"Why do people think NPR has a liberal bias?

r- a Quora reply by Tom Gi.

“But to those who respond to my answer by saying that liberals have always known how liberal they are, just look at the wording of this Quora question, “Why do people think…?” This question comes from a person who can’t see outside the liberal bubble…”

The answer by Tom Gi, quoted above, regarding the liberalism of NPR is so thorough and wise that I wanted it to get even more views…currently at 55.1 K. Apparently NPR has appointed an extremely outspoken and VERY left leaning person to be at their helm. I responded to a TwXtt stating surprise at the choice with my opinion that it has been very left leaning for a long time. I got some replies asking for my source. My ears were my source. But I went looking for other opinions.

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Tom Gi, mythologist / philosopher; Author has 614 answers and 1.4M answer views Updated 2y; Related, Why do people think NPR has a liberal bias? [*Related to the Quora question that I found, which was “Is the National Public Radio liberal or conservative?’ (quora.com)]

I love this question. I’ve been listening to NPR for twenty-five years now. And I’ve decided that the best way to gauge an American’s position on the Left-Right scale is to ask them if they think NPR has a liberal bias. Ask a conservative American, and they will say NPR is extremely liberal - way out in left field. Ask a liberal American, and they will wonder why any intelligent person would even raise the question. To a liberal, NPR simply reports the news in a more intelligent way than commercial news outlets. Nothing liberal about it.

So what gives? We don’t live in separate realities. Either NPR has a liberal bias or it does not.

My contention is that NPR, in fact, has a liberal bias – regardless of where a listener happens to be on the Left-Right scale. But liberals can’t see it because it is part of their foundational belief system.

We expect the Aljazeera News Network to have a certain bias that is pro-Islam and anti-Western. We expect publications coming out of the Vatican to be pro-Catholic and against atheism. The reason liberals can’t see NPR as liberal is because they are not aware of the Left as a religion.

To understand this, we must go back to the late 60s and early 70s, when this new religion was formed and when NPR began broadcasting. A counter-culture emerged that was determined to save the world. Through literature, the arts, media, education, and the news media, these religiously inspired young folks would transform an evil, misguided society into a good, enlightened society. American philosopher John Searle was teaching at UC Berkeley in the 1960s. He was instrumental in the formation of the FSM (Free Speech Movement). In this 1971 book he describes the change in the university, how unlike previous generations, these young folks were starved for religion. Over and over he describes the religious nature of the movement.

The campus war;: A sympathetic look at the university in agony: John R Searle: Amazon.com: Books

New religions emerge when there are a set of shared values that the adherents believe counter the prevailing system. The religious Left can be defined by seven key aspects. They are derived from what can be thought of as the ‘original sin’ of this new religion: ethnocentrism. They are still current, having been handed down to Gen-Xers, Gen-Ys, and Millennials.

1.) EuroAmerican-centrism (race - the oppression of non-white cultures)
2.) JudeoChristian-centrism (religion- the oppression of non-Christian religions)
3.) Phallo-centrism (gender- the oppression of women)
4.) Heterosexual-centrism (sexual orientation - the oppression of gays/lesbians)
5.) Elite-centrism (class- the oppression of lower classes)
6.) Civilization-centrism (the oppression of primary cultures)
7.) Anthropo-centrism (environmentalism- the oppression of non-human species)

Like Christianity, it is a ‘last-shall-be-first’ religion, with an entire generation of Robin Hoods believing with intensity that their raison d’etre is to fight for the rights of these oppressed groups. If you listen to NPR with this seven-point scheme in mind, you’ll understand that there is a foundational bias at work, determining what is and isn’t worthy of the audience’s attention. Though the reporting is generally fair, the values of the religious Left determine what stories are to be reported. And the motives of the reporters and interviewers come through; sometimes overtly, other times in subtle ways.

I love listening to NPR. But I like to call it NLPR for National Liberal Public Radio. It would be nice if we had a NCPR in America, so I wouldn’t have to torture myself every once in a while by listening to FOX News.

In answering this Quora question, many people have mentioned FOX News. In a way, that answers the question – because Fox News would not exist in its current form if it weren’t for the religious Left. All the conservative talking heads, from Rush Limbaugh to Ann Coulter, would not exist - nor would Ronald Reagan, as a demigod of the religious Right, if it weren’t for the religious Left in America. Seeing the bias in NPR, or in our educational system for that matter, is just a matter of recognizing one's own belief system.

Ideological Placement of Each Source’s Audience

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Added 4/24/20

Some people have commented that NPR and their audience know, and have always known, how Left they are (just left of center). But I posted this answer on November 1st, 2015. This was before the triumph of Trump and Fox News in 2016. In 2017 former NPR CEO Ken Stern had a book published. Here are quotes:

P224 When I was at NPR, I never asked people about political affiliation, but it was always clear from conversations where the sympathies of most people lay. …I was never overly concerned about the issue. I know at some level that political orientation could affect story choice and tone, but it was outweighed in my mind by the obsessiveness of the NPR newsroom to show balance and the views of all sides, which brought almost a metronome style to its reporting. And the claims of equivalency with, for instance, Fox News, which featured advocacy personalities like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, always seemed absurd.

I was wrong. Not in rejecting the moral equivalency between Fox and, for instance, the New York Times; that is still the rankest nonsense. But in undervaluing the impact of groupthink on what is covered and what is not, in what a largely liberal newsroom will deem as editorially relevant and what is dismissed as not worthy of airtime. - Ken Stern

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P225 You might think that a growing reputation for bias in the media in the Age of Trump might be the cause for soul-searching and perhaps retrenchment. Not at all. In the run-up to the election, and certainly since, the press has taken on a distinctly hostile position toward President Trump. - Ken Stern

Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right, Ken Stern, (2017)

Personally, I’m no fan of Trump. But to those who respond to my answer by saying that liberals have always known how liberal they are, just look at the wording of this Quora question, “Why do people think…?” This question comes from a person who can’t see outside the liberal bubble described by Ken Stern. For some liberals, it might be time to take the red pill.

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Added 08/04/2020

I have found a corroborating view of the Left as a religion, from a recently published book on America’s culture wars. It’s a quote from the Attorney General William Barr:

P246 In a subsequent speech to The Federalist Society, Barr expanded his analysis. “So-called progressives treat politics as their religion,” he said. “Their holy mission is to use the coercive power of the state to remake man and society in their own image, according to an abstract ideal of perfection. Whatever means they use are therefore justified because, by definition, they are a virtuous people pursing a deific end. They are willing to use any means necessary to gain momentary advantage in achieving their end, regardless of collateral consequences and the systemic implications.” In contrast, he continued, “conservatives tend to have more scruple over their political tactics and rarely feel that the ends justify the means. And this is as it should be, but there is no getting around the fact that this puts conservatives at a disadvantage when facing progressive holy war, especially when doing so under the weight of hyper-partisan media.”

Why We're Polarized, Ezra Klein (2020)

Added 11/2/2021

I’ve always contended that the American Left is ‘like’ a religion. It is a faux religion in my view – a substitute for the real deal. Columbia linguistics professor John McWhorter goes one step further in his recently published book:

Something must be understood: I do not mean that these people’s ideology is “like” a religion. I seek no rhetorical snap in the comparison. I mean that it actually is a religion. An anthropologist would see no difference in type between Pentecostalism and this new form of antiracism. Language is always imprecise, and thus we have traditionally restricted the word religion to certain ideologies founded in creation myths, guided by ancient texts, and requiring that one subscribe to certain beliefs beyond the reach of empirical experience. This, however, is an accident, just as it is that we call tomatoes vegetables rather than fruits. If we rolled the tape again, the word religion could easily apply as well to more recently emerged ways of thinking within which there is no explicit requirement to subscribe to unempirical beliefs, even if the school of thought does reveal itself to entail such beliefs upon analysis. One of them is this extremist version of antiracism today. – John McWhorter

• Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America - Kindle edition by McWhorter, John. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. (amazon.com)

What McWhorter is talking about here, is what I would call a ‘myth-ritual system’. Mine is a more encompassing expression. Sociologist Robert Bellah referred to America’s national myth-ritual system as ‘American Civil Religion.’ But whatever ‘Woke-ism’ is called, McWhorter is focusing exclusively on race and racism. To my mind, that is only one pillar of this new religion. If you want to read about the recent excesses of feminism in the same vein, here is a good critique by feminist Meghan Daum:

• Amazon.com: The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars eBook : Daum, Meghan: Kindle Store, (amazon.com)

55.1K views

Tom Gi, mythologist / philosopher; Author has 614 answers and 1.4M answer views Updated 2y; Related, Why do people think NPR has a liberal bias? [*Related to the Quora question that I found, which was “Is the National Public Radio liberal or conservative?’ (quora.com)]

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**I did not embed the linked song or documentary video because it is an ear worm with depressing tone. After years of not listening to this sort of music, it is mostly out of head - why put it back? The visual imagery is disturbing too, and our brains record memories like a movie, so watching disturbing imagery may be very similar mentally to living through the event.

I was looking for a particular song lyric but found “Dear God,” by the UK 80s pop rock group XTC instead, (Youtube) and a video about the controversial song which led to XTC becoming more widely known came on next. (Youtube)

The songwriter, Andy Partridge, is from the UK and he wanted to be a popular rock star. Along the way, extended use of valium for anxiety built up to health problems, a sudden withdrawal led to a breakdown of some sort and he and the band stopped playing live or touring but continued to make studio music. It wasn’t going great and a different producer was hired, Todd Rundgren, who was involved during the creation and production of Dear God. Andy Partridge was a little peeved at Rundgren being in charge when Andy had been the main creative director of the band’s music and that may have led to poking back at the authority figure of religion.

How does this fit here with NPR? What’s playing on the radio makes waves among the public. The song “Dear God” was the B side of a single and was not expected to do well - no touring, and no promotion. But then in the US, college radio stations played the B side on the radio instead of the expected hit “Grass”. The UK producers were caught by surprise, the album Skylarking that hadn’t done very well was re-released with the “Dear God” song added and it sold well.

Why was not believing in God popular with 1980s college radio listeners? Or college radio DJs? Pushing boundaries? Challenging convention? Being angry at the unfairness of starvation in a world with plenty?

Andy Partridge said he did write the song about religion and having no belief in it and that he could have said a lot more than the song’s three minutes worth.

Spirituality is different than religion or religion’s definition of “God” in my own opinion. And severe anxiety from genetic and medication reasons is also bad. Pomegranate peel is lots better (and was baked into blueberry pumpkin seed bread today. I may post a rough recipe later.)

From the replies: @bonnie43uk, 4 months ago

I lived about 5 doors down from Andy Partridge in Penhill Swindon, in the summer of 71 he'd have his bedroom window open and be blasting out music from Hendrix and Pink Floyd, while we were listening to things like Tony Orlando and Dawn "Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree". He was way ahead of us. Local boy done good. (Youtube)

Re-watching ‘pop music’ after avoiding it for years is a reminder about how depressing or mind warping it can be. The jittery sounds can also make the brain more jittery. What we allow into our minds does count. I enjoyed the music and then was surprised once when someone riding in my car really didn’t like the feeling of The Dukes of the Stratosphere album - a 60’s psychedelia project by members of XTC that was just for fun - to revitalize Andy’s spirits at the time and it did. He enjoyed it. It is not soothing music though.

I prefer this now, Sun and Moon Meditation, handpan and guitar, Malte Marten & Luna Mando, (Youtube).

Disclaimer: This information is being shared for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance . . . but turning off mainstream media can be a health preserving action step.