A quick media note? An article in Time magazine says,

At the rate things are going, Pope Benedict XVI may find his next trip to the U.S. dogged by airplanes overhead trailing banners with images of aborted fetuses. O.K., that’s a bit of hyperbole. But while several prominent conservative Catholics in this country are apoplectic over the University of Notre Dame’s invitation of the pro-choice Barack Obama to give the school’s commencement address on May 17, the Vatican has stayed completely silent on the matter.

Whether the Vatican has stayed silent or not: notice how the writer conveys her prejudices — quite openly — with her language. “Several prominent conservative Catholics . . . are apoplectic.” Not angry, taken aback, or even furious, but “apoplectic.” It is never good to be “apoplectic,” you see — just as it is never good to be “hysterical.” I know several critics of this invitation to Obama. And they have been, not apoplectic, but more like painfully saddened.

And how about the writer’s flippant treatment of anti-abortion protests? Would she be so flippant about a cause she supports? Of course not. And people on her side would not be “apoplectic.” She would find a way to convey that their emotion was righteous, just.

People tire of conservatives’ complaints about media bias. I understand. But we tire of the bias, too.