A-E* Pants on Fire # 2: Salon.com

(* A-E = After Election)

Dear Madame L,

Thanks for your comments on Lawrence O'Donnell. Now, here's another one I'm wondering about. I've noticed that sometimes you reference Salon.com in your posts. Didn't you realize that it also has an anti-Mormon bias?

For example, if you do a search on the Salon.com website for "Mormon," here are the first five results you'll find, all of these written during the 2012 presidential campaign:

1. "Sins of a good Mormon boy, Sep 14, 2012 ... Each year, the church asked me the same question: "Do you touch yourself?" Each year I lied, and hated myself more…   www.salon.com/2012/09/14/sins_of_a_good_mormon_boy/

2. “The Book of Mormon’s foggy origins” - Aug 12, 2012 ... The Book of Mormon's foggy origins. This article is an excerpt from the book " Falling in Love with Joseph Smith: My Search for the Real Prophet ...

www.salon.com/2012/08/.../the_book_of_mormons_foggy_origins/

3. “Who really wrote the Book of Mormon?” - Oct 31, 2012 ... Members of the church have long held that it's Joseph Smith. The answer may be slightly more complicated.  www.salon.com/2012/.../who_really_wrote_the_book_of_mormon/

4. “Is Mormon underwear magic?” - Jul 7, 2012 ... To outsiders, there is little more fascinating about the Mormon religion than the secret underwear.  www.salon.com/2012/07/.../are_mormon_underwear_magic_salpart/

5. “Anti-Mormon Prejudice vs. racism” - Jul 29, 2012 ... But prejudice against Mormons is not a defining and constituting fact of American life, the way slavery and anti-black racism (which is the .. www.salon.com/2012/07/29/anti_morman_prejudice_vs_racism/) .

Don't you think, Madame L that this indicates a certain anti-Mormon prejudice---and is somewhat disingenuous to claim there's no prejudice while showing that very prejudice?  I don't see Salon.com writing articles like that about the Catholic church, for instance, or any other church. Only the Mormons. 

Sincerely,

Still Fuming


Dear Fuming,

Madame L  thanks you sincerely for bringing this to her attention. She has noticed this prejudice, too; although  just now, searching on it for "Mormon" and in another search for "Catholic," she has gotten no hits, just a little "working" dot going around and around and around for more than five minutes.  On the other hand, Madame L long ago stopped reading those Salon.com columnists whose anti-Mormon writings are particularly virulent.  (Madame L does not name them or link to them here because she's not interested in making them better known and accessible to others.)

Madame L does not defend Salon.com or any other website that participates in this kind of demagoguery. As with Lawrence O'Donnell, she finds access to other writers and commentators and ignores the offensive material. 

Madame L hopes you'll continue to search for accurate and interesting reporting in every news venue and continue to alert her and her Dear and Gentle Readers to issues of bias and prejudice.

Sincerely,

Madame L