As millions of Americans celebrated the nation’s 246th birthday Monday, major media outlets and prominent liberals used the holiday to denigrate the US.
While contrarian put-downs of the land of the free are second nature to social media malcontents, even the likes of NPR and ESPN got in on the act this year — with the nation’s publicly funded broadcaster scrapping a reading of the Declaration of Independence and the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports” devoting prominent space on its website to a column bemoaning how America is “tearing itself apart.”
For 33 consecutive years, longtime NPR “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep celebrated July Fourth by reading out America’s founding document. That ritual came to an unceremonious end this year.
“This July 4th we break with tradition,” announced “Morning Edition” co-host Leila Fadel on Twitter Monday. “Instead of a reading of the Declaration of Independence @NPRinskeep examines what equality means and has meant in this document. Important segment about our past and future.”
“Many of our debates on this July 4th turn on what equality means. What voting rules really give equal access to the ballot? Do abortion laws give a woman equal control of her body? At what point is a fetus entitled to equal rights?” Inskeep asked during the 11-minute segment.
The Supreme Court’s June 24 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed women the right to an abortion nationwide, animated many anti-America statements and gestures — like the double birds flipped by Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain.
