Washington Post: Mocking Conspiracy Theories While Creating Their Own

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, file)

Originally appeared at MoonOfAlabama

The Washington Post makes fun of the spouting of conspiracy theories over Hillary Clinton’s health. “Hehehe – just look at those crazies”:

Body doubles, secret doctors: Clinton conspiracy theories blossom after pneumonia diagnosis

Before Sunday morning, the conspiracy theories collected under the hashtag #HillarysHealth were numerous.
…
For a few hours, Clinton’s stagger toward the van that took her to her daughter’s New York apartment was interpreted as proof that the worst conspiracy theories had been right — and just as importantly, that the media had covered them up.

The accusation of covering up such theories was something Washington Post editors could not stand. They immediately found one to give credit on their own:

The man who discovered CTE thinks Hillary Clinton may have been poisoned

Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist who has made the NFL so uncomfortable with his discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the brains of deceased players, suggests that Hillary Clinton’s campaign be checked for possible poisons after her collapse Sunday in New York.

The only question: Whodunit? Easy for the Washington Post: “Putin, Putin, Putin, Trump …”

He wasn’t giving up on Twitter, adding that his reasoning is that he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee who has expressed admiration for Putin.

Days before this latest episode the Fred Hiatt Funny Pages, aka WaPo Opinions, had originated another wild Putin/Clinton conspiracy idea:

The Russians attempt to throw the election. They might try to get Trump elected. Alternatively — and this would, of course, be even more devastating — they might try to rig the election for Clinton, perhaps leaving a trail of evidence designed to connect the rigging operation to Clinton’s campaign.

So, according to Anne Applebaum, the Russians want Trump elected. Alternatively they don’t want Trump elected. They would therefore take care to elect Clinton. So whatever the outcome: Putin did it. And why would he do that? Because “Putin, Putin, Putin, Trump … .” Isn’t that enough reason?

Such writing follows the “North Korea Law of Journalism” as Adam Johnson aptly named it. It says:

Editorial standards are inversely proportional to a country’s enemy status as it relates to the U.S. State Department.

Election time is always a silly season in U.S. media. But I do not remember any campaign as utterly silly as this one. This “Putin did it” mania about anything that might ever happen isexistential madness.

Besides – it is sad to see a once serious Washington Post drowning in a self created swamp of gossip and gutter journalism.