Friday, June 17, 2005

The Blogosphere, Talk Radio, and FOX News...

In my recent post about the Downing Street Memo, I expressed concern over what the Mainstream (Leftist) Press would do with it. I was convinced that they would give this memo the "Dan Rather" treatment, focusing on a couple of distortable sentences, starting them spinning, and then beating us over the head with it until we collapsed into a persistant, vegetative state.
What I didn't take into consideration was you good people...The Bloggers.
You are the reason that stories like that cannot get any traction anymore.The Press floats these spinning trial balloons, and the bloggers Google them, learn the details, and shoot them down, one right after the other. We aren't listening to the Press anymore for our opinions, we listen to the press for ideas on subjects for discussions among ourselves. We then form our opinions based on whatever information we have gathered from all of our sources.Their spinners stop spinning, and the truth comes out.
The same thing happens with Talk Radio. The reason that Talk Radio is predominantly conservative is that the hosts and the callers discuss all aspects of any subject they settle upon, and logic usually leads to a conservative conclusion. It has nothing to do with marketing, indoctrination, or spin.
We in America have the most informed and educated population in the history of the world, and we are starting to pay attention. We are beginning to demand that our leaders pay attention to us as well. If a politician makes a campaign promise in today's America, he had better be prepared to keep it. If he doesn't, he will be confronted with never-ending soundbites of his own voice making ,and then breaking it. ("Read my lips... no new taxes!")
FOX news is another enigma that the left cannot seem to wrap their collective brain around. FOX's commentary is decidedly conservative (a fact which they make no attempt to hide, by the way), but their news coverage is just news.They just put the information out there without shading, without spin, without agenda, and because of this, Fox News has become wildly popular.
Knowledge is power, and the left has lost their decades long monopoly of the information stream. As a result, they now are getting louder, more outrageous, more ridiculous. They can't understand why more people don't accept their indoctrination anymore. The reason is that we are talking to each other. About EVERYTHING.
So, keep reading, keep writing, keep listening, keep talking. Never let up in your pursuit of the truth. If you have something to say ,set up your own blog, and say it. If you agree or disagree with anything you read on someone's blog, leave a comment and say so. Heaven knows, if I can do it, ANYONE can.
And finally, thanks for restoring my faith.



P.S. Just an observation, totally off the subject...
Take a look at recent photos of former president Slick Willie Clinton...
Doesn't he kinda look like the Emperor from the Star Wars movies??

24 comments:

Mark said...

Very good point. I actually ran across a liberal blog today that was so idiotic it was funny. this guy obviusly did NO research at all. He was talking about the terri schaivo autopsy and said she collapsed from anorexia and that her husband cared for her from the beginning until he could no longer....I had to set him straight...hope he isn't too bummed out.

o-likewoah said...

This you might find kinda funny, it goes with your blog on jackson too- http://www.ucomics.com/brewsterrockit/2005/06/12/

rich bachelor said...

If anything, we're just getting easier to lie to. I just don't see where you get this idea that Fox news has no agenda. Even Roger Ailes admits that they use that 'Fair and Balanced' slogan just to piss off liberals.
And pretty much everything on the net is about as fallible as corporate media (nice to see that you believe that lie about liberals running the news, too). As I recall, Rather's source was wrong on the memo deal, but the base point of the story turned out to be true, not that you're going to hear that part either.
And for that matter, when the hell did it become patriotic to just accept any bullshit handed down to you by an administration that has done nothing but lie and make jokes about it the whole time? And how, for some damn reason, is it 'cowardly' to ask questions? Questions need to be asked because, liberal or conservative, these people lie for a living, and may not have your best interests in mind.
And I'm sorry, but this is the world and my kid's future they're playing with here. I don't think it's funny that some rich crybaby wants to make political hay with it.

tugboatcapn said...

Bachelor, I would much rather that someone lie to me about the reasons for engaging in a war that I basically agree with that to lie about an agenda to, among other things, make me pay for EVERYONE"S healthcare.
No one had to tell me that the mainstream press had a liberal bias, I could see that for myself when I was ten years old.
The base story of the Dan Rather screwup DID NOT turn out to be true. The Liberal press has been trying to make that story be true for about eight years now. they CAN'T because IT ISN'T. You might spend your time questioning why neither Bill Clinton nor John F. Kerry have released their medical records yet. If you are looking for professional liars, there is a good place for you to start.
I do not just accept anything that I am told. If I did, then I would believe that Al Gore invented the internet, that Hillary clinton was the smartest woman in the world, and that cooling the air conditioner down as low as it will go is just as bad as gassing six million people to death.
You need to start getting your information from someone besides Michael Moore, and wake up.
Questioning your government is not unpatriotic, however, undermining your president and soldiers during a war which, whether you agree with the reasons or not, we are already engaged in, seems a little traitorous to me, especially when it is being done by high ranking members of the government.
Lastly, I do not apreciate your profanity on my blog. I am very interested in the exchange of opinions and ideas with anyone who can and will present them in a civil and intelligent manner. YOU DID NOT. So, until you learn to control yourself, I will thank you not to leave any more comments on my blog.
Have a nice day. TBC

rich bachelor said...

Well, then why are some words 'dirty', and others not? Ever notice how certain words concerning reproductive and excretory processes are okay (usually Latin or French)and others (usually middle English or Germanic) are not?
But that's not what we were really talking about. If you're going to tell me that I'm wrong, then back it up with something.
By the way, Al Gore never said he invented the internet, though he did sponsor some legislation to fund expanding its use in daily life, research, business, etc. I don't remember where anyone said Hilary Clinton was the smartest woman ever, at all, and always just figured that guys like you hated her so much simply because she wouldn't keep her mouth shut. I didn't understand the thing about AC at all.
And hey-didn't I give you the easy out there? I said I don't trust 'liberal' pols either. Yer just too quick to get angry with anyone who doesn't agree with you, and sir, that is a Very Bad Sign.

tugboatcapn said...

I don't know what in my response led you to believe that I am angry with you. I simply asked you to refrain from using vulgar or profane language on my comments page. I don't want to engage you in a discussion of what vulgarity or profanity is. We all know what it is and when it is appropriate and when it is not. Please don't ask me to explain that to you too.
As for backing up my points, I guess I could forge up some documents for you right quick. That seems to be good enough for you most of the time.
As for Hillary Clinton, i would listen to her if I had EVER heard of anything intelligent she has ever said. Lets just say that she thinks I am stupid, and I think that she is stupid(She thinks you're stupid too...)so I don't want to hear anything she has to say.I don't buy her lies either.
On the A/C thing, do a little research and see if you can find out what Dick Durbin said about the conditions at git'mo. It shouldn't be that hard to locate.
If I get testy sometimes, it is only because I get tired of arguing with people who constantly have to be brought up to speed on current events. Pay attention to something besides liberal propaganda, please, or stop voting.
thanks for your comment,and have a nice day. TBC

Anonymous said...

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Xena said...

This exactly the point of my posting today... brusier and scumbag find an intelligent argument please!!!!!!!

Why not make a case to try to prove your point? What are you so afraid of?

Mark said...

Ha ha ha. Bruiser and scumbag left the very same comments on my blog. It would seem, Tug, that you and I have fans!

I made the point that liberals often seem to resort to personal attacks such as name calling when they know they don't have a reasonable argument. They have proven me right.

As to Bachelor, Tug, it's a free country here. Bachelor has the right of free speech so let Bachelor say what he will. There is an oft repeated maxim that says: "inarticulate people curse because they aren't smart enough to think of more appropriate words." However, some curse words just somehow describe certain people best. Like Scumbag and Bruiser. :)

Mark said...

Good job of turning up the heat. That's how your blog gets noticed.

rich bachelor said...

I appreciate it, Mark. My brother found your site, Cap'n, probably by randomly riding the wave through here, and sent me a link. His is pretty good too: it's the only blog about being a mailman I've seen on here. It's called 'Carrier 1'.
But yeah, I agree not to use those words when I'm talking in this space, since that's what the host wants. I was raised to be a gentleman, above all else.
Mind you, the reason I keep doing this is because I like talking to people who aren't like me. It's important. I keep on noticing though, Cap'n, that you keep on missing my point.
For instance, where did you become so familiar with me that you can decide that I'm always being swayed by forged documents? Or that I ever expressed any liking for Hilary? Or said anything at all about Michael Moore?
The things that creep me out here are items like that one a few comments back where you said that you don't mind being lied to. What is that? Well, in the context of a conflict you already wanted to ensue, yes, but why did you want that one, exactly? You named several others in there that were (are) far bigger threats than Iraq was ever going to be, but Iraq's the one you liked because...We could win it? Because some guy on talk radio told you that it was the most important thing of all? Or oil? We've got the pipeline through Afghanistan and Iraq now, and it hasn't led to lower prices yet...
Or that weird thing you said about having to pay for everyone's health care. Billary came up with a plan that ultimately failed because it would have consolidated all the power with about three of the major insurance companies that they were cozy with, and naturally the rest of the companies bailed on the idea. If it had passed, it was mostly going to soak the insurance companies, who might have passed on the debits to you, but the whole thing was just too poorly planned anyway; wouldn't have happened. It was an excuse, so they could say to their liberal base, 'We tried'. And they didn't.
Aw look, I'm just worried about any of my fellow Americans being okay with being lied to, and it seems that it's the majority of you. What about that Self Determination that makes us better, as a people? "I just do what they tell me" is the attitude of a sheep on the way to slaughter. Above all else, wherever I look in the corporate media these days, I note that folks like yourself just aren't okay with being disagreed with to the point of wanting to exterminating the rest of us, and that's actually a valid concern. When liberals (and people like me, whatever that is) talk about these things, there's not that same 'get rid of them, destroy them' thing going on there that you get with conservatives. I'm doing all I can to change that, by the way. How hard is it, exactly, to show people that the current administration has bankrupted us, led to the pointless slaughter of thousands of Americans at least (and even more all over the world, but we don't talk about them because they're brown people and they don't matter, right?), led the world to hate us actively, which is already leading to a place where we're having trouble doing business internationally.
And as to those other two, I don't know them at all, and I wish they'd actually said something, too. They're libs, and they think in bumperstickers. But since we're on that topic, consider too the old saw about how the other guy is always the namecaller. You don't call names, Cap'n, you just tell it like it is, right? It's the other guy who is using foul language and improper characterizations. Not like that fat drug addict Limbaugh, right? Who made fun of a thirteen year old Chelsea Clinton for being ugly on national teevee (little as the degenerate gambling addict might have liked her parents, you don't pick who you're born to, and she wasn't in politics, just a little girl)? Or when he pointed out that Robert Reich was going to be a bad treasury secretary because he was...Short? I was just waiting for the guy to Jew-bait. It's never too far behind.
I've read several of your postings here, and I keep on seeing things like this, and I could spend all day pointing them out, but I'm not gonna. I already let some other guy on here have it since he too styled himself as a defender of all unborn or braindead humans, when it was clear that his view on humans who are actually alive was far more dim.
Aw, i've gone on too long, and I didn't wanna. I just always feel like people oughta talk to each other, especially when they don't agree.
So long from the Beaver State.

tugboatcapn said...

Bachelor, I apologize if I made incorrect or unfair assumptions about you or anyone else here. I have actually enjoyed this exchange and I find you to be a very intelligent and articulate person.
I don't like being lied to either, but I trust the left a lot less than I do the right.I don't like a lot of the things that G.W.B. has done, but on the war, I personally agree. Saddam Hussein needed to be removed from power. He's not the only one who did, but he was a good place to start.
I never expected this posting to start such a firestorm, but I guess I made a lot of people angry. The fact of the matter is that discussions like this one were the exact point of my post. As long as it got people thinking then it was worthwhile.
I think that you have made some valid points, and I hope that I have too, but the important thing is that we have both had to articulate our arguements rather than try to shout each other down. i think that this is a very good thing.
Thanks for cleaning up the language (My wife and little sister read this blog regularly, and while they are both capable of dealing with a few dirty words, I see no reason to subject them to them within this forum.)

Anonymous said...

I dont think, though, that the blogs have that many original ideas. A couple powerful people (in the "blogosphere") link to an article and say what they think about it. Then, the whole right wing world sees it and starts backing it up. Ive flipped around on a whole bunch of right wingers blogs and I swear to god, its all the same entries every day. And no one has anything remotely different to say. My point is that the blogging community has some great information sharing going on, but not when its the right wing politics as the topic.

tugboatcapn said...

Bella, I am sorry to break this to you,but the truth usually sounds the same no matter who says it.

carrier said...

Our mutual loathing of poorly practiced grammer led me to wonder what group would benefit most from a dumbing down of middle-class America.

Red pens or not, under-funding educational programs and greatly reducing the opportunities for federal grants is only going to help the rich keep getting richer. This wasn't the doing of the left Tug.

We have become corporate slaves but we are just too darn stupid(and becoming even more so every day)to understand what that means.

tugboatcapn said...

Oh, so now we are going to sing the "Rich get richer while the poor get poorer song", huh?
You people need to think up some new slogans or talking points...These old ones are getting boring!!

Mark said...

Well, the sad fact is, the rich do get richer and the poor do get poorer, except in the rare cases when a poor person manages to pull himself up out of the mire and make something of himself. It can be done and I don't begrudge the rich for being rich, nor the poor for being poor. What matters is carachter(darn, I never could spell that word. wish comments had spell check)If you are rich and a jerk, you are still a jerk and the same goes for the poor. I am poor but I have respect for the rich unless, in my opinion, they don't deserve my respect, and that can happen despite the size of their bank account.

carrier said...

I don't begrudge anyone hacking out a successful life for themselves. This administration caters to the rich to the detriment of the rest of us. Massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans have heaped an even larger tax burden on the middle-class. It is the growing inequity of the system that angers me, not the people holding the wealth.

tugboatcapn said...

How did we get from "FOX NEWS is EEE-VILL" to "the Rich get richer and the poor get poorer??
Carrier, successful people don't just pile up huge piles of money and sit on them, They invest in and expand their businesses, thus creating jobs which in turn helps the wage earning poor and the middle class. When you guys talk about "tax cuts for the rich", you always seem to forget that ONLY PEOPLE WHO EARN INCOME PAY INCOME TAXES. You aren't lobbying to confiscate the millions that Ted Kennedy inherited, Or the BILLION that John F. Kerry golddug his way into, You are talking about Taking money away from millions of small business owners, the people who took and continue to take risks, and the creators of JOBS. Look it up...Every time in history that there have been significant tax cuts, the overall revenue to the treasury has gone UP.
I have never recieved a paycheck from a poor person, have you?
Oh, I forgot...You're a mail carrier...you work for ME.

carrier said...

You don't pay my wages...unless of course you mail something. The government does not subsidize the Postal Service; the Postal Service creates it's own revenue. In short, I don't work for you anymore than you work for me.

That whole song and dance about reinvesting is laughable. I suppose you believe that if none of us had to pay income taxes the economy would be booming. Your reliance on the benevolence of the wealthy is incredibly naive.

The rich are getting richer, and the money that is making them richer isn't coming from individuals toiling beneath the poverty line. That money is coming out of your pocket and mine. The poor don't become poorer, those of us in the middle do though.

tugboatcapn said...

Oh, I'm sorry, carrier, I was unaware that the postal service was a part of the corporate/ military/ industrial complex...Thanks for straightening me out on that one. I learned something new today.
I know that a certian amount of tax money has to be collected, but if the government took all of the money away from every millionare in America, that wouldn't help a single middle class family.
The problem is not that the government doesn't collect enough taxes, or even whether taxes are paid by the rich or by the poor. the problem is that the government, whether it is controled by democrats or by republicans, overspends it's budget on a myriad of things for which there are no provisions in the constitution.

Mark said...

Bella, if you revisit this blog, be sure to check out my post for June 22....I wrote it just because you said us conservatives all say the same things. I believe you will find this one very different and it comes from my own warped mind.
http://leftfieldperspectives.blogspot.com

rich bachelor said...

Wish this was making us famous and/or rich, huh?
The thing I keep noticing is that the community I live in keeps giving tax incentives to these corporations that move here, and then don't put much back into the community: the profits go elsewhere, and if they're not making twice the profit in a few years' time, they move to some exotic whorehouse republic on some lesser part of the globe. It's easy for the people running the crapshoot to say that their courage in investment makes the engine of commerce go, but I think that that's another lie we're being told.
That's not a partisan issue, either. That's something that happens no matter who is running the Fed.

carrier said...

Oh you are a cheeky one Tugboat but remember, the Postal Service is not in it to make a profit. Although at the end of the fiscal year there is often a budget surplus.

I don't recall saying anything about redistribution of wealth. I'm just suggesting that the playing field should be level and that everyone pay their fair share. That is not happening. The more money an individual makes the more loopholes he finds in an effort to pay a smaller portion of his/her income. That is unfair to the rest of us, whether you're a D or an R.