I know I’ve been very much off my rocker about posting at the right place at the right time, but my “blogging” times have become more haphazard as I’m seeing myself being unable to sleep more and more (as I start writing this, it is 4:15 AM on a Monday morning).
Recently, I’ve been getting into an obsession with os-tan related comics and images (cause you know, I’m too poor for figurines and stuff). For example, my current background is this. Yes, if anyone was wondering, that is Firefox on top of Thunderbird. Seamonkey is the one with the anchor necklace and NVU is the one in purple. OS-tans originally started as personification of the Windows Operating Systems (from DOS to Vista), but has since branched into other Operating Systems and softwares/programs. All of these “characters,” which are usually drawn “anime” style, are aptly named their software plus “-tan,” which is a Japanese hornorific that derived from the more popular “-chan.”
ANYWAY. Yea. They’re cute. They’re cuddly. They almost make me want to install Windows ME in some useless computer somewhere. But then I’d feel bad for the computer.
Currently Listening To: Nothing
Currently Drinking: Crush Orange Soda
Currently Watching: Dollhouse (Watching Ep 12 today), Pandora Hearts, FMA 2
Currently Reading: Alice in Wonderland, Pandora Hearts
Current Mood: Tired, but in a state of Insomnia *whoo*
Newspapers. Because I grew up on them, my day is usually not complete without reading a newspaper, whether it be on paper or online through a site or RSS feed. My newspaper of choice, not oddly enough, is the New York Times (cause you know, I’m a city girl and all that good stuff), because it’s really easy to read and is chock full of information. Plus, since I’ve been reading it a while, I know which writers are biased to which subjects.
Which leads me to the topic of today, not so much about NEWSPAPERS, but the media in general. Many people, well at least the people I have talked to recently (and some, not so recently) mention that they can’t stand reading the newspaper or watching the news because they are skeptical about what the media has to say. Many people feel that the media blows things out of proportions and all that good stuff.
And it’s true. “The Media” is a big fan of news glorification. Giving us these shined up (or dirtied up, however you see it) versions of the true and straight facts. But if we already know this, why can’t we pick out the parts that are biased and simply ignore them? Are these journalist and media-folks simply too good at convincing America and, maybe, the rest of the world?
What people fail to realize is that you don’t have to take a complete newspaper as complete truth, or as complete bullshit. There are many levels and layers in between that, where people believe in “parts of what the newspaper says” and don’t believe in others.
Perhaps the American public needs a review lesson of what is “fact” and what is “opinion.” Or rather, they should learn that both “fact” and “opinion” can be used in a media form. It’s just a matter of distinguishing the two. Or, to make a more generalized statement, perhaps people should learn that it IS possible to believe in only portions of articles.
For example, we’ll take the very recent example of this “swine flu” obsession. One person died in America from the swine flu. You have as much right to believe this as you do to not believe it, although I’m not sure why a newspaper would try to convince you that a person didn’t died.
Then the newspaper continues saying that this “Swine flu disease is an epidemic that is sweeping the nation,” blah blah blah. This is, again, something you can CHOOSE to believe in. If you think newspapers and the media are over sensationalizing situations, then perhaps it is better to say something like “I don’t agree with this newspaper,” rather than to say “this whole newspaper is sensationalized and I find the whole article skeptical because of the opinion.”
Because clearly, opinions will change facts.
In the end, the facts will still be facts. You thinking that the Swine Flu is an epidemic will not change the numbers of death.
And the newspaper saying that it’s an epidemic doesn’t mean it should lose its credibility in every god damned thing.
Besides, there are more than enough newspapers and ways of finding the news that there is probably a newspaper that is geared towards your opinion. For example, I have seen CNN and I can confidently say that I do not believe in their political views. CNN may be very opinionated in their works, but they don’t beat around the bush and say “the unemployment rate is at 10.1%” when it’s really at 8.5 percent.
In the end, all it takes is a little MENTAL WORK to decide FOR YOURSELF which information you should take away, and which information you should leave in the dust. But that doesn’t mean we should avoid newspapers and tv shows like the plague, simply because it is “biased.” After all, everyone’s entitled to an opinion.
If you are skeptical about reading the news because it’s biased, please remember that not all newspapers are biased in the same way. There probably is a form of news by some possibly faceless group that gears towards your opinion and viewpoints. It’s much easier to pick out what’s to be believed and what’s not when you’re consistently reading a newspaper and know the opinions of the columnist. Then you won’t have to worry so much. Yes, I am encouraging you to READ a newspaper for once. Watch some news on the tele/tube/tv. Go out there and learn a little more about the world, through whatever medium you see fit (BCC World News, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Reddit).
And saying you can’t get to it is no excuse. It’s the 21st century, just go online and look it up. Google it, if you must.
In raw, unadulterated journalism, you should not have to separate opinion from fact. There shouldn’t be any questioning about whether you’re getting the whole story. Reporting, even in newspapers, can be unbiased with both points of view explored and displayed. My friend’s parents are journalists, and they have alltogether too much to say on the issue 😉
Of course you’re right though, it’s important to think about a source before you reject it. Still, it is not entirely remiss to reject anything that comes out of, say, the New York Times when they have a track record of promoting individuals who public fake stories as the truth.
Remember that a newspaper is its writers and editors, and if one of its writers or editors is fabricating stories an evidence and is being promoted, it’s indicative that such practices aren’t just allowed, they’re encouraged. Can you trust news coming from an organization that encourages making up news? Certainly not! Wholesale mistrust of entire news sources may come from being a twatwaffle, but it may also come from the news source proving that they are untrustworthy.
On that note, I read everything that the Sacramento Bee’s staff writer Alice Voison writes as a half-editorial on what’s going on. Marcus Breton is ten times better as a reporter, the facts, what people said, and how they acted.
Yes, the news is sensationalized. Especially on Cable TV. But yeah, here’s a related video/song you might find amuzing.
http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/what_we_call_the_news
Yup. Though, to be fair, swine flu could have potentially killed us all. The fact that media attention was there, might have put enough people in a panic so that there wasn’t a mass infection. But yup.
Aren’t humans great? Easily forced into ideas, receptive to everything. They’re almost like children, except lacking the ability to perceive cardinal truths and facts.