This article encapsulates the problem with modern media. Yglesias spends a large portion of the article debating the finer points of Tom Cotton's take on the lab leak theory.<p>As if a junior senator from Arkansas, who's not on any relevant committees (aside from maybe intelligence) is some kinda Rosetta Stone for understanding the media's lack of pushback on the lab leak denials from China and the WHO.<p>Yglesias labels senator Cotton a "China Hawk," as if that's enough for the story to live and die on his thoughts and quotes.<p>To examine the lab leak hypothesis through the lens of a Republican senator under the pretext of blaming the senator for the media's assessment of a possible lab leak, turns this article into just another liberal think piece masquerading as objective journalism with irrelevant timelines and a puffed up word count.