Comments on: “We Got the Bubble-Headed Bleach-Blonde…”

By: Success Warrior

Success Warrior — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:27:15 +0000

This is so right on target.

By: gerry rosser

gerry rosser — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:28:13 +0000

I have been getting more and more disgusted with the “news.” It seems the TV type of reporting has been taken over by non-journalists and ignoramuses. I have no concern at all for “conservative” vs. “liberal” outlets, those are meaningless terms invented by someone to try to pigeonhole someone else. It seems the talking heads on TV cannot utter a sentence without larding it up with meaningless modifiers and melodrama (storms “slam” into wherever, etc., etc.). Often, when they want to do an interview to explicate some situation, they choose (mirable dictu) some other “journalist” as the “expert.”
CNN has become nothing but “entertainment,” Fox has sycophanted (hey, I invented a verb, I could be a TV journalist!) into irrelevance, MSNBC has abandoned the notion of doing news. I am starting to question my appetite for news. All I hear is depressing stuff I cannot do anything about.

By: Organic Mama

Organic Mama — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 01:26:28 +0000

Chili, your analysis and commentary are brilliant and spot on. Also, depressing and for me as a teacher, a good reminder to remain galvanized in the face of the deadening influence of mass market media so that I can keep trying to knock holes in my students’ complacency and their selective blindness.

By: Teacher A

Teacher A — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:44:39 +0000

I like how the British call their anchorpersons “news readers,” because that’s what they’re supposed to do (read the news), not give us their unqualified opinions.

By: meno

meno — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:21:49 +0000

I don’t watch news on TV. And this is why. Whenever i catch a glimpse of it, i am repelled.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:26:15 +0000

Bingo Chili….I don’t watch the evening news at all from the three networks. I do watch some of the cable networks and a lot of CPAN where you can get a lot of political news directly with anlysis from all viewpoints and with no spin from the anchor.MSNBC is very, very liberal,
CNN is liberal, but they do have some good reporting. I watch all three cable networks to see what they are saying, but I watch more of FOX which IS biased conservative. I like to say that Americans are getting Fatter and Dumber every day. Many people don’t have a clue what is going on and a large percentage of people who do watch the news only watch the 20 minutes of “news” from one of the three major networks with all it’s force feeding and spin. There are a couple of newspaper which do a lot of in depth reporting and analysis…The Wall Street Jouranl which I get every day and the Christian Science Monitor. For all these reasons, there are days when I think we should have to take a test before we can vote….I know this is not possible…but…..

By: Kizz

Kizz — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:51:42 +0000

For my part I believe this to be a much bigger part of the problem than the guns themselves. Everyone expects clear cut answers and expects to be handed those answers. When the hard work starts they are frustrated and without the tools to proceed in an intelligent and helpful way.

By: nhfalcon

nhfalcon — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:12:39 +0000

I have made it a point in all three of the trimesters that I have taught during my internship to point out to my students that they do NOT accept ANY news they get at face value! I particularly emphasize that they consider the source and remember that every source has an agenda. CNN is liberal. FoxNews is not “fair and balanced” - it’s conservative. Somewhere in the middle the truth lies.

So, class, when you read your newspaper or your websites, listen to your radio, and/or watch your tv, don’t just accept whatever you read/hear/see like you’re on the receiving end of that thing that Neo gets stuck in the back of his head in The Matrix - THINK ABOUT IT!