Media Meltdown: NPR bests Charlie Sheen

[Brian]

MI, the reason Todd attacked you is that you left only two alternatives:
(1) You don't know what's going on in the Middle East.
(2) You think what's going on in the Middle East is "nothing remotely worthy to be reported."

The first is actually more forgivable than the second.

I love the sarcasm here. Courtesy of our resident know-it-all, ultra-hip vagabond.

You do know our "ultra-hip vagabond" is a Republican conservative, right? 

[DavidRoss]

I love the sarcasm here. Courtesy of our resident know-it-all, ultra-hip vagabond.

Sarcasm?  I'm deadly earnest!

P.S.  Surely you don't mean me?  I know just enough to know how little I know, I haven't been hip in twenty years, and I'm a resident homeowner.  Three out of three--your record for consistency is amazing!

[Mirror Image]

No, no, silly young boy.  I was responding to what you wrote.  Let me repost it yet again: "I seldom watch the news for the simple fact that there's nothing remotely worthy nowadays to be reported."  Your statement displays ignorance.  There are in fact things that are worthy of being reported.  Only an ignorant person would claim otherwise.

Your above statement display ignorance for making assumptions based on one sentence. My point, since you missed it entirely, is that I'm tired of hearing one negative story after another. I realize what's happening in this world is terrible and there is so much evil out there its unfathomable to even remotely comprehend it, but this doesn't mean that I have to walk around debating with people about these issues. There's more to life than arguing with somebody over something that is out of their hands. I have chosen an optimistic view in my life and I don't have to let things get me down. This said, I would rather enjoy talking about things that make each of the persons involved in the conversation happy and interested.

This is what I love about music, which is my biggest passion, outside of my family, in my life. It unites people. I don't mean to sound like a hippy here, but all you need is love to get through the tough times we live in.

[MishaK]

I realize what's happening in this world is terrible and there is so much evil out there its unfathomable to even remotely comprehend it, but this doesn't mean that I have to walk around debating with people about these issues. There's more to life than arguing with somebody over something that is out of their hands. I have chosen an optimistic view in my life and I don't have to let things get me down.

So then, you optimist, you are missing one of the most optimistic and until recently unimaginable stories ever: Arab people throwing off the yoke of dictatorship out of their own power.

[Lethevich]

So then, you optimist, you are missing one of the most optimistic and until recently unimaginable stories ever: Arab people throwing off the yoke of dictatorship out of their own power.

Well, MI doesn't vote, so I'm not sure he'd see that as a good thing

[Daverz]

Jesus, David, you seem to swallow every right wing talking point whole no matter how rancid.

[Todd]

This is what I love about music, which is my biggest passion, outside of my family, in my life. It unites people. I don't mean to sound like a hippy here, but all you need is love to get through the tough times we live in.

Not only do you make absurd statements that betray your ignorance, then try to explain how said statements are meaningful with strained, self-absorded gibbersih, but you end with nonsense about music uniting people.  Would this be the same music that municipalities use to drive kids away from public places?  What proof do you have that music does what you claim?

[MishaK]

Jesus, David, you seem to swallow every right wing talking point whole no matter how rancid.

What ever happened to the thumbs up smiley when you need it?

[Scarpia]

Not only do you make absurd statements that betray your ignorance, then try to explain how said statements are meaningful with strained, self-absorded gibbersih, but you end with nonsense about music uniting people.  Would this be the same music that municipalities use to drive kids away from public places?  What proof do you have that music does what you claim?

Yes, mention Karajan on this web site and see how united everyone becomes.   

[Mirror Image]

Look guys, I realize what you are all saying and I rightfully accept that I don't know everything that is happening in the world right now. I know what's happening around me right now: 1. people are being laid off everyday, 2. people's homes are being foreclosed almost daily, 3. gas prices are going through the roof, and 4. taxes are outrageously high. For these reasons, it doesn't matter to me what is happening in the Middle East. What matters is how are these people going to survive? We can all get enough information about what's happening around the world any time we want, but while we're doing this, one family after another is struggling to find ways to make ends meet. Stories like these hit home.

[springrite]

Well, in a way, this thread demonstrates why M.I. stays away from most media and the "discussions", "informative tidbits" and "arguments", however enlightening. I can understand most people's response to him. But can't a grown man choose his own way of coping with the way the world is?

Not taking sides and, as it often happens, there are no sides to take. Both sides will be there and valid for each person.

[Scarpia]

Look guys, I realize what you are all saying and I rightfully accept that I don't know everything that is happening in the world right now. I know what's happening around me right now: 1. people are being laid off everyday, 2. people's homes are being foreclosed almost daily, 3. gas prices are going through the roof, and 4. taxes are outrageously high. For these reasons, it doesn't matter to me what is happening in the Middle East. What matters is how are these people going to survive? We can all get enough information about what's happening around the world any time we want, but while we're doing this, one family after another is struggling to find ways to make ends meet. Stories like these hit home.

One political party says "The US is broke and we have to cut spending dramatically," the other political party says "we must invest in our future or the US will fail" and you can justify the statement that there is no need to vote?

[Todd]

Yes, mention Karajan on this web site and see how united everyone becomes.

Fluffy is king!

[springrite]

Fluffy is king!

I will let you get away with calling the KING fluffy, but the moment you say FLAKY...

[Mirror Image]

One political party says "The US is broke and we have to cut spending dramatically," the other political party says "we must invest in our future or the US will fail" and you can justify the statement that there is no need to vote?

I simply said I don't vote. I never said anything about there being no need to vote. There's no need for me to vote.

[MishaK]

2. people's homes are being foreclosed almost daily,

Actually, foreclosures fell to the lowest level in three years last month: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-10/foreclosure-filings-drop-to-3-year-low-as-u-s-servicers-in-dysfunction-.html

3. gas prices are going through the roof,

That's actually not a bad thing because it puts pressure on us in the West to finally get serious about alternative energies and better modes of public transport. But in any case, it is related to:

For these reasons, it doesn't matter to me what is happening in the Middle East.

4. taxes are outrageously high.

Historically speaking, not really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chart_1.png

[DavidRoss]

MI, the reason Todd attacked you....

Huh?  I missed that.  All I saw was Todd's restatement of MI's claim to be proudly uninformed.  To be uninformed is to be ignorant, is it not?

You do know our "ultra-hip vagabond" is a Republican conservative, right? 

Ack?  Why is it that because I hold "liberals" to the same standards I hold conservatives, "liberals" think I must be a conservative (as if that's the only reason anyone could possibly find fault with "liberal" ideology or Democratic Party officials and policies)?

I favor single-payer health insurance.  I favor ALL civil rights.  I don't think government has any business interfering with a woman's right to choose abortion.  I don't think what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bedrooms is anyone else's business.  I favor stringent environmental protection.  I oppose slavery and the persecution and exploitation of minorities.  I think government officials who subvert the public interest in service to powerful corporate interests should be drawn and quartered, and private citizens seeking to bribe officials should be put to hard labor and share a cell with Bubba, the 300-pound neo-Nazi homosexual serial rapist.

I have always been a radical.  I believe that most of our political and social failures are systemic and cannot be solved just by a little trimming and pruning.  They must be attacked at the root. 

[Mirror Image]

Not only do you make absurd statements that betray your ignorance, then try to explain how said statements are meaningful with strained, self-absorded gibbersih, but you end with nonsense about music uniting people.  Would this be the same music that municipalities use to drive kids away from public places?  What proof do you have that music does what you claim?

Not only do you make extremely judgmental statements that have nothing to do with reality, but you continue to assume things about me you know nothing about.

[Todd]

Not only do you make extremely judgmental statements that have nothing to do with reality, but you continue to assume things about me you know nothing about.

Nope.  I just read what you write and respond.  It's pretty simple really.

Oh, and by the way, where is your evidence that music unites people?  You writing it doesn't make it so.

[Scarpia]

Ack?  Why is it that because I hold "liberals" to the same standards I hold conservatives, "liberals" think I must be a conservative (as if that's the only reason anyone could possibly find fault with "liberal" ideology or Democratic Party officials and policies)?

Have you ever accused a conservative on this forum of being a bigot?