(...) why can't this vast media conspiracy I keep hearing about get it together on Phelps and his rotten little band of merry madmen? Their shameful protests at funerals are condemned by, to a first approximation, every single other person in the United States of America. So why do they keep doing it? Presumably because it gets them on the teevee.So why won't the Liberal MediaTM take away their fun? Refuse to broadcast any footage that contains their message; refuse to write about them.
The reason is, this wouldn't be self-enforcing. Assuming that news about Fred Phelps and his demented posse sells, a conspiracy of silence would create a Prisoner's Dilemma. If you're a news outlet, and all your competitors are silent about the Westboro Baptist Church, you have an incentive to talk about them. Therefore, everybody talks about them.
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