michaeledward said:
Well ... tradrockrat, thanks for your opinion.
I am not certain that I have taken the same items from this thread as you have, and I question some of them.
And I thank you for a very thougthful reply. As for the questions, i'm guessing that you address them in the rest of your post.
[quore]One thing I will say, is that John McCain is not a middle of the road Republican. He certainly is presented with that image, especially if you consider how popular he is on Sunday morning talk shows. But, when you examine his voting record, he is a pretty hard right conservative. He does speak his mind, and therefore has a great deal of respect across the American political spectrum. I am about as far left as you get on this board, and I have given money to his campaigns in the past. [/quote]
He does seem to have a solid reputation, doesn't he?
Also, as a Liberal Democrat, I do not think that being uneducated makes one a conservative. Nor do I think that being a conservative means one is uneducated. And I don't much care for the implication ... well, I guess you did more than imply, didn't you?
Well, actually I was replying to this post:
It's the education level. Most folks who write for these institutions are college educated and tend to lean to left because of it.
so I really didn't imply anything, just responded. And believe me, I don't much care for the implication either. The implication of this post is plain - educated = liberal.
As for Media Bias ... the right wing political machine decries it at every moment, not because it exists, but so that the media will "Balance" reports with hogwash. Think how many 'Evolution' discussions you've seen in the last year that didn't give weight to 'Intelligent Design'. Think how many stories have spun Abramoff's political donations into the Democratic Party ... (although Federal Records demonstrate Mr. Abramoff gave zero dollars to the Democrats).
Here's where we disagree. Spin is spin, bias is bias. Both parties use spin (much to my regret), but I personally see a clear bias in reporting, regardless of what either side says. I think that many confuse bias with fabrication or spin. Here's my take on it:
Fabrication is outright lying - and you don't see that often in the news.
Spin is twisting the facts to make them seem to support your sides views. It's a political thing - such as the fact that Abramoff is eminently attackable and defendable depending upon whos side you are on. The news just reports the loudest spin.
Bias is choosing a side. It's the thing that leads to otherwise respected newscasters releasing "news" that is unverified and ultimately untrue just because they
personally disagree with the current political regime. It also leads to very specific agendas and that leads to spin.
It's all about 'Working the Referees' ... or so says Eric Alterman.
That most Americans don't have a ******** meter built into their heads, means that the Media Bias argument works ... diluting the real stories with the 'he said / she said' mentality.
I think that only those unwilling to question what they hear and unwilling to search for the motivation behind the story are the ones without that meter of yours. I am not implying anything about you personally, but many people look for what supports their already existing beliefs and call all else ********, rather than approaching with a truely open mind, which is required in order for that meter to work properly.
What bothered me the most about this thread was the name calling and unreal mean spiritedness that I felt when reading so many of these posts. I still feel that there is an elitest undertone to a significant portion of these posts, implying that if you aren't of one mind with the poster, you are somehow less. I would love to find out I'm wrong, and I would love to have to apologize for the misunderstanding, but the first two pages of this thread...
