I have never. EVER. seen such a pack of slavering, flesh-eating GHOULS...

[TygrBright]

...as the American mainstream media milking the Va Tech tragedy for everything it's worth.

It just turns my stomach.

They are trying so desperately you can practically see them turning inside out right in front of the camera, trying to make this into an all-consuming public frenzy on a scale of 911 or Katrina.

It cheapens and degrades the real suffering of the victims (including the slain and injured students' families, friends, and classmates,) and dilutes the real essence of the tragedy inherent what happened. That essence is the horrifying randomness and suddenness and scale of the carnage, and the incongruity of its setting.

NONE of which can be productively made an "issue" of. Or the subject of "national debate." With the exception of the tired, beaten-to-death shouting match on gun control (WHICH WILL NOT BE MOVED ONE INCH IN EITHER DIRECTION BY THIS) there are no "lessons" here, nothing we can realistically "learn" about ourselves and our culture and our society from this that we don't already know.

The spectacle of them trying to make controversy over how and when the administration notified the students, the 'security' of the campus, etc., is beyond sickening. One of the blowdried airheads was practically BEGGING for someone to sue the school administration. Another 'team' was tying themselves in knots over the 'safety practices' on the campus. As though any level of security can keep some suicidal shithead from killing. Didn't we learn anything from the excrement with box cutters on 9/11/01?

And didn't we learn anything from the level of further trauma inflicted by the 9/11 coverage on an already shellshocked nation, about the morality of playing a tragedy for ratings, beating it into the ground, re-inflating it and trotting it around the track again and again and again?

Have they no decency? No respect for human dignity? <----------RHETORICAL QUESTION

And one large component of my revulsion is the subtext (and you KNOW it's there... )

"Jam! Jam!! We got jam!!! JUST in time for Anna Nicole's baby to die out of the headlines, we got SOMETHING ELSE to distract America from the vicious corruption and warmongering government! KKKarl just called, boys... ride this one for all you can whup out of it!!"

You KNOW that as soon as they told the homicidal penguin about this he grinned from ear to ear (as close as he can come to a grin, anyway, a twisted deaths-head grimace) and howled "Yeeeee-HAW!! Dead students!! We got DEAD STUDENTS!! Tell Fredo he's off the hook for tomorrow!"

And the drooling, flesh-eating undead that populate the broadcast and cable airwaves converged on the tragedy and began to feast...

nauseatedly,
Bright

[saltpoint]

1. My question is, wasn't Nancy Grace in the cast somewhere of

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE?

Seems like she ought to have been. But playing herself.

Nancy Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NANCY GRACE

[foo_bar]

13. I didn't viddy a Nancy Grace like devotchka

Are you thinking of Natural Born Killers? That one had ultra-violence and media whores.

[saltpoint]

14. It's all a blur, foo_bar. But in the foggywog of my caverollers floats

the Grace monster.

Can't place the locus-scape but there she wobbles, nostrils athrob.

[RT_Fanatic]

54. The very sight of Nancy Grace

...makes me want to :puke:

My wife was riveted to it during the whole Scott Peterson thing. Listening to that sanctimonious whore makes my skin crawl.

[saltpoint]

57. Hi, RT. Yep. Me, too. Can't take 30 seconds of Nancy Grace without

losing lunch.

I had to impose a media blackout during the Peterson case. She must have been insufferable for that.

[LynzM]

2. You nailed it.

I have not watched it on TV or listened to it on the radio at all, for that exact reason. It makes me sick. Report what happened, talk to (don't lead) the witnesses, and leave people the hell alone so they can mourn. Damn.

[saltpoint]

4. LynzM, I like your avatar there, and I like your vote for Ned Lamont.

[LynzM]

8. Thanks, dude.

Ned's was the first campaign I've been a part of. Good people, and winning the primary was fantastic. We all went home and cried about his subsequent loss, but the campaign brought so much discussion, it almost felt worth it just for that, sometimes. :hi:

[saltpoint]

9. Hell yes, it was worth it, and I say thanks to you and every other

person who threw in to help Ned.

I think Ned's not done in Connecticut politics, and we just may see him in the Senate yet.

[lonestarnot]

3. Acckkk. I chose to file papers and pay bills and turn it off and it's

going to stay that way except for KO, Jon and Colbert.

[Irishonly]

35. Exactly

Silly me. I turned on the news and quickly turned off the boob tube.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. Wow. I'll bet that's exactly what Rove said! K and R.

[fooj]

6. They are desperate for their "megaphone" moment.

They set the stage and it didn't come. Little Lord Pissypants couldn't pull it off this time. What's that saying of his? "You can fool..."

[DemoTex]

7. Press the "OFF" switch ..

That's what I did.

[AuntPatsy]

10. Agree have had to ignore the news for a bit.

[LouisianaLiberal]

11. From another thread: a VT student posting from today

It speaks for itself:

Reply to: [email protected]
Date: 2007-04-17, 4:55PM EDT


Please someone please make these reporters leave us alone. I had a reporter come to me and ask me "off camera" if I would go on the record condeming the way our school responded and when I said know he actually got pissy with me!

People. We have been through enough! The police and school did what they could. This was an isolated, tragedy that may never happen again. In any case anyone who can hear this please make the reporters leave our school and leave us to our grief.

How sick can you be to use this tragedy so you can make more news stories? We have enough to deal with.

Cant you people in the news media find something positve to do rather than come and harass us?

The only thing I can think of so far that the school has done wrong in this whole thing is not close off all campus dorms and facilities to news reporters!

Vultures!

[RT_Fanatic]

53. I agree wholeheartedly with this student...

Having said that...don't flame me, but I have a problem with a student at such a prestigious institution of higher learning who would write this:

Please someone please make these reporters leave us alone. I had a reporter come to me and ask me "off camera" if I would go on the record condeming the way our school responded and when I said know he actually got pissy with me!

You mean you don't know "no" from "know" and you're in college?

[ingac70]

12. The shit stirring by the media really gets me...

I was listening to the radio and someone on there said he wondered if this would cause a backlash against South Korean immigrants! The gunman had been here since he was eight, so I'd say judging from his actions he was sufficiently Americanized!

[undergroundpanther]

15. my idiot mom

has had a drink too many tonight,So she mumbled some really sickening almost racist shit about "those people" while the TV was on talking about Cho... I got pissed off at her chewed her out, and told her to keep her fucking bigot comments about people and shit she knows nothing about to her goddamn ignorant self.She shut up but tried to protest and I shouted her down I was in NO mood to hear her drunk pontificating on how evil asians are or how mentally ill people are dangerous, she forgets her own family has alot of mentally ill people in it including me and her and her fucking psychopath husband who tried to kill her not once but TWICE,and this asshate hurt me,and her own goddamn father who was a psycho drunk asshole...The hypocrisy! I was so disgusted at her..She tried to say some more shit, to justify the shit she said before..I felt my anger rising..so...

I got up ,came down here and got on DU, the antidote to bigoted comments from old fart,ignorant, closed minded "normal" "mainstream to the point of banality people who think like my mom when she's sloshed. She was rambling like a self important fool commenting on shit she does not understand , drinking the kool aid with a heaping helping of that SHIT the media hypes all to hell, stoking hate for other races of people just under the surface,stoking fear of mentally ill people too, stirring up SHIT we do not need that people like my mom whom never had the guts to meet or get exposure to different people due to their own city phobic bullshit ,Due to BELIEVING the MSM (she actually thinks blacks are responsible for most crimes because TV news says so!) So she assumes blacks are more crime prone than whites,as if it was caused by something wrong with black people..she is that fucking ignorant..

She being isolated way up in the hills or choosing all white neighborhoods so she never has to ever get to understand others not like herself and see they are human beings too.AAarrrgh. Sometimes my mom makes me SICK and I am ashamed of her bigoted crap.Especially when she has booze in her it loosens that crud in her mind she usually doesn't say.Did I ever say how much I HATE booze? I hate how it effects some people.Sickening.

[ingac70]

22. Oh, my GOD! You poor thing......

Honey, is this how you live day to day?



Both of my Grandfathers were alcoholics at one time. One was a funny drunk, and the other was a mean drunk.
The funny drunk had a nervous breakdown from his problem when I was seven, got treatment, got sober, and was still funny as ever.

The mean drunk decided he would quit drinking when he had open heart surgery, after drinking daily his entire adult life and abusing his own children in his drunken rages. He even legally separated from my grandmother while she was in the nursing home, so the state would pay the tab, even though he had excellent insurance that would pay. He would bring his live in girlfriend with him when he visited Grandmaw, even though she had her mind and knew what was up.
He just quit cold turkey, in his late '70's, never got treatment. When my mom stated how suprised she was he didn't need to be dried out I told her "Obviously he wasn't a alcoholic all these years, just a monumental asshole."

[undergroundpanther]

23. Not now

my mom is up here because I had surgery a male chest reconstruction.Something I have waited for my whole life.I need her help right now to get to the doctor etc. I've been having a few complications because I have a hacking cough (caught the flu from my mom)and a few nights ago my coughing pissed off the tissues in my chest and I am swelling and bleeding again. I went to the doc today and luckily they found no hemotomas.I took the pain laying on the surgery table my arms strapped as they cut open the stitches and suctioned and cleaned the wound out.They used local anesthesia but warned me it might still hurt,they did not want to knock me out if they could avoid it. The straps were triggering because of what happened to me in mental hospitals, but I understood why they did it..I can dissociate my ass into oblivion so I didn't feel any pain during the procedure .The nurses were kinda gawking over it today.The one good side effect of trauma I guess.

Anyways,I need my mom here because I am stuck in the stupid suburbs and I do not drive(can't pass the eye test)I hate this isolated lonely shallow boring place but I'm stuck here for now.So She's here helping me get around but some nights she drinks and when she does I can't stand it, not only does it trigger the hell out of me, it makes me want to clobber her when she shows her ass. So I drag my butt into the basement and do stuff like type on DU. I hate booze.I really do.And I wish there was no booze.

[GuvWurld]

16. Kill your TV.

I know a guy that can do it for you.

[nam78_two]

17. Agree.nt

[silverojo]

18. What makes me even sicker

Is how someone can observe the public's horror, concern, and desire to wrap their minds around something so senseless, and twist it into some sort of political plot.

I hate Bush, Cheney, and all their evil ilk, but to suggest that the media is exploiting these deaths is pretty vile, too.

The media is reporting this story because COMPASSIONATE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT. Leave the tinfoil hats out of it, m'kay?

[TygrBright]

19. Sentiment: B+; Reading Comprehension: D

In no way does my original post either suggest or embrace a "tinfoil hat" viewpoint. Neither does it suggest a "political plot."

Read again.

I DO suggest that certain individuals are quite pleased, NOT to see the senseless death of innocent people, but to see the media coverage of those senseless deaths distracting from embarrassing and/or threatening media coverage of their own activities.

Granted, that is pure speculation on my part. But I'd rate the likelihood well within a credibility range that is nowhere near "tinfoil hat" territory.

See additional respons below.

firmly,
Bright

[TygrBright]

20. I agree it merits coverage. It merits QUALITY coverage.

It does not deserve the kind of creepy, ghoulish, we're-looking-for-a-way-to-turn-this-into-a-story-about-someone-other-than-the-crazy-asshole-doing-the-shooting-is-responsible coverage that it's getting in the mainstream media.

It doesn't deserve endless dissection of ancillary trivia that distract from and trivialize the real horror "Well, our reporter walked from building A to building B and it took two and a half minutes LESS than the police statement indicated!"

It doesn't deserve endless-loop repetition of the few horrifying facts that are the totality of what is actual news about this story, interlarded with speculation, incompetent 'analysis' and uninformed, insensitive commentary focused on getting the audience not just shocked and grieving, but angry and indignant.

It merits grave, factual coverage of what's relevant, repeated at sufficient intervals to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to learn the facts, for the first day or so. THEN it merits sober, reasoned coverage of the additional analysis and information provided by competent people in a position to know additional details. THEN it merits additional, sympathetic coverage of the unfolding impact on the surviving victims, including families and fellow-students, delivered during ordinary news broadcasts with enough time to signify the priority of the story.

Anything else is a disservice to the victims, to the public, and to the profession of journalism.

I am ASHAMED of the media. I am ASHAMED that we let them get away with their creepy bloodsucking ghoulish relish in this story and their insensitive, immoral indifference to their responsibilities.

nauseatedly,
Bright

[Vilis Veritas]

30. Once is coverage.

I agree with you.

Once is coverage. Twice is pandering. Weeklong dissection is wagging the dog.

WAKE UP People. Those of you who turn off the TV are way better off than those who still turn it on, even every now and then.

The media in this country is so subtly designed to brainwash people that it continues to garner defense, even from the enlightened. Goebells would have been proud of his predecessors.

WAKE UP

[mwb970]

25. But do we need this MUCH coverage? This KIND of coverage?

The media is reporting this story because COMPASSIONATE PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

OK, OK, we hear you. But do "compassionate people" find it necessary for some reason to wallow in this tragedy all day every day, day after day? Hey, I'm compassionate, but I would still like the news channels to cover some story other than this one, and to cover this one in a less ghoulish manner. (While we're at it, how about fewer endless TV reruns of jumpy, grainy cellphone videos that show nothing and that we've seen 100 times already?)

As NPR began another lengthy hand-wringing VT story this morning, the host asked rhetorically, "How can we get beyond this?" It occurred to me that easing up on the saturation coverage might be part of the answer.

[Kajsa]

34. It's been 24/7, since it happened.

I did not need to see yet another " Primetime Special"(ABC)
with Diane Sawyer, last night.

Nothing new-everything rehashed, disgustingly rehashed.
Why only a select few of the victims memorialized?
Didn't the others count?
Over and over and over, the same BS, the same spin,
"coulda, shoulda, woulda."

No people, my heart grieves and cries for all victims of violence and war.
I work in classrooms, this hits close to home for me.
Working with students is the reason I'm in teaching.
I've been in a funk-a weird state I can't describe.

But I needed a break last night.
I think we all do.

I needed to watch the new episode of 'Boston Legal'.

[tblue37]

21. The promos for the NBC ghoul-fest last night showed Brian Williams

looking down, then looking up at the camera in such a transparent posing gesture that it made me want to scream. It's disgusting. I won't watch them.

[rpannier]

24. Amen!

Let us not forget how quickly the vultures circled the house of the family of the first serviceman who was killed in Iraq.
Hered is a guy in agony and they're asking him "How do you feel?"
I mean "Christ!"
How do you think he feels.

These leeches only care about getting the darkest and most morbid part of any story.

It's why I am glad I live overseas.

[riverwalker]

46. I remember that man

and when he held up the photo of his son and said "George Bush take a good look, you killed my only son" the gutless media was acting "offended" that he DARED to criticize our president.

[Junkdrawer]

26. With Gonzo on deck and KKKarl's nuts on the spit, get used to it...

This will dominate the news for a long, long time...

[Donald Ian Rankin]

27. I think this is silly and unfair.

I do not for a minute believe that the media is deliberately paying more attention to this massacre than they otherwise would did they not with to cover up government corruption. Exposing a good scandal can make a reporter for life, but a story this sensational is always going to get a lot of coverage.

[Triana]

28. they don't call it 'lamestream' media for nothin' (n/t)

[Mad_Dem_X]

29. Completely agree

I don't usually watch news on TV, but I was at my in-laws' and they had CNN on. It was sickening - one show after another, with no real new information, just the same stuff repeated over and over.

[dave123williams]

31. 157 people died in Iraq bombings YESTERDAY.

...and nary a bleat from our pathetic MSM. I guess they value some lives more than others.

[bryant69]

32. We are all fucking ghouls

DU is no better than the Mainstream Media, when it comes to our eagerness to exploit this tragedy.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[cullen2382]

33. atlanta's headline

BLOODBATH in 4 inch high bold letters

[GeorgeGist]

36. If tomorrow it was announced...

that the "VT Massacre" was just an entertaining hoax (like "War of the Worlds"), how would the reviews read?

"Scintillating", "Adrenaline Pumping Action", "Disturbing", "Edge of Chair Suspense", "Terrifying", "Every Parents Nightmare", "Macabre", "Emotionally Charged", "Tortuous", "Engrossing", "2 thumbs up" ?

[Ilsa]

37. I can't watch the news. Too much talk and review that most of us

don't need. Therefore, I just come to DU LBN or BBC World News to find out what's going on in the world. That's depressing enough. 178 dead in Iraq bombings. OR is that just Baghdad?

[Steven_S]

38. Thank you TygrBright...

It was maybe 15 minutes or so after I came home Monday and watched it on CNN that I had to shut it off.
Some talking head was complaining about the guys standing around the trees instead of charging in and containing the gunman. Total idiotic bullshit.

It's part of many reasons I don't watch TV anymore, so I thank you for watching. :)

[DeepModem Mom]

39. You are a terrific writer, TygrBright...

and this post is evidence of that. I posted Monday night that there was no way the media was not going to cover this tragedy, that it was to be expected, and you replied with eloquence. As we head into the third day of full coverage, it's past time to call a halt. I understand your sentiments.

I would like, however, with respect, to call attention to two points that you make that I think are "over the top," and diminish your post, and credibility of discussion here. The notion that Karl Rove called the media and asked them to hype this story is far-fetched to me. I know he has media biggies on direct dial, and I'm sure he dials often. (I used to think he had a direct line to CNN's on-air people.) But he didn't have to make, and I don't think would make, that call about VT. This tragedy continues to be covered because people are watching, and people watching makes money, and money trumps just about anything.

I agree, too, that GW Bush is all too comfortable with death, as evidenced by his casual attitude toward capital punishment in Texas, his comments about Karla Faye Tucker, the occasional luck of glee on his face when he talks about taking someone out, etc. But to speculate that he howled, DEAD STUDENTS, seems over the top even for Bush.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be a critic here, but I just wanted to express my thoughts for the record -- that one DUer felt this post, which has a prominent place on the homepage and support from a large number of DUers, maybe crossed the line.

Thank you for your participation here, and for the strength of your convictions. And, again, my apologies for this note of dissent.

[TygrBright]

50. DM Mom, you are a writer whom I respect, and so...

...I am willing to again attempt to clarify both precisely what I wrote in my post, and the reason I used those images.

Which brings me back to what the two areas you reference were: Images.

I made no factual claim or serious speculation that Karl Rove actually called anyone or that any individual actually claimed to have received a call from him. I referred to it (if I may engage in the hubris of self-quoting) as:

>>the subtext (and you KNOW it's there... )

"Jam! Jam!! We got jam!!! JUST in time for Anna Nicole's baby to die out of the headlines, we got SOMETHING ELSE to distract America from the vicious corruption and warmongering government! KKKarl just called, boys... ride this one for all you can whup out of it!!"<<

Emphasis mine.

"Subtext" does not refer to actual text or transcription or even the suggestion that such a conversation actually took place. Merely, it describes the predominating influences that have come to shape our media the last few years. More specifically, it refers to the knowledge accumulated by many (if not all) of the decision-makers in the "news" media business that certain types of stories are more likely to be acceptable to the publishers and owners of the major media outlets. Those stories are, in order of preference:

a) Stories that prominently feature malfeasance by persons regarded as enemies of the GOPpie cabal and those who fund that cabal for the better continued acquisition of their own corporate power and wealth;

b) Stories about the cabal's front men and major political players which can easily be spun to portray them in ways that confirm the positive expectations of their hard-core political base, and/or make them look attractive to the remaining moderate conservatives; and

c) Stories that appeal to the very large segment of the public that is easily appealed to by prurient, salacious, celebrity-related, and/or horror-titillating events, and can be used to distract that public from other information that might conceivably foster a negative impression of the cabal and its supporters.

Media decision-makers have had these priorities ground into their heads for six years, now, and by now they are probably operating an a virtually instinctual level in determining what stories to cover, how MUCH to cover them, and how to focus the coverage to manipulate the public.

That is the subtext. Articulated or not, that subtext was operating Monday and yesterday, and is still operating today. Whether their coherent thoughts were actually something along the lines of "Karl will love this, he'd be wanting us to run it out as far as we can," or a more innocuous "This will both garner incredible ratings, especially if we can play the 'find someone who can be blamed' angle, PLUS it'll make the big boys at the top happy," the knowledge of that subtext in their decision making process made this even more revolting for me.

BTW "homicidal penguin" is not Shrub. And whether he actually literally howled "Yeeeee-HAW!! Dead students!! We got DEAD STUDENTS!!" or just smiled quietly to himself, I stand by my contention that Darth Cheney is as thrilled as his cybernetic circuits allow him to be, by the knowledge that something came along to knock the ongoing revelations of evil and corruption temporarily aside. And I have a difficult time imputing to him even a moment of dutifully-contemplated compassion for those involved.

But I'll cop to being over the top on that one if you wish. I'll admit that enough of the gut-wrenching revulsion I felt may have displaced onto Cheney to somewhat overstate his probable response to the tragedy.

If he wants to clank on out here and collect an apology, I'll grit my teeth, put on a hazmat suit, and deliver it.

There.

I chose to state those two parts of my emotional reaction to the coverage I'd witnessed in the way I stated them because that admittedly hyperbolic verbiage seemed the only way to adequately convey what I was feeling and thinking at the time. I wanted what I wrote to carry some of the same impact I was feeling. Newton's law, can't remember which one. Now it's been thoroughly deconstructed and thus the impact I'd hoped to convey has been cushioned by intellectualized analysis and explanation, so hopefully it won't offend anyone anymore.

patiently,
Bright

[DeepModem Mom]

51. I'm honored by this response, TygrBright --

and not only will the power of your post not be diminished by your patient explanation to me, but my response will put it back on page one of GD. I recognized the quality of your writing, but I was guilty of not acknowledging your "hyperbolic verbiage" as part of the excellence of the piece. The thought crossed my mind that you were using a literary device, but I'm not accustomed to that here, and I assumed, probably wrongly, that others would take the words literally. (And that any outsiders who wanted to use the words to villify us would do so.)

So once again, I apologize, and I offer my heartfelt appreciation for your reply. And I hope that what really is quite an essay on the media and its "subtext" (which I do know is there) is available somewhere for others to read.

Very best regards,

DMM

[noonwitch]

40. The media has no respect for anyone anymore-all they see is ratings grabbers

They are terrible to suffering people. After Columbine, they were sticking their mikes in the kids' mouths as the police were still evacuating them from the building.

Reporters are vultures. Don Henley was right about the newspeople.

[bunkerbuster1]

41. Reminds me of an online discussion comparing to Kent State...

The coverage, that is. I do remember the Kent State shootings; there was a somewhat similar sense of horror across the country, even though obviously there was a huge difference in what motivated the shootings.

What was different was the media coverage. It was very intense, and very sympathetic to the students, but more than anything, it was respectful of them. You didn't get the impression that the event was being covered in order to drive up ratings or circulation.

That sure as hell isn't the case today.

[plcdude]

42. I agree

it is time to let these people grieve and live in this disaster in private. Take the cameras out of that place and off those people and let them be about their healing in their own individual ways. Have we no decency?

[mwb970]

43. What if the VT shooting had happened during the Anna Nicole orgy?

I think the cable news channels would have entered some strange pre-emption loop and simply gone blank.

[RestoreGore]

44. I REFUSE to watch the TV

Just turn the ghouls off.

[paulk]

45. I watched about ten minutes last night

switching back and forth between CBS and ABC.

It was, indeed, nauseating. It's a kind of weird, backwards glorification of violence.

I had to turn it off.

[JitterbugPerfume]

47. There is blood in the water , Bright

I can NOT watch.Even Olberman is talking about it

[unlawflcombatnt]

48. Me Neither

This is ridiculous. And, in case no one noticed, 233 people were killed in Iraq today, April 18th, 2007. And over 60 Americans have been killed in Iraq in April alone.

unlawflcombatnt

Economic Populist Forum

[tabasco]

49. Thoroughly disgusting.

The corporate media has sunk to the filthiest depths of the gutters.

It lacks any redeeming qualities and needs to be dismantled.

[ZaiusNation]

52. Let's play... Name That Psycho!

Let's play... Name That Psycho!

[bpeale]

55. so you had to come here

and blather on about it even more? that's hyprocritical.

[TygrBright]

58. Really? Why?

The purpose of these forums is discussion. Specifically, the purpose of this forum is "General Discussion," which includes a broad range of subjects and topics.

Even a cursory survey of the various topics and discussion threads on this forum will reveal the social norms prevalent here and accepted by this particular community. Among those norms is the expression of feelings in reaction to the news and events around us, and discussion provoked by those events.

My intentions are entirely congruent with the purpose of this forum, and I have excercised neither disingenuity or deception in portraying my feelings.

What about my feelings in this context strikes you as hypocritical? I do not pretend to an authority I do not have, I express myself as an observer and present my emotional responses faithfully, I have no ulterior agenda to enrich myself or promote harm to others. I exploit no innocent suffering for my own profit. Wherein lies my hypocrisy?

Enlighten me, please.

curiously,
Bright

[bpeale]

59. the best way to end a discussion

on a subject you don't want to discuss is NOT TO DISCUSS IT. not come here & rant & rave about it.

[TygrBright]

60. You're quite correct!

But as I WANTED to discuss, here on Democratic Underground, the topic of how the media handles its important role in our society, wherein lieth the alleged hypocrisy in my post?

Not being a decision-maker in America's media establishments, I have no power to affect how they choose to carry out their responsibilities, and therefore nothing I say or refrain from saying would be able to halt the behavior I find so reprehensible. Criticism from me on how those who DO have such power choose to exercise that power will neither encourage nor discourage them. As it is not my intention to change their behavior (since I'm intelligent enough to realize I have not the slightest power to do so,) there can be no hypocrisy in my making such criticism.

And it is not, and never has been, my intention to "end the discussion" of how the media is dealing with this story here on Democratic Underground, where we all have approximately the same opportunity to influence one another. Please note, the original post makes no reference to how participants on Democratic Underground are discussing the story. Therefore, my rantings and ravings are hardly hypocritical in that context either.

Perhaps a course in either reading comprehension or critical analysis will help you avoid making such embarrassing assumptions in the future.

helpfully,
Bright

[MedleyMisty]

56. We have a TV

but it only gets turned on for watching DVDs and the occasional platform game.

I don't miss anything. I get all the news you guys do, and a lot less of the rise in blood pressure. Plus at least vegetating in front of the computer requires a little interaction. ;)

Last night we were out eating, and the restaurant had one TV turned to Fox News. Ugh. Thankfully I couldn't hear it, but I did see that it was just showing the same pictures over and over and over and over and over.

But apparently they are going to show less of the video and pics and stuff, according to news reports. So hey.