Credibility - Of Which We Have None

There is a point in every stretched-thin news story where the media at-large decides on what the absolute correct opinion is, and that any dissenting opinions have no merit or credibility.

Imagine a group of overweight, middle-aged reporters standing at the edge of the pool afraid that the water is too cold. Finally one reporter decides to throw caution to the wind, close his eyes, and jump in. Well, that guy did it, so it must be okay. So they all jump in the pool, whining like little girls, until they get used to the cold water. Then another reporter comes by dips a foot in, says it's too cold, and the rest of the reporters, start to taunt him for thinking the water is too cold and that he should just jump in already. The lone reporter now has to decide whether to take the taunting and believe his own foot, or jump in because these now-purple-skinned, shivering, fat guys are stuttering through clenched teeth that its warm.

Because this analogy involves a reporter, he of course jumps in, then makes vague indications to support that the water is warm, but it is also very cold. Three months from now when he is confronted about it, he will say that he always advocated that it was warm from the start.

Previous news-related examples include:

1. Post-9/11, if you disagreed with anything the government did, you were un-American.
2. If you believe that Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame, you are blind and have no credibility.
3. If prior to 2001, you didn't think Derek Jeter was the best shortstop ever, you had no credibility.
4. If you think that a very large part of the reason Joe Torre and Phil Jackson have been so successful is because they went where the talent was, you were blind and also had no credibility.
5. If you thought Brett Favre wasn't the greatest warrior the world has ever seen, and that you not-so-secretly have a man-crush on him, you have no credibility.
6. If you listened to the entire speech that Reverend Wright gave instead of the 30 second soundbite, and then dared to utter the word "context" you are not only un-american, you are also a traitor with no credibility, and possibly an illegal alien.

There are tons of examples. The new and most obvious is this:

You have no credibility on SpyGate if:

1. You are a Patriots fan and don't think Belichick should be banned for life
2. You don't think asterisks should be stitched on to the Patriots' uniform
3. You believe that Belichick did not in fact rewind the tape at half time, analyze it, plan for it, then put it into the game in the 3rd quarter.
4. You believe that scouts, coaches, and the random "who are they" people that sit in the booth write down signals and use them if they don't have Flying Elvis on their sleeve.
5. You believe Jimmy Johnson, Phil Simms, and the number of other coaches and former players that said they knew the opponents signals.
6. You don't believe everything Matt Walsh said, but do think he's lying about a walk-through tape.

Since this is the Evil Patriots Blog and we are here to celebrate the glory and the evil genius that might have contributed .05% (I upped it from my original estimate of .00004%) to that success, then my credibility never got established in the first place.

Of course I'm perfectly fine with that. The fact that I do believe he cheated, that he was disingenuous during his CBS interview in having us believe he didn't know it was wrong, is beside the point. I don't care. I love his arrogance. More so, I love the purple vein that pops out of every media member's neck when they hear it. He was already hated before the start of last season. He was already the anti-Christ to Tony Dungy's Ned Flanders. This just cemented it as a fantastic story of good vs evil, where "good" is self-righteous and boring, and evil is centered and more reflective of our desire to see the guy in the white hat lose in the end.

It's why we root harder for Michael Corleone than Fredo, or Hannibal Lecter more than the insufferable Clarise Starling.

Evil will always triumph because good is dumb. It's why we can root for evil but not for serial killers and terrorists. Because serial killers and terrorists believe they are the good guys. Just like class-act Marvin Harrison who apparently got a get-out-of-media-scrutiny-free card with his last contract.

So to sum up, the reason why this blog might have even a small amount of credibility is that we celebrate what we know is evil, rather than seek to refute it.

"A little evil is often necessary for obtaining a great good."
-Voltaire

SpyGate has led to microphones being put into the helmet of an offensive player as it already is on defense. So thank you Bill Belichick for striving to create an equitable and fair playing condition in football. You are the bright light that shines upon those with sensitive eyes.