Intro

It's time for a reality check ...

Maybe we’ve reached the point of diminishing astonishment.

But I suspect that much of what we’re hammered with every day really doesn’t make much of an impact on most of us anymore. We’ve heard the same stories too often. We’ve been exposed to the same issues for so long without any meaningful resolution. We recognize that reality is rapidly becoming malleable, primarily in the hands of whoever has the biggest microphone. How else can we explain a society where myth asserts itself as reality, based entirely how many hits it gets online?

We know that many of the “issues” as defined are pure crapola, hyped by politicians on both sides pandering to “the will of the people,” which is still more crapola. Inevitably, it’s not the will of all the people they reflect, but the will of relatively small groups of people with disproportionate political influence.

Nobody wants to face up to the realities of the issues. Nobody wants to say what’s right or wrong – even when it’s obvious and there are numbers to back it up. Most of us are afraid to bring up the realities for fear of being accused of being insensitive or downright mean.

So we say nothing. Until now.

It’s time for a reality check on the fundamentals – much of which is common knowledge to many of us, already. But it might be comforting to know you are not alone …

Friday, September 21, 2012


Nice try, NBCnews.com

In case you weren’t aware, MSNBC.com is now NBCnews.com.   

The name may have changed, but it’s still as loony as ever.  Yesterday was a perfect example. 

They made a big deal about two people – that’s right, just two -- who had hung empty chairs from trees.  One in Texas; another in Virginia.  One chair had a U.S. flag taped to it; the other had a sign that read “Nobama.” 

This was apparently worthy of the national spotlight: two chairs hung from trees.

Certainly both were political statements based on Clint’s empty chair metaphor.  Hanging a chair from a tree, however, is a far cry from how NBCnews.com treated this.   

So as real, unbiased journalists, not prone to idle speculation, or jumping to unfounded conclusions, they headlined the story: 

“Empty chair ‘lynchings’: Anti-Obama protests gone too far?”

Subtle.  And just the right neutral tone, don’t you think?     


They didn’t waste any time getting to the implied racial implications of this, did they now?  All they needed was a rope and a tree and they were on their way.   

Over 4,000 nitwits commented on the story, most with how this showed the rabid, racist tendencies of the Republican Party.  Clearly, to NBCnews.com readers, it was intended to be a metaphorical lynching of President Obama.  Assuming they knew the meaning of "metaphor."   

Folks, it was two chairs in trees.  No racial slurs.  No hangman’s nooses.  No KKK or other hate-group tags.  Just two chairs in trees. 

But that was enough to get the liberal bloggers’ panties in a knot.  One of them tried to interview the guy in Texas about his display, and to tell him how disturbed they were by it.

According to the blogger:

“He replied, and I quote, "I don't really give a damn whether it disturbs you or not. You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you. I don't give a [expletive]. If you don't like it, don't come down my street."

I like this guy.  And I particularly love free speech.  Welcome to America.  'Bout damn time.  

BTW: the article fell off the main page of NBCnews.com today.  I can only guess it didn’t fan the firestorm of manufactured outrage they’d hoped for.  I don’t think it even got picked up anywhere else. 

So, nice try NBCnews.com.  And liberal bloggers everywhere.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work. 

But please, please keep putting out bullshit stories like this.  These remind us of what real, objective, and balanced journalism once was. 

You know … the stuff you don’t do.   
  

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