From Pine View Farm

Spin City 0

At SFgate, Erin Rode explores how the right-wing media machine turned a nothing-burger into the conservative* cause celebre.

The topic of the piece is a bridge designed to allow wild animals, including endangered species, to safely cross a busy highway, a project which is slightly behind schedule and slightly over-budget, something that never ever happens with big, years-long projects except when it does.

Rode traces how the events, all of which had been reported as they happened, were repackaged, tied with a bow, and turned into fodder for the wing-nut rage machine.

Here’s a tiny bit, describing one of the outcomes of this process:

Beth Pratt, a longtime conservation and wildlife advocate in the state who played a major role in organizing efforts to build the bridge, became the target of much of this online outrage. Pratt, a regional executive director at the National Wildlife Federation and president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, said she’s received threats of violence over the story. She’s turned over threatening voicemails to local law enforcement, and the National Wildlife Federation is considering new safety protocols for upcoming public events.

It is an inside look into the workings of the right-wing hate factory.

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*And, yes, I know they are not “conservative” in any traditional sense. They are somewhere between reactionary (as in back to 1859) and anarchistic.

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