December 23, 2009, - 12:19 pm
Stop Sending Me His False Video: Steven Crowder Pulls “Facts” Out of His Butt; Fake News Shown on FOX News
For the last couple of days, many readers have been sending me a video on Detroit produced by Steven Crowder of PJTV and shown on FOX News. Please stop sending the video to me. Yes, a lot of ignorant conservatives, like the uber-ignorami at unHot Airheads, have been posting it on their sites eating it–and all the fiction therein–up. It’s getting tens of thousands of views and is all over the Net. Problem is, it’s mostly lies. Detroit is bad enough, so much so that a great video on Detroit could have been made without making stuff up. But making it all up is what Crowder did. Hey, don’t blame him. He can’t be bothered with actually looking up facts, ‘cuz he’s too busy making know-it-all, “edgy” (but not really) videos. If you liked the video, you got punked by this self-styled “Conservative Punk.”
Steven Crowder: What–Me Worry . . . About the Facts?
Pretty much every “fact” in his video “report” simply isn’t true. Lies. He should stick to his lame rap videos about Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and leave journalism to people who actually care about presenting truth. While Crowder may have spent two second video-taping the obvious decrepit buildings and houses around Detroit and some time putting snappy muzak on the soundtrack, what he didn’t do is the tiniest bit of research. Because, ya know, that would involve work. And why do that, when you can just utter fake “facts” you pulled out of your ass?
And lies like these must be why FOX News personalities like Sean Vannity and Greg Gutfeld like this lying performance artist and present him on their shows, Vannity as a “healthcare” expert (and the FOX & Friends gang even showed this false video, with its flat-out lies), now their “Detroit” expert, and at other times, their “expert” on other things. And that’s why conservative “journalism” isn’t taken seriously. One of the problems with many conservatives is that, while they complain about the lies and fake “facts” presented by the mainstream media, when it’s their turn, they do much of the same. And with Crowder, he also tries waaaay too hard to be “hip,” in addition to trying way too little to present facts and truth. As someone who lives in the Detroit area, I didn’t even need to do the research to spot at least ten lies and fake “facts” in his piece. Some of them are major:
* CROWDER LIE: Crowder decries the UAW’s “job banks,” which he says continue to pay autoworkers not to work.
FACT: Well, if he made his video a year ago, that would still be true. But even over a year ago, the UAW already agreed in writing to end them, and they were mostly gone by November 2008. The UAW Chrysler Job Bank completely and officially ended on January 26, 2009. The UAW GM Job Bank completely and officially ended on February 2, 2009. (Ford’s UAW Job Bank was also scrapped at the beginning of the year.) Now, why would I want to watch a video that claims something that ended a year ago is still going on? Like I said Steven “conservative punk” Crowder–who is trying so hard to be hip that he isn’t–isn’t trying too hard to give us actual facts.
* CROWDER LIE: Steven Crowder reports that there have been bear sightings in Detroit.
FACT: Hmmm . . . that’s news to me, and to every Detroit resident and media report, mainstream or otherwise. The closest story I can find is a bear sighting in rural Manchester, Michigan in August, 2008, and that’s 54 miles away. There have been coyote sightings in Detroit, as in many major cities in America. And I’ve written about that on this site. But no bears, which is entirely different and more foreboding. Crowder just pulled that out of his ass. Made it up. Like much of his video. Here’s a tip for Steven Crowder, the only bear you’ll see in Detroit is at the Detroit Zoo’s polar bear exhibit. But the zoo isn’t even in Detroit. It’s in the suburb of Royal Oak.
* CROWDER LIE: Steven Crowder claims the average house in Detroit is $5,700.
FACT: Actually, as I noted at the end of October, it’s $7,100. Not that this is much better, but I don’t deal in “Steven Crowder pulled it out of his ass to make a hip, edgy video.” I deal in actual facts. You should, too. Unless you want to give liberals even more fodder for their attacks on conservatives, of which Crowder gives ’em plenty.
* CROWDER LIE: Steven Crowder “reports” that Detroit’s unemployment rate is 28.9%.
FACT: While the official number is actually 27% (and why not add on an extra 1.9%–ya know–just to make it “dramatic”?), it’s actually more like 45%. See, when you do your homework–Crowder’s dog “ate” his–your story becomes stronger and more powerful.
* CROWDER LIE: Steven Crowder claims that the Detroit high school graduation rate is 25%.
FACT: Actually, it’s 58%. But, hey, 25%, 58%–what’s the difference, right Steven? Making videos gives us “poetic license.” Doesn’t it?
* CROWDER LIE: Crowder claims that the reason Detroit went down the crapper and many of the houses and buildings are decrepit is because of liberal Democrat Mayors back to 1961, the New Deal, and Lyndon Johnson’s “Model Cities” program.
FACTS: Actually two of the mayors he cites–the two White ones–Roman Gribbs and Jerry Cavanaugh were conservative by today’s standards and would be more conservative than many so-called conservative Republicans of today. What made Detroit go down the tubes was White flight, followed by Black middle class flight. As I’ve noted on this site, that happened markedly after the 1967 Detroit riots, which Crowder doesn’t mention because, well, he hasn’t a clue. And while he wants to blame Detroit’s failure on liberal Democrat Mayors, it’s actually more due to liberal Democrat, far-left loony-bin Detroit City Council Members, who took over after White flight. But, you’d actually have to do research and know something about Detroit to know that.
Moreover, more than one of the buildings in the video is blighted not because of the things he cites. Steven Crowder shows us (but doesn’t identify it by name) the old Detroit train station building. It’s a magnificent building that is falling apart. But the real story behind it is that it’s owned by billionaire Lebanese cretin Manuel “Matty” Moroun. He also owns Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge to Canada. Moroun–a close associate and donor to deposed former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick–made a Kilpatrick-oiled deal with the City of Detroit to renovate the building and make it the new headquarters of the Detroit Police Department. And although many City leaders and City Council members wanted it razed, he refused. That’s not a story about liberalism. It’s a story about a corrupt billionaire who greased the skids of a corrupt inner city Mayoral thug (who, yes, was a liberal Democrat). It’s an interesting story that could have made a great video narrative. But not from Steven Crowder . . who hasn’t a clue.
Believe me, I have no love for the City of Detroit, even though I live on its outskirts. And I’m probably the city’s biggest critic, for which I’m often under fire. But I deal with facts. It’s very easy to make a video of broken down buildings and abandoned houses inhabited by crack whores and squatters in Detroit. They’re all over the city. That’s hardly news to those of us who’ve lived in the area and seen these buildings all of our lives. It’s no special insight that he did a video of it, as there are a gazillion of them all over YouTube that are far more stark and effective. I could do it in five minutes and edit it in less than half an hour. The tough work is actually doing your homework and research.
If you want to be a conservative journalist, you actually have to make the word “journalism” come first. And, yes, you actually have to do the basic things you’d learn the most basic high school journalism class: check the facts and do research.
Sadly, Steven Crowder apparently didn’t even make it past high school journalism. And that makes him no better–and, really, exactly the same–as the lying liberal “journalists” we always decry in the mainstream media.
So, what else did Steven Crowder lie about? Who knows? I do know this, though. People behave in consistent patterns. And you can bet Steven Crowder’s other reports, videos, and statements are equally as fictional.
You simply can’t believe a thing he says (including when he repeats it on FOX News). (And you have to wonder what else is so poorly fact-checked at PJTV. Probably everything.)
Who needs liars on the left, like Michael Moore, when we have liars on the right, like Steven Crowder, who are just as unethical and loose with the facts?
Tags: conservative punk, Crowder, Detroit, Detroit video, doesn't do his homework, False, lies, Louder with Crowder, myths and facts on Steven Crowder, no facts, PJTV, Steve Crowder, Steven Crowder
More of the Dumbing Down Of America and the desperation of conservatives to clutch at ANY messiahs who will lead them out of the political wilderness. The fact-challenged Steven Crowders of the world aren’t going to get it done.
NormanF on December 23, 2009 at 12:35 pm