Friday, January 16

It's not ideology if you're doin' it right.



You'll NEVER guess who wrote this:

No longer can the American media be relied upon to bring us fact-based information. The news media has entered the ideology business much like talk radio. This will greatly harm the nation, as unbiased information is critical for an informed citizenry. The collapse of journalistic standards was a huge but largely untold story in 2008.



Bill O'Reilly at Townhall.com. No I am not making that up. Here's the dangerous link if you dare.

This seems to be ideology week amongst the pundits, with EJ Dionne leading the charge that progressives don't need no stinkin' ideology (emphasis mine):

Many of the programs that conservatives have pushed have been based more on faith in their worldview than on empirical tests. How else could conservatives claim that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue, or that trickle-down economic approaches were working when the evidence of middle-class incomes said otherwise? ...Right now, being empirical is in the progressive interest. Note that data show that the parts of the stimulus package most congenial to liberals (increases in unemployment insurance and food stamps; fiscal aid to the states; government spending on public projects) are also the parts with the most economic bang. In other words, progressives don't need ideology to make their case.


There is only one reason for progressives to hide what is called an ideology: anytime Progressive ideology is mentioned, we're called socialist, anti-American, commie pinkos by the Noise Machine of the Rupert Murdoch media empire (I'm gonna have to stop you there, Blue Gal).

So instead we talk in "practical" terms about empirical solutions, and abandon the thinking and philosophy behind them, because, frankly, Bill O'Reilly has pussy-whipped us.

I do think we liberals are addicted to processing as much as outrage. (Grace the Spot owns processing as a lesbian thing but it's not exclusive to them). That's why we listen to NPR, do online cryptoquotes and get creative with our sexy sides. We spend a lot of time in the realm of the intellect, because it's our happy spot.

Now we have a Democratic President who is also black (read, transformative change) and also intellectual. And our expectations are extraordinarily high, at exactly the time that the world's problems are extraordinarily awful.

My sense is that Obama is attempting, with great calculation, to mute the noise machine that would use name-calling to stop his wonk-oriented governance. His process is bound to drive us commie eggheads a little nuts.

PS. Don't make me try and love you now, Chris Matthews. Good job keeping KO from flame-jumping out of his shorts, though. He makes the point exactly about Bush and ideology at the 2:45 mark:





___________

Today is the last day of my quarterly fundraiser.

It's not a bailout, and it's designed so that no individual has to borrow from the Chinese or the Saudi royal family to give. If you have nine bucks or less to give to the cause of good internet writing and a hard-working advocate for small indy blogs, I thank you.



11 comments:

  1. Somehow, the idea of Bill O'Reilly calling for a more responsible media is like Sarah Palin calling for tighter environmental protection in Alaska.
    He's pissed on every canon of journalistic ethics there are, then invented new ways to pollute the media stream.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I dared. And I have seen the future of recalcitrantly faux-revisionist thought, and it is Bill-O.

    'Many in the press slanted their reporting to help Barack Obama, every independent study shows that.'

    Whenever someone throws in such a masterful dual logical fallacy (appeal to popularity/authority), I become so duly impressed with their gravitas that I can no longer process objective reality.
    Vote Republican!

    'And all you have to do is compare the treatment Obama received to how the media portrayed Sarah Palin. That's all you have to do.'

    Hmmm, yes...Bittergate, Proudgate, the 'Whitey tape', Jeremiah Wright, Antoin Rezko, Larry Sinclair, 'Barry's' patently fraudulent government issue birth certificate from some island halfway to foreignland...Why, it's just disgraceful how tankilicious the media was for their Obamessiah as opposed to the divine Sarah P., who rules her ice queendom fetchingly, with a wise and just hand outstretched for the bounty that her generous serfs gratefully provide.

    Why, I even hear the media asked her serious, straightforward questions and broadcast her replies verbatim and in context. Can you imagine that?

    Oh, the infamy.

    ;>)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:05 PM

    I feel that us liberals almost shoot ourselves in the foot from the get go. We tend to be more studious and considerate look at all the possible angles and then make an informed decision. Where as the right-wing nuts tend to go for the 3 second sound bite with almost no consideration of the relevant facts. We see shades of grey and they only see black and white.

    cheney/bush/rumsfeld/addington/libby/yu/delay and anybody else who had a hand in subverting the Constitution for personal, political and monetary gain should be tried for war crimes, torture, the rape of the treasury, violations of FISA, subversion of the DOJ,EPA,SEC and anything else they might have done that was illegal. When convicted they should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Their assets should be frozen and confiscated. They should only be let out to go empty bed pans at NMC Bethesda and Walter Reed.
    SEMPER FI!
    NAVDOC3RDMARINES(SW,FMF,PJ)
    USN (RET.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. At first we were going to guess that was a Sarah Palin quote, but then we realized that it didn't include the word "also" a million times or an explicit mention of how the bloggers have ruined everything.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Isn't it funny how we can't call them fascists, but they can call us socialists?

    ReplyDelete
  6. My boyfriend has this theory, that whoever is ahead is who the media attacks. That way they can keep the race 50/50 as long as they can so more people will watch their media coverage.

    If it is not a edge or your seat cliff hanger every day, people would find something better to do.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Katie, Your boyfriend is on to something. The media in their corporate interests push the candidates who will raise/spend the most money. Hence we had Barack vs Hillary, NOT the two BEST candidates, Edwards vs Kucinich. and then a close race between Obama and McCain? Gimme a break.

    It's all about the money. No more; no less.

    ReplyDelete
  8. the media is not about truth, justice and the american way (that is just kids programs) - it is about making money - lots of it - and the truth be damned along the way

    and reporting is boring. trashing, controversy and britney - now that is salacious and profitable.

    but then again why should we be surprised? money after all is the reason we have been SO successful under the bush regime

    and as the media sees their audience slip away - because after all how much britney and sarah can people with money take - they trash the online world more and more

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7:25 AM

    The fact that you found and posted the Chris Matthews vid (a great piece by the way), plus your incisive words today, make supporting your fund-raiser a no-brainer. (Did I say that right?)

    ReplyDelete
  10. http://www.amazon.com/U-S-Versus-Them-Half-Century-Conservatism/dp/B001IDZK6C/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232146946&sr=8-1

    good points all around. and boy, when tweety is on- he is on! i hate it when he is right because then i start watching hardball again and get disappointed :) his lucid moments are distracting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Blind pigs find truffles, Matthews uncovers kernels of truth as fuel for outraged castigation of and sorrowful ruminations upon the sorry state of unfettered capitalism...The incentive for these remarkable events is provided when his broker mails the quarterly account statement, methinks.

    ;>)

    ReplyDelete

I really look forward to hearing what you have to say. I do moderate comments, but non-spam comments will take less than 24 hours to appear... Thanks!