republicans and democrats: same bullshit, different piles

Disrespectful?

This post isn't so much an analysis as it is my personal thoughts. The reactions to the Virginia Tech shooting today had me thinking about the media's portrayal of it...

So far, the headlines on CNN.com regarding the shootings at Virginia Tech have included "Classroom Carnage" and "Students Slaughtered." Really, is this the title to a horror movie or the headlines for an incredibly tragic event? We know how, we know about the gunman, but no one has asked why? Why did this happen, why did it take two hours for the university to get the hint, why did the gunman do this?

I was overhearing a conversation earlier in which a couple people mentioned the cell phone video that was released. It apparently (I haven't seen it, so please leave a comment and tell me if I'm incorrect) caught some gunshots and police running to the scene. One of the guys in the conversation said "Wow, that video was really the best!"

Are you kidding me?

When did the death of 30+ people become entertainment? I've noticed Fox News, CNN and others having links urging people to submit their own pictures of the event. The comment about the cell phone still blows my mind. It was as if the two men were discussing their favorite part of a horror movie, critiquing the cell phone images as though it was a Hollywood blockbuster. Fortunately for them, they weren't the ones who had to live it. I'm sure they wouldn't be as enthused if they were actually there.

Posted by: theblueoinker at 07:32 | link | comments
films, hollywood, cell phones, headlines, coverage

my ears!! MY EARS!!!

Karl Rove Rapping: YouTube Video of Karl Rove Rapping at White House Dinner

Isn't this a sign of the apocalypse?

Since there is a video, celebrities and what I would call graphic imagery, isn't the video news worthy? You betcha!

NewsMax.com: 'M.C.' Karl Rove Raps at Broadcasters Dinner 

Think Progress: Video: Rove Raps at Correspondents Dinner 

USA Today: It's Getting Hot in Here: M.C. Karl Rove Raps and Dances the Night Away 

CNN: A President Walks into a Journalists' Dinner ... 

Posted by: theblueoinker at 19:07 | link | comments
rap , celebrities, journalists, karl rove, white house, graphic imagery

www.Cagle.com

Hey guys, if you haven't checked this website out, you definately should:

www.cagle.com

It's a website of political cartoons, a lot of them pertaining to media-related issues that we discuss in class. I.e. this link with political cartoons regarding media consolidation and the FCC's decision:

http://www.cagle.com/news/MediaFCCvote/main.asp

They have international cartoons as well, and it's all around a really good site. One of my favorites. I'd post some of my favorite media-related cartoons, but due to copyright issues I'll stick to the links.

Anyway, go have a look. It's well worth your time.

Posted by: theblueoinker at 06:21 | link | comments (1)
political cartoons, fcc , consolidation

To quote Madonna's song...

Music makes the people come together. (No, I'm not a fan, but it fits the occassion)

So, do songs, like the media, have an impact on what people think? Do they serve as a type of media? I think so. At the very least, they have the potential to become "anthems" of certain movements. We studied "American Idiot" in class, and here my contribution (which happens to be one of my favorite songs):

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief,"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, lord.

It aint me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It aint me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Yeah!
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
Oooh, they only answer More! more! more! oh,

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son.
It ain't me, it aint me, I ain't no fortunate one, one.

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no.
It ain't me, it ain't me, I aint no fortunate son, no no no.

 

I'm kinda curious, what do other people think of this song? Does it serve a media purpose?

Posted by: theblueoinker at 09:05 | link | comments (4)
music, protest, anthems

Are they trying to tell us something?

I'm sorry for the divergance from class material, I just found this amusing.

DHS has plan for new HQ in lunatic asylum WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is setting up its new HQ in a former lunatic asylum. The DHS says it will consolidate most of the 60 offices it has across the Washington, D.C. region into a single new headquarters building. The $3 billion move will begin in 2011, according to a plan prepared by the DHS, once a new building is ready in the grounds of the former mental hospital, St. Elizabeth's. The U.S. Coast Guard will be the first element of the DHS to move into the new building in 2011, department Spokesman Larry Orluskie told United Press International. The DHS's headquarters functions will follow in 2013, and the other components slated for centralization will move in after that. Orluskie said that the U.S. Secret Service, the biometric system for tracking foreign visitors called U.S.-VISIT, the new Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the DHS Science and Technology Directorate will probably remain in their current locations.

Source: United Press International - DHS has plan for new HQ in lunatic asylum

Link to the story: http://tinyurl.com/2mm3vk

Posted by: theblueoinker at 08:07 | link | comments (3)
homeland security

Quotes

A classmate of mine posted some quotes regarding the media: http://mediamachete.motime.com/

Interesting idea, so I found some as well that I liked. 

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: President Can't Swim.  Lyndon B. Johnson

The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savoring.  Warren Chappell

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.  Thomas Jefferson

The people will believe what the media tells them they believe. George Orwell

There is no such thing as an independent Press in America, if we except that of little country towns. You know this and I know it. Not a man among you dares to utter his honest opinion. Were you to utter it, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid...so that I may keep my honest opinion out of the paper for which I write. You, too, are paid similar salaries for similar services. Were I to permit that a single edition of my newspaper contained an honest opinion, my occupation, like Othello's, would be gone in less than twenty-four hours. The man who would be so foolish as to write his honest opinion would soon be on the streets in search for another job. It is the duty of a New York journalist to lie, to distort, to revile, to toady at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread, or what amounts to the same thing, his salary. We are marionettes. These men pull the strings, and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our capacities are all the property of these men; we are intellectual prostitutes. John Swinton, former editor of the New York Tribune (1880s)

Posted by: theblueoinker at 16:35 | link | comments (4)

The Dumbing Down of America...

With all of our recent discussion on soundbarks and how watching more news actually makes you less informed, I wondered what someone would see if they randomly turned on the television and watched, oh let's say Fox News, for a couple seconds at a time....

Last time I checked Foley was a Republican

Those pesky liberals again always screwing up everything

I'm sorry, could you repeat that caption?

Um....

Who knew that the trial process was just that easy?

Just an interesting difference of coverage....

 

It's not news. It's Fox News.

Thanks to http://welcome-to-pottersville.blogspot.com/ for the images and help,

and http://www.just-a-webpage.com/rantings/, my pissed off new yorker friend.

Posted by: theblueoinker at 23:07 | link | comments (2)
cnn , fox news

The UK's deepest, darkest secrets

Kinda.

According to this article (below), here is some information regarding the United Kingdom's government and happenings that would have stayed secret if it wasn't for the passing of the Freedom of Information Act. Makes me curious as to what exactly isn't being reported by the media (since they do the communicating from the elites for us), or, if we even would want to know....

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article1471409.ece - 59 Things that would have stayed secret. What they didn't want you to know: A list of intriguing facts disinterred by the Freedom of Information Act.

Just some from the list:

The Thatcher Government concocted a plan to search for the Loch Ness monster using a team of dolphins.

Foreign diplomats – who have diplomatic immunity – were accused of rapes, sexual assaults, child abuse and murders while working in Britain.

Tax inspectors are routinely offered bonuses to encourage them to collect as much money as possible.

Tony Blair spent nearly £2,000 of taxpayers' money on cosmetics over six years. DNA tests showed that, since 1998, 3,034 men had been wrongly named by mothers as fathers of children for whom they had claimed maintenance. The taxpayer had to repay these sums.

In 2004 the BBC paid £15.5m in staff bonuses when it was planning to cut more than 3,000 jobs (I thought this one was funny considering the article is from The Times.....)

Humphrey, the Downing Street cat who mysteriously disappeared in 1997, had not been put down but had been sent to “a stable home environment where he can be looked after properly."

Posted by: theblueoinker at 23:12 | link | comments (3)

Steaming piles of shit

This is a good article about why the media reports on "crap" news and why we seem to eat it up.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0305/p09s01-coop.html?page=1 - Christian Science Monitor - Why the Media Passes off Bunk as News.

Mmmm. Yummy.

Posted by: theblueoinker at 19:14 | link | comments

The Hypocrisy of ManBearPig

Since we were talking about the hypocrisy norm in class, I think this fits in nicely:

news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg - Group: Gore a hypocrite over power bill.

Main idea of this article: "Gore used nearly 221,000 kilowatt hours last year and that his average monthly electric bill was $1,359."

www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm - Gore Mansion Uses 20x Average Household; Consumption Increase After Truth

Al Gore, recently winning an Oscar for an An Inconvenient Truth, really likes to suck up the electricity, according to the articles anyway.

The environmentally friendly politician has come under fire recently because of his excessive power use at his home. When he's talking (or preaching, depending on who you ask) about how Americans should rely less on power, he seems to not be able to walk the walk (unless of course he's walking across the stage to get the Nobel Peace Prize he was nominated for).

I'll be honest, I don't like the guy, but what many sources are failing to mention is that Al Gore is also spending quite a bit of money installing solar panels into his home and participates in the selling of "green blocks," or clean energy to home owners. He also dedicates quite a bit of time and money to the development of alternative energies. So is this report about him really fair?I would say definately not, but it feeds well into the media's simplification. They're using the truth in a way that benefits them.

Part of the hypocrisy norm is that the private lives of the political elite should be the center of news attention if their choices "currently and directly affects" their ability to govern. How can Al Gore govern (in this case meaning lead) his supporters if the media is reporting his excessive use of resources? The media's audience isn't getting an accurate picture of what is going on and is thus relying upon information that is only partially true, and that is bullshit.

Posted by: theblueoinker at 23:25 | link | comments (1)
environment, al gore, hypocrisy norm