Media Meltdown: NPR bests Charlie Sheen

[Mirror Image]

We all have a right to believe what we believe. Why is David being portrayed as a conservative? If he believes in those ideals, then he has every right to do so. I actually am somewhere in the middle. I have many Republican beliefs, but I also have many Democratic beliefs. Does this make somebody a terrible person?

By the way, David, I apologize for being a jerk to you. I respect your beliefs. In fact, I respect everybody's beliefs here, even Todd's.

[mc ukrneal]

So this is where everyone disappeared to...This IS a music forum, right?!?! 

[Todd]

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

This is temporary.  Most projections in the servicing and banking industries see 2011 as a busy year indeed for foreclosure.  A draft of the settlement alluded to in the report has been "leaked" already (I got a copy this morning from an insurance vendor, of all sources), and once everyone adapts, foreclosure rates will go back up.  It's an ugly process, but it is needed to clear the market, especially in states with large numbers of underwater assets.

[DavidRoss]

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.

Huh?

(1) If you don't understand the forces that undermined our economy, you are condemned to be their pawn and to promote more such economic failure in the future.

(2) As with (1), if you care about the number of home foreclosures around you, then you either understand why it's happening and do something about it, or you contribute to it by either your apathy or your uninformed beliefs.

(3) Again, what do global events and our national choices--including your actions as a citizen--have to do with the price of fuel?  If you don't know then you've no choice but to be a patsy and a pawn.

(4) Taxes are high--why?  Again, if you don't understand the relationship between what you do and what you get, then you're condemned to be a dupe and help cause taxes to go higher and higher for less and less a return.

[MishaK]

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?
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.

In that case we all misread you. You must be attacking liberals so viciously all the time because you were once one of them and were deeply let down. Am I close? But in any case, there is a lot of legitimate criticism of liberals in the US, and I wholeheartedly agree with the middle paragraph. But why use Republican talking points, which lack substance, to attack liberals when their failings can be discussed much more amiably with more legitimate points of criticism that weren't drawn up by Karl Rove? Like this whole thread. In comparison to the rest of the journalism business, NPR still upholds pretty high standards of objectivity and professionalism. The resignation of an ineffective communicator as CEO is only consequential for a business that wants to uphold those standards and extricate itself from the politicized debate over public funding from NPR. Minor news, really, if it wasn't for the fact that the NPR is a bete noire for Republicans which they love to bring up in budget discussions, as if the trickle that is spent on NPR even compares to the immense Pentagon and Homeland Security slush funds. If NPR were the openly biased institution you allege them to be, they would stand by their biases, just as Fox and MSNBC do. But NPR aspires to be different than those two, and I think they do succeed.

[Mirror Image]

Huh?

(1) If you don't understand the forces that undermined our economy, you are condemned to be their pawn and to promote more such economic failure in the future.

(2) As with (1), if you care about the number of home foreclosures around you, then you either understand why it's happening and do something about it, or you contribute to it by either your apathy or your uninformed beliefs.

(3) Again, what do global events and our national choices--including your actions as a citizen--have to do with the price of fuel?  If you don't know then you've no choice but to be a patsy and a pawn.

(4) Taxes are high--why?  Again, if you don't understand the relationship between what you do and what you get, then you're condemned to be a dupe and help cause taxes to go higher and higher for less and less a return.

I'm just trying to live my life and enjoy it, David. There's no shame in this is there?

[MishaK]

I'm just trying to live my life and enjoy it, David. There's no shame in this is there?

Well, morally speaking, is there no shame in just living your life and enjoying it, if your lifestyle is in part the cause of many of the miseries in the world you'd prefer to be ignorant about?

[karlhenning]

But . . . I rinse my recyclables!

[Mirror Image]

Well, morally speaking, is there no shame in just living your life and enjoying it, if your lifestyle is in part the cause of many of the miseries in the world you'd prefer to be ignorant about?

How would going to work everyday and trying to be a good citizen cause anyone else misery? How am I hurting anybody by paying my bills?

[MishaK]

How would going to work everyday and trying to be a good citizen cause anyone else misery? How am I hurting anybody by paying my bills?

With your lifestyle and consumption (possibly the work of your employer as well), which cause environmental degradation and pollution, exploitation of poorer coutries in the world reliant on resource extraction and agriculture based on export of luxury produce to the west, etc. etc.

[karlhenning]

But . . . I rinse my recyclables!

The US is not prepared to ramp up capacity for hermits.

Though I think there is available housing in Ithaca, NY . . . .

[DavidRoss]

Have you ever accused a conservative of being a bigot?

Yep.  And it wouldn't surprise me if bigotry among conservatives (especially so-called "social conservatives") were as common as it is among the self-professed liberals who sneer at those whose opinions diverge from their own--for instance, demonizing anyone who's concerned about fiscal responsibility as a "racist."  Such liberals--including many of my good friends--are often very good-hearted, well-intentioned folks who would be appalled by their own bigotry if they could only see it clearly, but they are blinded by a tragic self-righteous sanctimoniousness that's no different in kind from that of the nastiest redneck homophobic trailer trash they can imagine.

Per Websters, a bigot is "a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance."

[MishaK]

Yep.  And it wouldn't surprise me if bigotry among conservatives (especially so-called "social conservatives") were as common as it is among the self-professed liberals who sneer at those whose opinions diverge from their own--for instance, demonizing anyone who's concerned about fiscal responsibility as a "racist."  Such liberals--including many of my good friends--are often very good-hearted, well-intentioned folks who would be appalled by their own bigotry if they could only see it clearly, but they are blinded by a tragic self-righteous sanctimoniousness that's no different in kind from that of the nastiest redneck homophobic trailer trash they can imagine.

Per Websters, a bigot is "a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance."

One wonders about your sincerity when some of the most glaring hypocrisy in Washington these days comes from those who preach fical discipline, but refuse to allow their pet projects on the chopping block and at the same time want to extend gratuitous tax cuts to the wealthy.

[Mirror Image]

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.

Yes, I stay away because it is utterly pointless to debate with people about issues that they can't do anything about. They all complain about what's happening in the world, how terrible everything is, but what are they doing about it? Absolutely nothing. Same thing I am doing, but the only difference is they choose to bitch about it in an open forum like a bunch of children. This accomplishes nothing and they will continue to stab each other with one remark after another, meanwhile, this still means nothing to them, because they continue to live their life the way they want to live it.

I say we're all fortunate we have the situations we have and count your blessings you're not overseas looking a gun barrel face-to-face or having to hear violent screams of death.

All I have to say is grow up people and learn to accept that your life is one of great privilege. If you're so fed up with what your government is doing, then go protest. In the meantime, shut the hell up about it unless you're going to do something about the way this world is, and, by the way, talking on a forum isn't doing anything about it.

[karlhenning]

Yep.  And it wouldn't surprise me if bigotry among conservatives (especially so-called "social conservatives") were as common as it is among the self-professed liberals who sneer at those whose opinions diverge from their own--for instance, demonizing anyone who's concerned about fiscal responsibility as a "racist."  Such liberals--including many of my good friends--are often very good-hearted, well-intentioned folks who would be appalled by their own bigotry if they could only see it clearly, but they are blinded by a tragic self-righteous sanctimoniousness that's no different in kind from that of the nastiest redneck homophobic trailer trash they can imagine.

Was just watching a half-hour's video which, in its final third, disturbed me.  The actual occasion for the video was an interview with a member from a comedic quartet, about the recent release of vintage live radio improvisations.  And that part of the interview is (or, I found) richly rewarding.  at the 21-minute mark the host says, "We have a few minutes left . . ." and yet, there is a further ten minutes which is mostly political kvetching, of the sort which does not reflect well on the host. (The funny guy interviewee, an old hero of mine really, handled himself well in a tricky spot, I thought.)

[MishaK]

Yes, I stay away because it is utterly pointless to debate with people about issues that they can't do anything about. They all complain about what's happening in the world, how terrible everything is, but what are they doing about it? Absolutely nothing.

...

All I have to say is grow up people and learn to accept that your life is one of great privilege. If you're so fed up with what you're government is doing, then go protest. In the meantime, shut the hell up about it unless you're going to do something about the way this world is, and, by the way, talking on a forum isn't doing anything about it.

Again, if you had watched what was going on in the middle east, you'd have seen people finally doing something about situations where people had been saying for decades "uh, well, we can't do anything about that." And how are you supposed to ever mobilize people to do something about issues, if you don't discuss them openly, among other places in online forums.

[Mirror Image]

Again, if you had watched what was going on in the middle east, you'd have seen people finally doing something about situations where people had been saying for decades "uh, well, we can't do anything about that." And how are you supposed to ever mobilize people to do something about issues, if you don't discuss them openly, among other places in online forums.

My point is what's the point? What does it accomplish? A better question is what do you plan to about the Middle East crisis? What can you do? What power do you have to make a difference?

You can talk in circles all you want to, but you'll end in the same place you started. What difference does it make that you believe this or that when you're not going to do anything about it to begin with?

[karlhenning]

Probably I'm missing something, but I didn't think the NPR shake-up was quite on the order of . . . what's-his-face.  They're taking their medicine.

That said, I saw a striking two-page spread about WGBH in the Boston Herald today. The quesos grandes there at WGBH are big "earners," and yet, the station has not been paying the City of Boston the agreed-upon-in-principle PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) since moving into their plush new building(s).

[Brian]

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.

Jesus. Can you imagine how Mirror Image would be have if he lived in a country in Europe, where gas prices are market value and taxes support expanded welfare?

[MishaK]

My point is what's the point? What does it accomplish? A better question is what do you plan to about the Middle East crisis? What can you do? What power do you have to make a difference?

It's not my point to do something about the Middle East. It's their countries, not mine. My point is that the Middle East unravelings going on right now illustrate that people do have the power to change their destinies even when they live under much more oppressive regimes which were thought to be unalterable in the past. Who are we in the US to whine about our powerlessness, when those subjugated masses braved the guns of their oppressors and threw them out? What a bunch of ball-less whiners are we? We have an admittedly dysfunctional system, but not one that can't be influenced positively if we only abandon such a passive couch-potato attitude as yours and get of our butts and do something!