1.29.2010
I Like Big Blogs (and I Cannot Lie)
Well, to be perfectly honest, all information on a particular subject is biased, because one must choose what information to omit from an event. It is impossible to list every single detail about something for the simple reason that there are millions of things happening as I type; to focus on the subatomic level would be extreme but necessary for this type of detail. That being said, the bias in media is simply because its purpose is to present as much information as possible in a short amount of time without presenting unnecessary information; that one has to decide what information is unnecessary is a source of bias.
1.28.2010
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!!!!
I watched Diane Sawyer, and I noticed many things:
State of the Union - This was before the speech actually took place, and it was about 10 minutes of different politicians, political analysts and speechwriters-turned-political analysts either predicting or explaining to Diane Sawyer what the president was going to, needed to, or should say in his speech. To be honest, it's really just a way to fill time. Don't get me wrong; I think that this kind of conversation is rather interesting and thought-provoking, but can't they wait to compare the speech to their expectations AFTER it's already been spoken?
AIG - This wasn't really a main section of the program, but it basically consisted of clips of congress members grilling (and eventually saucing) Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury for the uninformed) in a voracious, and in my opinion, necessary manner. They were accusing him of caring more about large banks, such as Goldman Sachs, instead of fighting for the benefit of taxpayers. He denied
iPad - iPod, iPad, yada yada yada. . . To be perfectly honest, this is nothing new. As a whole, technology is getting either bigger (wider screens on MacBook Pros) or smaller (MacBook Air—who buys those things anymore, anyway?); the iPad is just getting back to the middle ground. And because I know that it's going to be more expensive than enriched uranium-235 (trust me, I know), I think that it's potential for accessibility will vanish into thin air.
Toyota - Toyota covered up some craptacular parts (probably made by their west-door neighbors), and 20 people have died because of it. Dealers are lying about the recall in order to sell their cars. People who have the recalled cars don't want to drive them and can't sell them. When contacted, a salesman's supervisor said that the salesman didn't lie, but that he hadn't been briefed yet. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. (Actually, it was 1:22 in the morning, but that's irrelevant. But Japan's across the international date line, so blah.) I love when news-narrators use sarcasm—after saying an false statement in a tone of ridicule, they make a short pause, and then point out the absurdity. Too bad the Toyota dealer didn't think to use a very effective rhetorical strategy called "backing up lies with more lies."
Grenade Launcher - I thought it was interesting that the investigator (Chris Cuomo) pointed out the 164,000 entries in a Google search for "grenade launchers for sale"; in reality, not all of those results are actually selling grenade launchers. It's not that he was lacking common sense, but it seemed that he deliberately attempted to mislead and alarm the audience. After contacting an internet seller of grenade launchers, Cuomo asked the seller about the restrictiveness of grenade launcher sales. He quoted her saying "We've never had an order not go through." I'm guessing the investigator hopes that his audience will not analyze whether or not the seller is lying just to make a sale, as is a common "business" practice of those with less-than-standard ethics. Obviously, this section was just an attempt at manipulating the unwitting viewer into advocating stricter firearms legislation. Scare tactics may work on your mother, Mr. Cuomo, but they don't scare me.
State of the Union - This was before the speech actually took place, and it was about 10 minutes of different politicians, political analysts and speechwriters-turned-political analysts either predicting or explaining to Diane Sawyer what the president was going to, needed to, or should say in his speech. To be honest, it's really just a way to fill time. Don't get me wrong; I think that this kind of conversation is rather interesting and thought-provoking, but can't they wait to compare the speech to their expectations AFTER it's already been spoken?
AIG - This wasn't really a main section of the program, but it basically consisted of clips of congress members grilling (and eventually saucing) Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury for the uninformed) in a voracious, and in my opinion, necessary manner. They were accusing him of caring more about large banks, such as Goldman Sachs, instead of fighting for the benefit of taxpayers. He denied
iPad - iPod, iPad, yada yada yada. . . To be perfectly honest, this is nothing new. As a whole, technology is getting either bigger (wider screens on MacBook Pros) or smaller (MacBook Air—who buys those things anymore, anyway?); the iPad is just getting back to the middle ground. And because I know that it's going to be more expensive than enriched uranium-235 (trust me, I know), I think that it's potential for accessibility will vanish into thin air.
Toyota - Toyota covered up some craptacular parts (probably made by their west-door neighbors), and 20 people have died because of it. Dealers are lying about the recall in order to sell their cars. People who have the recalled cars don't want to drive them and can't sell them. When contacted, a salesman's supervisor said that the salesman didn't lie, but that he hadn't been briefed yet. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. (Actually, it was 1:22 in the morning, but that's irrelevant. But Japan's across the international date line, so blah.) I love when news-narrators use sarcasm—after saying an false statement in a tone of ridicule, they make a short pause, and then point out the absurdity. Too bad the Toyota dealer didn't think to use a very effective rhetorical strategy called "backing up lies with more lies."
Grenade Launcher - I thought it was interesting that the investigator (Chris Cuomo) pointed out the 164,000 entries in a Google search for "grenade launchers for sale"; in reality, not all of those results are actually selling grenade launchers. It's not that he was lacking common sense, but it seemed that he deliberately attempted to mislead and alarm the audience. After contacting an internet seller of grenade launchers, Cuomo asked the seller about the restrictiveness of grenade launcher sales. He quoted her saying "We've never had an order not go through." I'm guessing the investigator hopes that his audience will not analyze whether or not the seller is lying just to make a sale, as is a common "business" practice of those with less-than-standard ethics. Obviously, this section was just an attempt at manipulating the unwitting viewer into advocating stricter firearms legislation. Scare tactics may work on your mother, Mr. Cuomo, but they don't scare me.
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