TO DU, do not believe anything I post about Iran. It is

[nadinbrzezinski]

impossible to confirm, so why bother trying to keep up with the story.

That is all.

So anything I find, I keep to myself now and my notes.

After all, cannot be confirmed, and lord knows the media and the new media have failed us

So why bother anymore.

That is all...

Don't ask, that is the frustration speaking

Now back to your chosen distraction. The king of pop is dead... who cares about anything else? Perhaps I should do the same...

[jobycom]

1. Good idea. nt

[Duer 157099]

2. Sometimes a distraction is good

Even in the worst of times. Sometimes especially in the worst of times.

We both know the situation in Iran is not going away any time soon. It took years to get where it is, and I just don't think it will go away if we don't look at it for a couple days. Y'know?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Nah I will keep taking my notes

just keeping this to myself

In fact, I found something that is promising already, but shhhh, why bother? After all the cynics brigade... well I am a top cynic but one reason why the media ain't going there either is the only thing they can confirm is state media

Yep, Orwell is proud.

[Swede]

6. Well keep posting for us DUers that are interested.

Please.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Not after that last one

no

The story really does not matter to many folks.

And of course there is plenty of propaganda (on all sides) and nothing is reliable

Is any news accurate and free of bias and propaganda?

[drm604]

11. If you have something promising

there are those of us here who would like to hear it.

[knowbody0]

4. I read all your posts

actually I seek them out. thank you for what you do.

sometimes distractions are healing. humanity is a skitzoid species, we just have to accept it.

[Greyhound]

9. No, it's an American thing.

People in other nations around the world get screwed and they know it, they get angry, they make their anger known, they riot, they protest, they burn and break things, they blow shit up, and they are killed.

We sit on our couches, stick our fingers in our ears and pretend not to see our neighbors hauling their stuff away and tell ourselves that "it won't happen to me", "everything is just fine", "they did it to themselves", "nobody wants to hurt me", "I'm a good serf employee and always do as I'm told, so I'll be just fine". We have perfected the art of stepping over other human beings in the street while pretending we didn't see them. "What's on tonight, Dear"?

We cling to a belief in "the American way" with a zeal the Wahhabi Madrasas in Saudi Arabia can only dream of with envy.

Nothing personal, just disgusted at being right again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I wish I could recommend this

because this is the way it is...

[Greyhound]

31. Thank you, that means a lot to me. n/t

[Arctic Dave]

5. If it is somthing important everyone wants a gold plated certified note.

If it's gossip they will believe the neighbors dog.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. And when we bloggers make a mistake, we get raked over the coals

so I am done with the story,,, at least here. As I said, I am still taking notes... and using my sources... which at times are biased.

Aren't we all?

Isn't all media but propaganda meant to push an agenda?

I guess my frustration level reached its limit today.

Perhaps I am just tired after hours at the Local Fair, walking under the son?

But I know that Orwell was right... and those who control the media control the present, the past and the future.

[LadyHawkAZ]

13. Wish there was a reward for Quote of the Week

I'd nominate you for that one.

So pathetically true.

[Arctic Dave]

24. Welcome tu DU. Stay in the shade. AZ in June is tough.

[LadyHawkAZ]

33. Not too bad yet

It's been a bizarrely cool June. Take "cool" with a grain of salt: by "cool" I mean "cool for here". We haven't hit the 110s yet and we usually have by now.

[Arctic Dave]

39. Our daughter was born in Mesa when it hit 122 degrees nineteen years ago.

[uppityperson]

10. If you mean the photo one, don't worry, just accept that what you post may not be accurate

I do not believe much without confirmation. BUT, it is ok to post stuff without confirmation, just accept that it may not prove true.

Hang in there

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. It is the general attitude... seems people want things confirmed

well I cannot do that.

We have encountered that more and more

Like the H1N1, same kind of frustration, actually worst

At least that one we had "gold plated" triple confirmed, multi sourced stories.

THe new media is challenging the old media, but mark my words, not in the land of the free and the brave. Well not outside a very small group outside the main stream

[nomaco-10]

12. I follow your posts and have appreciated your updates and links....

Somebody posted the other day (I wish I could find it) that this place has become the Democratic equivalent of The National Enquirer. I'm sorry to say, I have to agree.

I give and take what I need from du and enjoy what little time I spend here anymore, but I have backup sites for the important stuff. Having said that, LBN is still an important forum here.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. LBN is probably the most important thing

As to the National Enquirer, there are days I agree

[HughMoran]

15. You've had a lot of vanity posts related to this whole MJ situation

It's really pissing you off, isn't it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Read George Orwell, especially his essays on the media

and buy a clue at the clue factory.

Concentrate, if you will, in his novel 1984

You may also want to read Aldous Huxley while at it.

And perhaps Popper.

After you do that, you might get why this soft news story belongs on TMZ.

Thankfully at least News Hour realized this and actually ran HARD NEWS, remember those?

[HughMoran]

22. I called it when it happend

"This will dominate the news for a week", I said.

I'm not sure why you think we're all mindless idiots for acknowledging our own mortality when someone we grew up with dies young. Besides, he had a few good songs over those 50 years. I can't believe I'll be 50 in 3 years :(

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I guess I am way ahead of the average american in acknowledging my own

mortality.

The first time was when a dear uncle died, he was in his sixties, I was 13, I actually saw the covered body in a cheap sheet, surrounded by candles. He died on a Friday... there are no burials until the Sabbath, so people staid around that body all night.

I guess I have been aware of that for many decades, after taking care of people, some of whom did die... and a few with me giving CPR. So you are very aware of death

So I celebrate life every day... and do not need a reminder that I am mortal.

Now that is cultural, I will admit that.

In Mexico, where I grew up, we make fun of it, from very early on... Dia de los Muertos, day of the dead. Even as a jewish kid, we gave each other skulls, with names... la calavera. To this day, I ask my mom to give them to people for me,

The US has medicalized and removed the dying from their homes, and this process has made Americans very afraid of aging and death. Any good hisotry of this should horrify Americans.

So perhaps this is why this bothers me. It is actually far more ghoulish than the dia de los muertos, or the drinking of atole (some had it spiked) at the funeral of a good friend. Or the may shiva's I've been too over the years. And yes you called it, but it is only this way because Americans accept it, even relish it. If it did not produce eyeballs on screen, they'd not do it.

[HughMoran]

25. I now feel obligated

to point out that my younger brother was hit (and killed) by a car right in front of me when I was 11. My best friend died in a house fire when I was 21. I watched my aunt's heart peter out and cease to beat (cancer) not so very long ago. I've seen my share of death and I'm almost used to it. This event though is about my life and reminds me and many others to perhaps re-look at the priorities in our own lives. There are various other reasons that I and others have an emotional link to what happened to MJ. Perhaps this is a truly American story that you'd have to have grown up with - idk.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Perhaps, and I am sorry for your losses

but the lesson I took a long time ago is to celebrate life and cherish the little things every day.

And if that is all you get out of this story... that will be great

Now MJ was also a great pop figure of my youth... so you know

He wasn't just an American pop idol, just as Fawcet was not just an American phoneme, or for that matter D. Osmond, Elvis Presley and Elton John. these were international, or the Beatles... or John Denver

But in many ways the media got it right, this is like Elvys's death, I just wish it was treated the same way. The kind of one hour special, carefully done and respectfully done... not the 24\7 ghoulish coverage. This is about marketing dollars, not respect or coverage

And it is also about control... I refer you back to Orwell.

[Greyhound]

30. So you've gone through those events, had your own mortality shoved into your face,

reassessed your priorities, goals, and the meaning that your life has had, and your response to all of that is to immerse yourself in this...

What more needs to be said.

[HughMoran]

34. Well, Mr. Greyhound

I think you're a ass for your hateful comments. I'd put you on ignore, but... ;)

[lindisfarne]

16. Nico Pitney takes most of my notes. n/t

[timeforpeace]

19. Maybe a timeout will do you some good.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Yes and even he will tell you that it is getting harder to do

At least I will not waste my time with this for you.

After all why care?

[lindisfarne]

29. I care. I just don't see the point of my spending time scouring the electronic media when someone is

already doing it extremely well and I can simply read what he points me to.

How closely are you following human rights violations at Guantanamo? in Russia? China? Should I stand in judgment of you and make snarky comments like "why care?"

I didn't mean to say you shouldn't take whatever notes suit you. Just don't judge me for some perceived slight (and I have no idea what really motivated you to make the original post - my reply was simply to say there's a good source that I rely on). I've probably read things you've posted, and appreciated them - I generally don't remember who's written what I've read.

I'm guessing perhaps someone on DU asked you for a verifiable source? That wasn't me. It wouldn't have been me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. It wasn't you, it was the stark

404th twitter brigade.

The kind of same hate of new media we see in the MSM until THEY need to use the new media...

And it will be back next week

He is good... stick with him

:-)

He is ONE of my sources too

[lunatica]

26. I know you're not just giving up on the story because it's hard to verify

But all you have to do is start your posts by saying this is what I found today and it is not corroborated because of the news black out in Iran but for those who are interested I'm posting it. I know it's disheartening but don't assume that all of us here are talking about or fascinated about MJ. I haven't posted a thing about him nor do I read the links. I've seen the hype too many times to not know what it means.

People like me depend on people like you to give us information that's important. That's why I come to DU. If I can't get that then why bother to be here?

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. I'm just extremely frustrated to the point that I will direct you to HUF Post

and the blog on that. He will keep doing it publicly.

I am done with the public coverage.

And I should add, for some it does not matter if the story is triple sourced, (the media is lying to us), or so difficult to confirm it is almost impossible to trust at times... so I am very tired and very frustrated.

That is all... very frustrated

Keeping my notes, for my benefit I guess, as a novelist this story is still rich and rife with source material

As a human being, it is important to me. (and obviously to you)

By the way, I have put those disclaimers a few times... does not make a difference

And here is Nico Pitney's blog

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

[Bjorn Against]

32. I don't want you to give up on posting

I understand your frustration, believe me I do. There is so much media out there and we want to be able to trust some of it, but then we realize that some of the sources we trusted were not quite as solid as we thought. This happens to all of us from time to time, and while it is very frustrating we should not let it make us give up. I think you have a lot of things to add to this site and I am not going to let one post that you put up in good faith make me question your commitment to getting the truth out. Please don't take this incident as a reason to give up, the truth is out there and I know you are on the right track to finding it so I hope you won't allow a frustrating incident to stop you from pursuing that truth.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. It is not one, it is many... started with the

multiple sourced, and I mean that, collated at twitter, H1N1

I am to the point that when it comes to the Iran story. let each be their judge of where they get the info.

It was the snark from a few people, that started with those, the 404th, twitter brigade...

Well I will keep to the twitter, and taking notes. lord knows it will be great for the Revolt in a mythical planet almost 2000 years in the future.... some things, never change. Just the technology

[Bjorn Against]

37. I know what it feels like, I have been on the receiving end of some nasty snark myself

I always try to brush it off, but it is not always easy to do that and there have been a few times I have gotten really upset about it. You just have to remember that if you are working in good faith to get the truth out then you are doing the right thing, I know it can be tough but try not to let the snark get to you because it is not worth it to get upset about.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. To me at this point it is not worth posting about this story

frankly I cannot confirm anything on double triple source, the standard of any journalist. Or for that matter a historian. So this is now becoming exactly what it is, raw intelligence. Good, bad, ugly, terrible.

So I will let people, if they are interested, go on and do the gumshoe themselves. The sources are out there.

When I can double and triple confirm, like with the H1N1 twitter feeds, sure whatever...

But here I cannot confirm the time of day, no shit my putter is off, since I put it on Tehran time...

And lord help us if we ever need to rely on something like the tweeter to run a revolution, lord help us.

If we ever find ourselves in that situation I doubt many in this country will even realize how to do that.