[-V-]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=3&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_en_tv/tv_news_volume

I know a lot of people like me have tuned out of cable news after the election. They must be taking a big hit on their ratings, and rightly so. It's sickening how they sit back and let the politicians and their spokespeople dodge the questions and the truth and how every issue is reduced to the rhetoric of the party line.

It wasn't so long ago that the press was hungry for the truth and went after it like bloodhounds. They were key to one President losing his job over a bugging incident and another almost losing his job over an insignificant BJ incident. If they wanted it, there were a half dozen Watergates available for the taking under this President.

[Coven]

Good article. We are definately doing something very wrong. With the exception of the Jerry Lewis thing I think the French have the right idea. I like their work ethic, they know what is truly important.

[treehugginliberal]

Speaking only for myself with regards to cable VIEWS, I cannot stop watching. Why? Only because I feel it is important to hear how things are being spun by the corporate media, I guess along the lines of if you give them enough rope yadda yadda yadda. The Tucker Carlsons and Bill O'Reillys of the world do indeed cause me major gastrointestinal distress and those two in particular I cannot watch for more than a few minutes at a time but do force myself to do so at times. I have the luxury of Free Speech TV, several not quite so mainstream magazine subscriptions and the internet to get, if not the real story, then a reasonable facsimile thereof.

[Badandy]

Good article. We are definately doing something very wrong. With the exception of the Jerry Lewis thing I think the French have the right idea. I like their work ethic, they know what is truly important.

The French are lazy. There productivity is frighteningly low and their GNP borders on absurd. If you want the Arafat loving French who are deeply involved in the food-for-oil scandal, please don't bring their "alliance" into my country

[Coven]

Please read what I said, I like their work ethic. They know that it is important to take time to relax, enjoy life and spend family time. Everything here revolves around the allmighty dollar. We are a stressed out, overworked nation. No matter what we have or make its never enough. We don't know how to relax, that is why we have so many people physically and mentally ill. so many children raising themselves because both parents have to work. Working 35 hours a week here is part time. This is not what life is supposed to be about.

[-V-]

Coven, you don't have to defend a complement to the French. I like the French and the world likes the French a hell of a lot more than the like us right now.

Andy, you know where you can stick your "freedom fries".

[Scullyism]

Here Here -V-, I'll drink to that.

Coven what an excellent point. My best friend is working full time going to school and we are also starting a business together. She is so driven, but she also has 2 four year olds, a 9 and a 10 year old and a husband at home, before she knows it, the children will be in college and she will wonder where the time went. I totally agree that we work too much and because we are so busy, we over schedule our children as well. WHy make a bunch of money, most people never enjoy it and then they die and their spolied brats use it all up within a few years.
On the other hand you have those who work because they are trying to get the ends to meet and are stressed by a system that continues to keep sliding their dreams just out of their reach.
More of us need to spend more time attempting to make someone elses life a little easier. To those who much is given, much is required.

[anartgrey]

LOL - sorry just checking in after a few days away, and your comment "andy, you know where you can stick your freedom fries" made me laugh out loud at my screen. Coven and Scully you are both right on the mark as usual. I get so confused, and, at this point, frightened that so many people do not understand this - there are times when I feel that most people in this country are in a cartoon with some mighty villan using a mind control ray to make them all become mindless zombies nodding at what they are told to believe. Then, there are times, when I wish it really were just a cartoon. =(

Oh, and Treehugger, I completely agree with your philosophy about watching the news to see how they spin things. That is what I've been doing for the past few years, just counting the number of "vague" remarks used to cover up what is really going on, like the number of times the word "insurgent" is used, instead of Iraqi citizen fighting to protect their home and family - it just gets to me too deeply of late, so I have turned it off. It is always better to keep it on and know what they are saying though, knowledge is power. How did our country get to this terrible place where the bible is held above the constitution as far as law is concerned? I was raised catholic, and I know the bible backward and forward, and have nothing but respect for people of any faith really, but when did the sanity of our country dissipate into thin air, leaving masses of terrified, judgemental, angry and violent people in it's wake? I mourn so deeply for what seems to be the death of what Thomas Jefferson wanted this country to be.

[Jumpin Jupiter]

JJ ~

Animal rights activists ARE here to protect animal rights. Fox "News" focuses on one radical jerk in Berlin, but never, never, never covers the tireless work of absolutely wonderful human beings who make the lives of animals on this planet a tad less cruel.

Fox is a disgusting network of propaganda. It's the worst apple in the rotten cesspool of corporate media. What the hell are you watching/reading that crap for? Go figure.



Does Fox cover this?

http://www.stopanimaltests.com/feat/testing123/index.asp


Jane, I dont know where you get your news from, but FOX "News" was the only one that I could copy a link from. (thus, the link) CNN also had this but I couldnt copy a link from it. I guess CNN didnt want it spread around.

Yes, I watch Fox "News", the same as I watch CNN, so I get BOTH sides of the tory, I also see who is spinning what and for what reasons. That way, I have an open mind, remember that? Or is yours closed to just one side?

[Jane of Arc]

Oh JJ, JJ, JJ! :)

I don't watch television. I have been unplugged from the Matrix for a while now.

Television is only a smathering of a few stories (in the greater scheme of the universe). These few stories have been chosen to be aired by a few corporate suits.

I think CNN is hogwash. As is NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS ... and FOX is the disgusting uncle that farts and picks his nose at the dinner table.

Television does NOT do investigative news work. They have no vested interest to get to the truth of a story about the government, rigged elections, government fraud, corporate fraud and they don't. The days of Edward R. Murrow are gone.

Television is not the Fourth Estate that protects the People from the powerful. Television is the tool of the powerful that controls the population. It is the Matrix.


When I say I don't watch TV, people say to me, "Oh, I really don't either. I just use it to get a little information and don't pay attention to it." Or they say, "How can you not know what's going on?" Or they say, "I can control the influence of TV. I can use it as a resource and keep an open mind. It doesn't control me. I'm too smart!" And what I say to these people is ... remove television from your life ... unplug from the Matrix ... and see what happens. :sunny:

Giant corporations have bought up and monopolized our air waves. The airwaves that are public domain and should be free, but they're not. Our constitutional rights are being violated, but who cares. We're getting entertained! Wheeee! And here's an example of how the corporate 'news' game functions:

1. GE own NBC.

2. GE is profitting in the War on Iraq. Absolutely is. Stock is up and doing well.

3. Would it be in GE's best interest to investigate all the war-profiteering in Iraq? No, it wouldn't.

4. Do they investigate all the war-profiteering in Iraq so the American people know what's happening with their tax dollar? No, they don't.

5. Do they cover stories like the bad animal rights nutjob who want to kill a polar bear in the zoo in Berlin? You betcha, baby.


So when you say: "Yes, I watch Fox "News", the same as I watch CNN, so I get BOTH sides of the tory, I also see who is spinning what and for what reasons. That way, I have an open mind, remember that? Or is yours closed to just one side?"

I say to you: You are not getting 2 sides of the story. You are getting rubbish filtering though your brain at an alarming speed. And it raises your blood pressure and does nothing good for your health and mind. You sit in front of the TV passively taking in pictures and images and the viewpoints of truly just a few people on the planet. You probably eat and drink in front of the TV sometimes like most Americans. You soak in constant subliminal sh*t and messages from commerials that seem benign and cute, when they truly sell dissatifaction. A dissatified person buys more. TV is not real. You've been trained to believe it's real, but it's not.


JJ~ Do you want to live free? Do you want to be on a path to truth and peace of mind? If you do ... unplug yourself from the Matrix? Choose a pill. The red pill unplugs you from television. Your mind starts to clear. You will crave TV. I did. (And I didn't watch much.) There can be an uncomfortable period until the influence stops. You slowly return to yourself and what is real life. You pay more attention to people close to you. You will start to pay much more attention to nature. You will be amazed at how much more time you have for productive things. You'll feel happier about yourself, the world, the way you look and who you are. Your blood pressure lowers. Mine did. The blue pill keeps you plugged into the Matrix, television, and life goes on the same.

[Jumpin Jupiter]

Well, where the agenda is for the news stations is their business and none of us can change that. That is a WHOLE nother thread!

So, unless I misread your last post, where do you get your news from if your un-plugged? What sources do you get your info from? Radio? Internet? Newspapers?

[FDRfollower]

Hi Jumpin. I understand your concern. However CNN and Fox are about as bottom of the barrel as you can get. Do you prefer a slight spin of your "news" or would you prefer the full Goebells treatment? :twisted:

Be carefull, the newspaper stories I all read, in general after covering the ONE so-called animal activist mostly gushed over the cuteness of the cub, and how lucky the Berlin Zoo is in having such an attraction.

[Jane of Arc]

One a second note, that damn thing is CUTE ! How or why ANYONE would want that thing dead is beyond me.

I agree that's a cute, CUTE bear! And the guy who wanted it dead was an extremist nutcase. I think all baby animals are cute and all adult animals are spectacular. I love animals big time.

You're so stuck on this cute bear, JJ. I have to ask ... are you a vegetarian? You sure sound like one.



JJ ~ I guess you took the blue pill, eh? Still believing TV is "news". That's okay. Just please know that it's not news, but well-done propaganda you're buying into. And FDR is 100% right ... CNN and FOX are the bottom of the barrel.

As far as my news sources ... I read newspapers from all over the world, I use the internet and I read books.