Opt-out and Widdershins Spin - Just One Example

Wow! The left is spinning like a ten year old at Disney’s Teacup Ride. 

Tactics employed consist of the whole panoply of left wing disinformation techniques:

·         False premises (straw men) [FP]

·         Misrepresentation of opponent’s views and statements [Mr]

·         Misquotes [Mq]

·         Using biased sources as ‘authorities’ [BS]

·         Distortion of facts [DF]

·         Quoting opinions of uninformed sources [US]

·         Outright lies [L]

·         Throw away truthful statements [T]

·         Irrelevant statements that appear to support point of view [I]

·         Unverifiable statements [UV]

·         Qualified statements that actually deny statement itself [Q]

·         Assertions not supported by author [A]

Let’s tag just part of a recent article published on Live Science (Complete article here).

“Complaints about airport security recently triggered calls for a consumer-led "Opt-Out" day [T] (boycotting full-body scans) that would hopelessly snarl travel plans [FP] and force the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to rethink its intrusive methods [T]. Airline and government officials worried that there would be nationwide travel disruptions today [unknown]. 

“According to the Chicago Sun-Times [BS], "Despite threats of protests from passengers angry at new security rules, it was relatively [DF] smooth sailing — and flying [I] — at O'Hare Airport Wednesday. Lines at ticket counters [I] and at security checkpoints were moving freely throughout the morning and early afternoon [T. 'There are no delays [UV], no lines [UV] [difficult to believe], no protests [F] that I know of [Q],' said Karen Pride, spokeswoman for the Chicago department of aviation [BS]."

“Why did the Opt-Out protest fizzle?  [A, L]

…

“Furthermore, only a small minority of passengers is asked to go though the body scanner [L, although possibly true on Wednesday]. It is not routine [L], nor required for all airline passengers [FP, DF] [exactly the opposite of TSA’s published statements]. In fact it’s likely that many of the people who might have planned on opting out in protest never even had the chance to do so[T], since they weren't among those asked to undergo those body scans in the first place[T] [Not mentioned that the actual reason is because of changes in TSA operations on Wednesday]. 

If the threat [FP] was intended to make the Transportation Security Administration back down, it failed [L]. The TSA did not discontinue any procedures [L] in response to the threatened protest [A, UV], though it reiterated its long-standing position that policies would be continually re-evaluated [UV].”

Article author was Benjamin Radford, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and author of six books. His website is www.RadfordBooks.com.

Thus we see that this article supposedly debunking the success of the opt-out protest  of TSA’s invasive procedures consists only of lies and distortions. While the article appears honest and filled with supported facts it is actually a typical left wing spin piece.