There has been a good bit of blather on the "news" networks of late about the cost of the tropical system that blew through the NE over the weekend. There are those who think that the non stop coverage was just a bit over the top. I would have to agree. Part of the problem in this country is media hype. There are numerous competing organizations and they are all in the business of getting the "news" out. In reality they are in the entertainment business. It is not like the old days when there was a nightly news report and the rest of the programming was some true entertainment. Now the "news" is entertainment. It is probably just a bit unhealthy. When screechers like this Nancy Grace can scream on and on and on about the Casey Anthony trial, well, things are going just a bit too far. That particular affair was, at best, a regional news story. Non stop news and commentary by such jerk offs as Olbermann, Hannity, etc. etc. seem to have the effect of polarizing the populace. Don't get me wrong. We need a free press. I just don't think we need weeks of coverage of some guy's cock. It just goes too far at times. A journalists jobs is to inform and investigate. It is not to entertain.
With all that being said, one issue that has come up is about the so called Tea Party. Would these folk accept govt aid if their area was struck by disaster? Would FEMA and the federal fast response agencies' (ie Coast Guard) help be rejected. Probably not. You see what you have in this Tea Party, is for the most part, the loudmouth fringe. Don't get me wrong. I am for a reduction in the size of the FedGov but I understand the need for a government that is not completely hamstrung. It amuses me when these Tea Party folks get on their horse and cry about wanting to totally gut U.S. government. It is hard to take them seriously. They are just another flash in the pan movement that will go the way of the Perot bunch. Hypocrites many of them. This Cantor has just been recently exposed with great fanfare. Don't worry though, those of the far far left are perhaps even more silly. Most of then really seem to live on some sort of Utopian fantasy island.
It just seems silly that the fringe on either side of the political spectrum seem to get the most play on these various "news" networks. We see the spectre of Maxine Waters braying about this or that and of course Dumbass Sheila Jackson Lee being "outraged" about something or other. Then we are forced to see Palin wandering around talking (and looking) like some sort of deranged soccer mom. The media is in love it seems with her "playing hard to get' in the upcoming Republican race. Extremists and fringe loons just seem to get most of the play.
That is a shame.
6 comments:
Your point is entirely valid. We have always had a noisy fringe minority in the form of braying jackasses. It has just been that the press/media had enough sense to pretty much ignore them. Now it not only no longer ignores them, it puts them in the center because they are noisy and exciting, and ignores the mainstream, reasonable majority of people who actually think things through, because those people are not entertaining.
I agree. I watch a good bit of news but I do wonder if it is healthy. THe financial networks are the worst is seems at sensationalism.
Such a good point that "the news is entertainment."
A few years ago, my family was terrified because a reporter stated, "West Nile Virus caused 33 deaths in Utah." I finally googled it--the victims were cows!
Yes I think that things are just a bit overhyped. Everything is a crisis and everything is a "big deal." Probably some things that are over played would not even make the broadcast news in a the past.
You are worng about the Tea Party. These are the people who work all week long. Not sure where you get the Tea Party is fringe ?
The Tea Party is the fringe. When Palin is one a poster child of a movement then that movement is fringe. Sorry. While they pose no danger, they are not dangerous like the fringe left, they are still out of touch with the reality of the world. It cracks me up when we get these true believers on the left or right. Often they are some of the most dumb of the bunch.
Is the Tea Party fringe? You bet.
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