Lying by headline

Crappy deceptive sloppy manipulative writing steps up to assist wild claims yet again.

Headline:

Trump claims there are only ‘2 genders.’ Historians say that’s never been true

That is, the reporter, Alexandra Mae Jones, was able to find more than one historian willing to say that’s never been true – but it comes across as historians in general, historians as a group, say that’s never been true. Guess what: they don’t. (There’s also the usual manipulation of talking about “genders” instead of sexes. If you mean eccentric hair, sure, kid, lots of historians will agree that eccentric hair is nothing new.)

Subhead:

History is filled with examples of people changing genders or living between genders, historians say

Blah blah. Again, depends on what you mean by “genders” and depends on how many historians you asked. 2? 3? An honest reporter would be clear on whether she means historians as a group or two historians who answered her email.

Historian Mo Moulton watched with dismay last week as U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and that they cannot be changed. 

“There’s been so much energy expended trying to police people into fitting into just two boxes,” Moulton, a history professor at the University of Birmingham, England, told CBC News. 

Ah. We have our answer. The curious reporter sought out a historian who would say what the reporter wanted her to say. Wikipedia:

Mo Moulton is an American author and historian of 20th century Britain and Ireland, interested in gender, sexuality, and colonialism/postcolonialism. They are a senior lecturer in the history of race and empire at the University of Birmingham.

Of course they are, all one of them.

There’s a difference between “historians in general” and “two historians who have bought into the current gender ideology.” It’s very misleading and manipulative to pretend you mean the first when in fact you mean the second. A decent editor would know that and rewrite the headline and lede accordingly.

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