"The Shape of the World - Two Opposing Views."
This problem has been exacerbated by the Republican machine of late, as well. They've got some notoriety for playing favorites among media outlets on basis of who is most flattering. I mean, probably all parties do this, bank on their power while they've got it I mean, but it's a much more organized, top-down, systematic effort this time around than during, say, the incredibly haphazard Clinton years.
Of course, also, because the party has a strict organization, all of its apparatchiks use the same talking points, and it becomes really hard to get any actual insight. But that's not a reason for news organizations not to try.
I just hope no one I care about ever becomes a test case, or a cause celebe. Family tragedies are hard enough without being in the news, or Congress.
Relatedly, last night's Daily Show rerun was the one with Colbert as an ethicist talking about Congress's "separation.....and POWER."
Emily, I don't know if it's too late, but finding statistical correlation is the kind of thing I learned in college, not high school.
The song in my head:
Cat's in the cradle with the silver moon
Little Boy Blue and the man in the moon
When you comin' home, Dad?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then
You know we'll have a good time then
The song in my head:
Not only am I earwormed, I'm also broken. That damn song.
Oh, I know it's nothing new. But I think it's been noticably worse in recent years. Maybe with the current folks in power it's just hitting my buttons more, but I don't think that's all it is.
I'm listening to my iPod (to the band Stereo Total) so no earworm for me.
Maybe with the current folks in power it's just hitting my buttons more, but I don't think that's all it is.
The whole "Swiftboat Fuckers for Truth" think really upset me - all the claims were blatantly politically motivated, yet the press didn't talk about that. They just kept repeating the accusations, so the coverage confined to stuff like: "He's a lying coward" - "No, he's not."
Here is an interesting exchange from a conservative talk show and a doctor:
[link]
Paul Krugman has a joke that if the Republicans came out and said the world was flat, and the Democrats responded by saying that wansn't true, the newspaper headlines would read, "The Shape of the World - Two Opposing Views."
Scientific American put their own twist on this for their April 1st issue -- the editorial page was a tongue-in-cheek apology to the right wing, promising to stop favoring things like peer-reviewed scientific studies and to start giving more "fair and balanced" coverage of the issues. Cracked me up.
