Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts

Friday, April 1

America's Appetite for Fake News


Soldiers from the 42nd Infantry Division, several of whom read newspapers, stand aboard the U.S. troop transport USS President Lincoln in October 1917. US NAVY/INTERIM ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES



Do Americans even want the news media to tell them the truth? After reading journalist and historian Andie Tucher’s important new history of fakery in U.S. journalism, I’m not so sure.

From the very first American newspaper in 1690, sham journalism—for power, profit, politics, entertainment, or mischief—has held center stage in U.S. media. Permutations varied from the penny press in the 1830s, to the yellow press in the 1890s, to the tabloids in the 1920s, to much of Fox News today—all feeding entertainment, propaganda, and sensational conspiracy theories to a hungry public.


Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History, Andie Tucher, Columbia University Press, 384 pp., $28, March 2022

As the United States faces an ongoing pandemic, reverberations from an insurrection, and a devastating war in Europe, the stakes for democracy could not be higher. More than 100 years ago, journalist and critic Walter Lippmann lamented that “the present crisis of Western democracy is a crisis of journalism.” 

He may as well have been speaking of today. The overwhelming volume of misinformation these days might feel like an aberration, but as Tucher makes clear, it is not. The U.S. public has always been all too eager to consume narratives that titillate, distract, or accord with what they want to believe—true or not.

False news almost entirely dominated the media market for the first 200 years of the U.S. press. It was not until the turn of the last century that something we might recognize as responsible journalism in the public interest took hold. 

Tucher tells lively anecdotes from the 19th and 20th centuries, clearly relishing the more outrageous fictions masquerading as news. Along the way, we learn some surprising tidbits about the history of U.S. journalism, such as the birth of the interview: an American media invention that dates back only to 1836 when the New York Herald, covering the murder of a prostitute, featured a verbatim conversation with a local madam. 

Unfortunately, like much of the media at the time, the reporter’s goal was to be as sensational as possible. When the madam proved not quite salacious, he filled his piece with made-up quotes.  READ MORE...

Sunday, August 8

Where Do We Go For The Truth???

  1. Do we need to wear facemasks or not?
  2. Are we protected from COVID if we are vaccinated?
  3. Are we really following the science or not?
  4. Do facemasks really help?
  5. Do we need another lockdown?
  6. Do children need to wear facemasks?
  7. Are teacher's unions just being self-serving?
  8. Are American companies investing in China?
  9. Is China growing faster than the US?
  10. Does China have a bigger military than the US?
  11. Had US educated become diluted?
  12. Do Americans know how to retain knowledge?
  13. Why is our southern border so open to illegal immigration?
  14. Is there a different set of rules for the wealthy and/or powerful?
  15. Why do some many Americans use illegal drugs?
  16. Is the US still a racist country?
  17. Does the mainstream media censor the NEWS?
  18. Is our national debt really a problem?
  19. Does too much government spending cause inflation?
  20. Can you really trust politicians to tell you the truth?

NOTE:  Ever since Donald Trump became President of the USA, we have had problems with the division in this country...  and, it appears that this division is GETTING STRONGER instead of weaker putting us in a position of being NOT UNITED at all...  If fact, we are moving from what MLK Jr wanted which was judging a person on their character not their color...  currently, we want to judge people on their color, not their character.  This is resulting from the BLM movement, and CRT race theory that educators are saying is not being taught in our public schools...  yet, the students come home and say that it is...  We are not being taught that being white is BAD and being black is GOOD...  THAT IS COLOR NOT CHARACTER...   Einstein...


Monday, May 3

Day 3 at Destin

Yesterday was incredibly overcast and rather chilly on the Gulf Coast at the panhandle of Florida...and once again I am up at 7:00 am and after drinking a couple of YETI cups of coffee with Cappuccino Mix, I prepare 2 eggs with green onions, green peppers, turkey sausage, and mini tomatoes while watching FOX News on the local cable that is provided free-of-charge with the rental agreement.  And, once again I am inundated with the stupidity of the Democratic Party as I listen to unbiased news...  because I took the time to also compare my intake of news with CNN and CBS and have once again seen with my own two eyes and heard with my own two ears, a biased version of the news with much of the news omitted from broadcast...

And that censorship pisses me off, especially since I am a LIBERAL who thrives on TRUTH regardless of whether or not I like it or approve of the TRUTH...  as heard and understood.

I am fundamentally IN FAVOR OF providing goods and services to the poor and disadvantaged...  but, I am also fundamentally OPPOSED to going into debt in order to do this which includes TAXING THE WEALTHY to pay for this.  The wealthy should not be penalized financially simply because they are wealthy and lived their lives with the intent of becoming wealthy unlike those who lived their lives in order to avoid becoming wealthy.

If the wealthy want to share their wealth well that is altogether different.

We have a crisis with:

  • Illegal Immigration
  • National Debt Increase
  • Citizens using illegal drugs
  • A struggling economy
  • A divided country
  • Piss Poor Education K-12
  • China's building military
  • China's building economy
  • China/Russia/North Korea Alliance
  • China/Russia/Iran Alliance

Saturday, March 6

What The People Want

The Democrats are passing bills because they make the CLAIM that this is what the people want...

The Republicans were passing bill because they made the CLAIM that this is what the people want...

BUT...

is this really what the people want?

The 2015 election showed us that the United States of America was basically divided politically between Democrats and Republicans...

The 2020 election showed us that the United States of America was STILL DIVIDED between Democrats and Republicans again...

Therefore...

neither party can really make the claim that this is what the people want because that is simply not true...

However...

each political party can make the claim that this is what HALF THE PEOPLE WANT...  and, I doubt that either party will actually promote that TRUTH.

The fact remains...  that each political party makes the FALSE CLAIM that this is what the People Want and consequently how can THE PEOPLE actually believe either political party...




Wednesday, December 2

The Justification of Truth

 What is TRUTH?

"that which is true..."  but there is more, "...in accordance with fact or reality."

however:  facts can be manipulated to prove one reality over another...  all we have to do is look inside our courts of law to see how truth really plays out.

And, that is not just me being a tad sarcastic, but an undisputable truth...  as far as truth is concerned.

We are finding out quite ABRUPTLY, I might add as a result of the Black Lives Matter Movement, that the truth recorded in our history books...  those books that are used to teach students in our elementary schools and high school is NOT TELLING THE TRUTH AT ALL ABOUT SLAVERY...  and, this leaves one's mind wondering what other truths are actually LIES...  even though we never tell LIES we just inaccurately report the truth.

If facts about SLAVERY were not true, the what about those facts revolving around:
  • the civil war
  • the killing of Lincoln
  • the wild wild west
  • Native Americans
  • WWI and WWII
It does leaves one wondering how our AMERICAN LEADERS JUSTIFY THEIR TRUTHS...  especially politics, since the nature of politics was born out of the gutters of our city streets.

Should we now question the TRUTH about our:
  1. History
  2. Politics
  3. Voting
  4. Business
  5. Wars
  6. Religions
  7. Education
  8. Healthcare
  9. Pharmaceuticals
  10. UFO's and Aliens
I know FOR A FACT (Reality) that my parents LIED to me when I was a child...  so, I lied when I became an adult as my parents were my teachers and were the most influential in and on my life...  but, that does not justify what they or I did...  now does it?

A lie is still a lie...

HOWEVER, some of believe that we are not lying, if we simply WITHHOLD THE TRUTH...

AND...  you would not believe the various justifications on this one...


Monday, July 6

Truth is Stranger Than Non Fiction

We, as Americans, both Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, and the so called Other... are only as aware of TRUTH as the MEDIA wants us to be...  that is to say, if the media censors truth from the general public then the general public WILL NOT KNOW...  and, how is that TRUTH...  and, how is that honesty in journalistic reporting?

That's a rhetorical question because the answer is obvious.

There is no truth except what is being reported and of what is being reported what is actually believed is even more important.


Many people are told about Global Warming and Climate Change...  but, what is actually believed by the general public then becomes the new truth.

Some politicians want to do something about Global Warming and Climate Change while other politicians do not...  and, to make matters worse, some businesses want to do something while other businesses do not...  even scientists disagree about Global Warming and Climate Change and what to do...  so, what is the TRUTH?

TRUTH IS WHAT WE BELIEVE...

Wednesday, April 15

Hump Day

Here in the Valley, social distancing is not really being followed when people are out and about, and every time my wife needs to go out for groceries, like Walmart, she notices that no one is wearing face masks...

Of course, there is less than 25 people in our area that have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and only 7/8 deaths so far, giving rise to a lack of concern among the local residents here; but, to me that is a stupid way to behave.

People like me, who have a low or no immunity, MUST follow the social distancing guidelines or else face a high probability that we will catch COVID-19 and possibly die.

As always, I spend most of the morning watching FOX News...  and, the reason why I watch this cable channel is because I have previously watched:  CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC and what I have discovered is that ALL OF THESE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS distort the truth against President Trump and/or they simply do not broadcast those stories that FAVORS President Trump...

Why is this important to me?

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I did not vote for candidate Donald Trump.


Second, I am a Conservative Liberal and as a result am a SEEKER OF THE TRUTH...  regardless of whether the truth agrees with my personal political beliefs or not.

THIRD and equally as important as my FIRST AND FOREMOST is the fact that no matter what President Trump does or says, the Democrats and mainstream media are against him.  This is a fundamental problem for our DEMOCRACY, not to mention the concept that it is ethically wrong, morally wrong, and a complete loss of integrity which is the heart and soul of the American Mindset in my opinion.

If this philosophy continues, we will most certainly lose our FREEDOM...