Smear
For a great example of the pap that enervates the dialogue over at neoneocon or other conglomerates of confusion you need to tune into the Today show every once in a while. This morning we are treated to an interview of Bill O Riley . With a completely straight face Matt Lauer asks him questions on current political trends and issues so we presumably can learn Bills opinions. That was most informative and so then we go to the story of the dead,rich groom on the cruiseship, seems there was some wild party, sex, beautiful passed out babe, I didn't really get it all but then we are on to the feel-good story about some photo album found in the debri of the hurricane blah blah. Tommorro Katie will interview Regis and Kelly on US foreign policy.
And so having recieved the official news for the day from the "liberal media" America can head off to work knowing they will have something to contribute around the watercooler when the conversation turns to dead honeymooners. As it inevitably must.
Oh Canada! When the world stops making any sense it is time to lurch to the Right, as it did through the last long, dark century. Just please, leave a few steelhead in the Kispiox.
To tell about a drunken muzhik's beating his wife is incomparably harder than to compose a whole tract about the "woman question." - Ivan Turgenev
posted by troutsky @ 9:35 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I can always count on you for an obscure quote.
It it humorous that all my liberal friends--you included--find the media so detestably conservative, wheras my conservative friends and I curse the liberal press.
Can we just agree that the news reporting in this country is usually poor? The newspapers should be given a little bit of slack, especially since they are struggling so, but television deserves no such pity. I have been on a crusade for several years to get my parents to turn off the nightly news, all to no avail. To say that it is a waste of times, is but a waste of words.
It is perfectly human of us to see the same thing so differently. You are right in observing that it not so much any obvious slant as it is the miserable quality, the pretense that what they are giving us is somehow news.What is to be done? It is a large part of establishing democracy.Where do you turn for information? BBC has its own filters but at least it is somewhat comprehensive.I get journals, with their own obvious bias, and the internet.
I don't think bias is a problem per se. I know you're a left wing radical, but I can still learn lots from you. The key is being intellectually engaged and honest.
My problem has never been with Rush, or with Michael Moore or any of the others. My problem is with their followers who take whatever they say as truth.
This is coming from someone who has a propensity to quote Chesterton, but in fairness, I just add his wit to my work where I can, I haven't mistaken him for God.
With television the way it is, I'm not sure what is to be done. If only more people pulled themselves off their couches and read...
Speaking of which. The Seven Storey Mountain is very enjoyable. Chapter 4 deals with the authors tepid descension into communism. I think it's worth a read as it points out what they had right and how much they had wrong. You may disagree, but I thought of you as soon as I started the chapter.
Im not familiar with it, is that Thomas Merton? Another good Mountain book is Magic Mountain by another Thomas, Thomas Mann.
I would be interested in your reaction to Living Buddah, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh. A look at someones bookshelf can reveal quite a bit, don't you think?
Hi:
Wiser Man - yes, the news, especially on TV is piss-poor. I know lefties who curse the NYTimes as a right-wing establishment rag, but to me it's basically a decent paper with a lot of good reporting, and some very bad reporting. Yes, it has it's upper class liberal cum conservative bias, but it has NEWS, REAL news. I search in vain for a conservative alternative because I like to read other points of view.
Although I sometimes good articles by conservatives, and books as well that are thoughtful and reasoned, the magazines and papers I see that consider themselves conservative are usually filled with venemous crap. That is, if you took out topical references and gave them to a conservative, they' agree. The National Review, for instance, is filled with smear, insult, innuendo, and the most outrageous scientific errors passed off as "conservative" opinion. I still shake my head that W.F. Buckley is considered an intellectual.
But...there's a reason that journalists are called scribblers. The Nation is less offensive to me, but it's deadly boring, predictable, and uninformative I think. So, I'll head to the library.
Oh yes Troutsky. My book shelf tells people that I read a great deal, which has led to surprisingly few good conversations.
I hope to head to the libary this weekend, if they have the book, I will give it a try. Oh, and yes, that is Thomas Merton by the way.
Lichanos, if you find a good conservative paper let me know. It seems all the good conservatives go into business or something, which is a shame. There are a few good conservative writers though, especially Mr. Pat Buchanan.
Stick with the library though, that is always a good bet.
Peggy Nooonan, whom I detest, said that conservatives are interested in ideas; Republicans are only interested in money. Given the state of Washington, perhaps there are no conservatives there any more...
From a radical letist point of view,such as mine , all media is counter-revolutionary.Therefore it is all "conservative" because it is promotion of capitalism, Times, Post, Nation, NPR whatever, they rarely will tackle an issue which questions legitimacy of capital.
The other issue with "news" is the editorial decision of what stories to run and which to leave out and the subtle way even "factual" items are framed by a dominant narrative, or a historical reference we are all assumed to accept.
Just to point out the way viewpoint filters our perceptions.Good to hear from you again Lichanos, always appreciate your comments.
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