This morning’s Albuquerque Journal carries a story about the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and another on SWOP (the SouthWest Organizing Project).
The story on the Chamber lacks any description of the group. The story on SWOP describes it as "an activist organization…"
I have no quarrel with this – we’re all familiar with the Chamber and SWOP is less well known and certainly is activist.
Ah, but surely the Chamber is as activist, too. Why not say so?
Because the Chamber is part of what is, the status quo. And we all assume the status quo. In that sense, we are all conservatives.
SWOP, on the other hand, is more part of what may be.
Putting it another way, Chambers of Commerce are higher on the hierarchy than groups like SWOP, meaning they have more power.
And part of their power is that we assume them.
Why am I telling you all this? Because there’s a popular fable that our news mediums are "liberal," whatever that means.
If it means they favor change, what may be or the underdog, that’s simply not true. They favor what is. Not dishonestly, but because we are all conservatives.
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