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Post by lighthorseman on Nov 29, 2011 2:01:55 GMT -5
I always found that the liberal strawmen conservatives use reflect on their own mentality and strategy more than it reflects on liberals. And vice versa. |
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Post by Vene on Nov 29, 2011 10:25:41 GMT -5
I agree with the sentiment, but liberals lambast conservatives on spec just as much. Hence I have little respect for anyone who treats discussion topics as sports teams, conservative, liberal or other. I always found that the liberal strawmen conservatives use reflect on their own mentality and strategy more than it reflects on liberals. And vice versa. Except if you were to look at the book I linked in this thread you would see this form of equivalence is actually demonstrably false. |
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Post by ltfred on Nov 29, 2011 17:30:51 GMT -5
These would be problems in the US, too. The solution is media reform- liberals must not be banned from speaking in the media. And corporations must be prevented from buying political partiies. Okay, I understand that America is the most conservative of all industrialized nations, and I am well aware of Fox News, but the way you word this seems to imply that liberals are outright prohibited from speaking on the media. That seems a little unlikely even in this political climate. As the great scholar Rush Limbaugh points out, there is a prohibition on liberals on virtually all TV channels. Only two include anything like a balance of views- MSNBC and Clear Channel*. As he further points out, even MSNBC (which advertises itself as the 'liberal channel') has perhaps twice as many conservatives as liberals. And opinion is important. Opinion writing analyses the way the world works, it lays blame. It can obscufate and tribalise, it can slander and defame. It can create understanding. If only conservatives are allowed to have opinions on TV, only liberals will ever take blame, only liberals will ever be defamed or slandered. Only conservative analysis will be allowed- regardless of the merits. Everyone in America will be divided into two camps- the conservatives, who watch TV, and the liberals, who read the internet. And you think a media that excludes liberals will report straight news accurately? There's no such thing as 'objective' journalism, no such thing. Stories favourable to liberals will not be reported, stories favourable to conservatives will be spun. It may as well be a rule: 'No Liberals Allowed'. * And Comedy Central. That's probably the most serious channel of television. And that's embarrasing. |
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Post by brendanrizzo on Nov 29, 2011 23:40:21 GMT -5
So what do you suppose we do about it, Fred?
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Post by Wykked Wytch on Nov 30, 2011 1:06:16 GMT -5
So what do you suppose we do about it, Fred? I say we take a clue from V for Vendetta. Hijack a TV station and broadcast a call for evolution that will stir the hearts of even the most languid people, and spark a fire of revolution that will spread like a blaze from all corners of the nation to become a conflagration that burns to dusty cinders the shackles of the oppressive systems of the distant past. Or we could just, you know, do this: |
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Post by ltfred on Nov 30, 2011 1:28:10 GMT -5
So what do you suppose we do about it, Fred? And there's the rub. Al Gore's thing is part of it: make a rational media station, support the rational print media (largely the Nation) and support strong anti-lying laws like defamation. But a rational media can't be competing with the Lying Machine- ultimately, the Machine has to be blown up. I'm not sure how to do that. |
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Post by lighthorseman on Nov 30, 2011 1:48:04 GMT -5
So what do you suppose we do about it, Fred? And there's the rub. Al Gore's thing is part of it: make a rational media station, support the rational print media (largely the Nation) and support strong anti-lying laws like defamation. But a rational media can't be competing with the Lying Machine- ultimately, the Machine has to be blown up. I'm not sure how to do that. The hysterical 24 hour doom and gloom news cycle is part of the problem, and the way every story must be presented with a "good" guy and a "bad" guy, and no, I don't know how to change it for the better. |
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Post by brendanrizzo on Nov 30, 2011 9:51:41 GMT -5
Well, thank you for telling me that there is absolutely no hope of this problem ever being fixed, so liberals will never get the edge in America again. (Where the FUCK is FDR when you need him?)
So, when is the next flight to Canada?
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Post by priestling on Nov 30, 2011 13:38:00 GMT -5
Well, thank you for telling me that there is absolutely no hope of this problem ever being fixed, so liberals will never get the edge in America again. I really hate to step in on this, but that's not what he said. As much as I do tend to disagree with you, Fred and LHM on things, I'm siding with the latter two over you, Brendan. They said they didn't know how to fix it themselves. That doesn't mean the entire country is fucked. Get your head on straight. |
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Post by nickiknack on Nov 30, 2011 13:42:25 GMT -5
Where the FUCK is FDR when you need him? I live about 5 miles from where FDR is buried, do you want to help with resurrecting his corpse?? |
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