Colbert and national media miss the mark again

While the national news and late night talk shows are making fun of Temecula City Council again, and specifically Jessica Alexander, over a comment she made, I have to say how impressed I am with the council.

After a nearly three-hour meeting where they handled a lot of issues as well as public comments, I was pleased with all the councilmembers as they passionately, yet smartly, debated the issues at hand. While Colbert and others mocked, it was a picture of what representative democracy is supposed to look like.

After three hours, the issue was if and how they could go back to in person meetings. Masks were at the center of the debate, however, they weren’t debating the efficiency of masks, but rather the legality, or the mandate and their responsibility to follow Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines and their desire to do the right thing for their constituents as well as to set the example, while also trying to figure out a way to respect the individual rights and desires of board members who can’t or don’t wear masks.

Little did they know that night that the meeting would throw Temecula, once again, into the national spotlight. And again, try to make it about race because that sells and makes great click bait. It also continues to amaze me how the truth is stretched.

Stephen Colbert, who talked about it on his nighttime talk show, in addition to making fun of Alexander, accused Mayor MaryAnn Edwards of rolling her eyes and leaving the meeting. Only one problem – it never happened. Mayor Edwards didn’t roll her eyes. She clearly looked to the side of the room as if someone was approaching, and her screen went off for maybe 15 seconds and then right back on and she continued to run the meeting.

It was more entertaining for Colbert to exaggerate and make it out as more than it was and also make Jessica Alexander look bad. Because obviously she’s a nut for not wearing a mask, right? Why not bully her, call her names, make fun of her and accuse her of not being fit for office, as one public commenter did?

My encouragement would be for Temecula residents to not believe what is going on with your city council meeting from late night talk shows trying to make something of nothing. You have a City Council that proved once again that they care about their city and its residents. They are smart, professional and know how to debate an issue without drama or name calling. It was impressive how they listened and sought to understand each other and come to a resolution, which they did.

Many national media outlets and big tech companies don’t respect that level of political debate which is apparent from the censoring going on right now. Big tech is putting themselves in between knowledgeable people like doctors who actually know what they are talking about and people who are searching for truth on the issues relating to COVID-19, masks, vaccines and herd immunity, etc.

These conversations aren’t going away. Tens of thousands of doctors worldwide are chiming in on all these issues and many disagree with Dr. Fauci and the World Health Organization’s current positions and while big tech may be censoring and using them as a standard for all truth, research and alternative messages are getting out. The science isn’t settled. The data from the last year is being analyzed and maybe all the news outlets and publications who jumped on the bandwagon with Colbert should tone down their mockery and do better.