From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 18 2005 - 19:31:54 BST
[Platt]
Welcome back! I've missed your views from the left. :-)
[Arlo]
Just my views from the left? Hopefully I contribute more than that. :-)
Let me tell you, 7 days via motorcycle on the back roads north of here up to
Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario was a spectacular ride, confirming that
Pirsig's travel observations from ZMM still hold true today.
[Platt]
Yes. It's common knowledge and a given fact that Bush and conservatives
are Nazis in disguise and that the "commercial" media shouts Sieg Heil
before and after each broadcast.
[Arlo]
I thought it was common knowledge and a given fact that the democrats are
Commies in disguise and that the "commercial" media shouts From Each According
to His Ability before and after each broadcast.
Do you see how ridiculous both of these sound (and are)?
The "commerical" media follows only one agenda. To earn money. To sell ads. To
bring in profits for shareholders. The "news" is not distorted in any "left
wing" or "right wing" ideological conspiracy.
However, the current strategem of the neocons has been to villify what is
centrist news outlets, by labeling them "leftist". The, the "center" is
redefined by using Fox's "Fair and Balanced" and O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone"
rhetoric.
The "left" uses similar tactics to villify the "right". And on and on and on and
on the rhetorical game of distraction continues...
[Platt]
I suggest a good place to start is with an article in today's NY Times
(the mouthpiece of the left)
[Arlo interrupts]
More fact by repetition, good try. The NYT is no more a "mouthpiece" for the
left than it is for the right.
[Platt continues]
entitled "Fair? Balanced? A Study Finds It
Doesn't Matter." The author, a Princeton University professor of economics
and public affairs, makes the same point I've made to Ant. " . . . the
public manages to 'filter' biased media reports."
[Arlo]
The author's offered more than this one explanation, another being "confirmatory
bias". What worries me more is this continuing dichotomization, as if "all
people" are neatly divided by leftist-rightist dichotomization. I think more
people than not hold mixed views, rather than being automatons for any either
of the two political parties in this country. But we continue to force this
dichotomy as somehow perfectly rational and valid. The continued "fact by
repetition" of calling the commercial media "leftist" is one example of this,
and serves only the interests of political propaganda.
Arlo
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