Hypersensitive media respond hysterically to a simple question
Poking fun at a media bubble still in shock over Hillary Clinton's loss is bound to elicit "hysterical" responses.
Writing at The Federalist, and linked at Real Clear Politics, Sean Davis sets the stage:
Even after a presidential election in which scores of media personalities were shown to be entirely disconnected from the country and people they report on, the liberal media bubble is alive and well. All it took to reveal the durability of that bubble was a simple question about pickup trucks.
Davis quotes market research showing that the five most popular vehicle models among Republicans, for example, are all trucks, and Davis also notes that President-Elect Trump "won every single state in which the Ford F-150 is the most popular vehicle (even Pennsylvania)."
This leads to John Ekdahl's Twitter question:
The top 3 best[-]selling vehicles in America are pick-ups. Question to reporters: do you personally know someone that owns one?
Davis characterizes the response types as:
1) shut up, 2) you're stupid and/or sexist and/or racist, and 3) whatever, liar, trucks aren't popular[.]
Among the many replies to the Ekdahl tweet, Mr. Davis highlights a few:
This person runs a think tank and writes for Vox: "How many journalists know someone who owns a ferret?"
…This person is paid to write about cars: "…plenty of heartlanders are opioid addicts. Does that mean to report on real Amerikkka you need an oxy habit?"
This person works for David Brock: "…i [sic] think journalists are in a bubble but your question was a lot like 'when did you stop beating your wife[.]'"
The Washington Examiner quotes a "guest columnist" responding at the liberal New York Daily News:
Can we please move off the idea that truck-owning, country music-listening, gun enthusiasts are the 'real' Americans[?]
The Examiner's T. Becket Adams observes that the tempest in Ekdahl's Twitter feed "created something of a Rorschach test for media, and many didn't like what they saw."
Mr. Adams continues:
His question appears to be about the insular nature of media, and whether those who cover the electorate have a broad and significant understanding of American culture.
… The question seems like a worthwhile exercise in self-reflection for the press, especially after it was so violently broadsided in November by Trump's victory.
Self-reflection for the press?
Adams further suggests that "it would be fun to follow-up [sic] with similar inquiries," such as asking "[h]ow many reporters know someone who goes to church regularly" or "[h]ow many reporters can say they own or know a person who owns an AR-15[.]"
To this one might add, for reporters in the national media:
Do you know anyone who displayed a Trump-Pence yard sign?
Do you know anyone who thinks climate change is a redistribution scheme?
Do you know anyone who wants to repeal Obamacare, lock, stock, and barrel?
And the stumper:
Do you know anyone who predicted President-Elect Donald Trump?