The following publication of mine will be done in a slow, but meaningful manner. I don't want to rush through this without getting any facts wrong, or opinions misinterpreted.
There is some aged wisdom about people with opinions, but the underlying reality is opinions are often wrong. It's actually pretty important to understand the acquaintance between opinions and fallacy, and if that's all a President is doing all day, digesting opinionated media, then its no wonder he is experiencing an over abundance of "fake news," and has developed a notion that all the media is an enemy of the people. (Unless its opinions he likes, then those are o.k.) Because opinions are often going to be wrong!
I'm smarter than that, I don't watch much opinionated video, nor do I read much opinionated media.
Maybe a self-analysis. Do you, dear reader, get involved with much opinionated media? No wrong answer, but I bet there is a correlation between putting in hours supping some one else's opinion and buying into the laments of "fake media" like Donald Trump would have you.
George W. Bush was once asked if he read the papers. He said sometimes, but as the President he implied he could get any facts he wants, and so why would he waste time in other people's opinions?
I guess that is lost on this President.
Why is he even watching T.V. if he does not care about other people's opinions, as I'm told? I don't have an answer, but I don't like the incomprehensible, unless we can comprehend how the current President thinks, direction Trump is giving his people -- to condemn all the media as enemy of the people.
People! We need a free and vibrant press, we need scrutiny, and we especially need it now.
If the "media" was ripe with investigative reporters who could not find the Grand Canyon but asserted so, then we'd have problems. But that simply is not the case. If we had investigative reporters who twisted the facts, or omitted the facts, throughout the industry, then by all means label them as the President contends. But that is not the truth, THAT's an opinion.
I try to convey my stream of thought in a manner that is not too long, but has some kernel of truth to it. I am basically full of opinion, sprinkled with facts obtained elsewhere. That's what I am.
The President would do well, and would do well by all of us, by understanding he can get any fact he wants from his own people. Which bares repeating -- The President can get his facts from the administration of his own executive department. He doesn't need the press in so much as we the people need the press, to find out about his government's doings. He's not helping me, and people like me, with his efforts at destroying the reputation of the free press.
If there is going to be an enemy of the people, I am certain its not the free press. A lot of them are just like me, where as this President has demonstrated repeatedly, he is not.
I think this piece will rank as one of my most important pieces, I think generations to come will point to this post as perhaps the post that changed the course of U.S. history, that stole back the normalcy that was wrought from us in recent years.
The above paragraph is an opinion.
The Mueller Report is over 300 pages long, took 674 days to investigate and complete, while costing $25 million. Sixty-six times Trump tweeted "Mueller" and 85 times "witch hunt." Five people sentenced to prison, 2800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants, 40 agents, and 19 lawyers were involved.
The above paragraph is full of facts.
That's all I am going to say about that.
Instead I want to talk about media bias, and who would think they are the enemy of the people.
Maybe its never been delineated to a distinction, and maybe it now needs to be, and maybe flashed on the T.V. screen prior to every broadcast of political content, but there is a difference between facts and opinions. Maybe, before we condemn the "media" of being the enemy of the people, we pass a competency in understanding the difference between two of many, many types of media.
Some people get on T.V. and they cast their opinions, and they are usually labeled with extravagant titles. That's a media, that's the opinionated media. People who somehow are getting paid for telling us things that their intuition is telling them. Sometimes those opinions are based on facts, some of which they imply the rest of us just don't get yet.
The above paragraph is an opinion.
The Mueller Report is over 300 pages long, took 674 days to investigate and complete, while costing $25 million. Sixty-six times Trump tweeted "Mueller" and 85 times "witch hunt." Five people sentenced to prison, 2800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants, 40 agents, and 19 lawyers were involved.
The above paragraph is full of facts.
That's all I am going to say about that.
Instead I want to talk about media bias, and who would think they are the enemy of the people.
Maybe its never been delineated to a distinction, and maybe it now needs to be, and maybe flashed on the T.V. screen prior to every broadcast of political content, but there is a difference between facts and opinions. Maybe, before we condemn the "media" of being the enemy of the people, we pass a competency in understanding the difference between two of many, many types of media.
Some people get on T.V. and they cast their opinions, and they are usually labeled with extravagant titles. That's a media, that's the opinionated media. People who somehow are getting paid for telling us things that their intuition is telling them. Sometimes those opinions are based on facts, some of which they imply the rest of us just don't get yet.
There is some aged wisdom about people with opinions, but the underlying reality is opinions are often wrong. It's actually pretty important to understand the acquaintance between opinions and fallacy, and if that's all a President is doing all day, digesting opinionated media, then its no wonder he is experiencing an over abundance of "fake news," and has developed a notion that all the media is an enemy of the people. (Unless its opinions he likes, then those are o.k.) Because opinions are often going to be wrong!
I'm smarter than that, I don't watch much opinionated video, nor do I read much opinionated media.
Maybe a self-analysis. Do you, dear reader, get involved with much opinionated media? No wrong answer, but I bet there is a correlation between putting in hours supping some one else's opinion and buying into the laments of "fake media" like Donald Trump would have you.
George W. Bush was once asked if he read the papers. He said sometimes, but as the President he implied he could get any facts he wants, and so why would he waste time in other people's opinions?
I guess that is lost on this President.
Why is he even watching T.V. if he does not care about other people's opinions, as I'm told? I don't have an answer, but I don't like the incomprehensible, unless we can comprehend how the current President thinks, direction Trump is giving his people -- to condemn all the media as enemy of the people.
People! We need a free and vibrant press, we need scrutiny, and we especially need it now.
Anyways, before I lose myself trying to regress just to understand, I have to get back on track.
Some people get on T.V. and they report the fruits of their investigative labors. These media personalities are usually labelled "Investigative Reporter." I can understand some ambiguity between the opinion media and the investigative media since there is not a person alive who can suppress their bias completely, and always, when stating even the barest of facts.
But be not confused. An investigative reporter is not the same media animal as an opinionated talking head. An investigative reporter, while not immune from error, has intense pressure to be accurate. I don't think the President, or his mimics, quite understand the pressure to be factual that this facet of the media is under. I say pressure makes diamonds often, and it is no less true in the world of investigative reporting.
But be not confused. An investigative reporter is not the same media animal as an opinionated talking head. An investigative reporter, while not immune from error, has intense pressure to be accurate. I don't think the President, or his mimics, quite understand the pressure to be factual that this facet of the media is under. I say pressure makes diamonds often, and it is no less true in the world of investigative reporting.
Are they always accurate? No. Yes, these are people who destroy reputations with their work, who can wreck business empires through their efforts, who can ruin with his or her findings. These are the people who find what others are hiding, and we need them. These too are the people who get fired for being wrong.
If the "media" was ripe with investigative reporters who could not find the Grand Canyon but asserted so, then we'd have problems. But that simply is not the case. If we had investigative reporters who twisted the facts, or omitted the facts, throughout the industry, then by all means label them as the President contends. But that is not the truth, THAT's an opinion.
I try to convey my stream of thought in a manner that is not too long, but has some kernel of truth to it. I am basically full of opinion, sprinkled with facts obtained elsewhere. That's what I am.
The President would do well, and would do well by all of us, by understanding he can get any fact he wants from his own people. Which bares repeating -- The President can get his facts from the administration of his own executive department. He doesn't need the press in so much as we the people need the press, to find out about his government's doings. He's not helping me, and people like me, with his efforts at destroying the reputation of the free press.
If there is going to be an enemy of the people, I am certain its not the free press. A lot of them are just like me, where as this President has demonstrated repeatedly, he is not.
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