because they have been bombarded with propaganda like this book and because right wing politicians have worked overtime to instill fear. For myself, I am not in any way a huge backer of the whole thing. I have questions just like many other people, but what was passed seemed like the best that could be done at the time. I know there are some elements in the package that will definitely help citizens, especially the poor or non-wealthy. Health insurance for all infants is one. Allowing young adults to stay on their parents insurance plans until age 26 is another.

Why do those who write these kinds of books believe they have to jump to distortions and lies to make their points? If the new law is as bad as they say, shouldn’t the bare truth do the job? Most people reading a book like this believe before they pick it up that there is something deeply wrong with the changes, so it is not surprising that they wouldn’t read it with a careful, critical eye. The type of claim I mention here is quick and slippery. One second, you are reading about changing insurance policies, the next you are losing your health care.

If someone believes they have to lie to me to make me accept their points, then I want nothing to do with them. If the reader can’t have at least minimal trust in the writer, then reading an entire book becomes a mine field. Why Obama Care is Wrong for America is a piece of trash, not worthy of any serious reading time. I have to say, also, it is not that much different from other right wing books I have seen, which are often filled with serious factual flaws, intentionally or otherwise. There is a whole industry of right wing publication in America these days and they are playing their devoted audience for suckers.

Doug Terry, 3.30.11

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