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Friday, August 18. 2017I had to explain the news
Selling emotional "news" to get people talking is a desperately-competitive big business. It's not about keeping you "informed." She confessed that she had never thought about it that way, that the media makes the news so people will watch it instead of CSI re-runs. She is young and innocent, but capable of learning. Media amplifies what it wants to, and mutes what it wants to. In some ways, though, we all fall for it. This post itself is evidence for that. Are you excited about statues and Nazis, etc? Switch to Verizon and buy a new car. Next week, the media will create a fresh excitement for us suckers. Enuf said.
Posted by The News Junkie
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The "News" is Trump 24/7. Even the Barcelona terror attack is lightly covered. In a way, Trump is living inside their heads but I do worry that the appearance of chaos will influence the weak witted into thinking all is lost.
Bannon is smart about this and I hate to see him go but this may be a deal to let him avoid the daily stuff and work on strategy. Most advertisers try to avoid the news these days. If they still buy it, they deliberately request distancing themselves from controversial stories.
This isn't about ratings. I know that's a common misconception. I remember during the hearing for Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork the New York Times used to comment that "ratings have never been higher" for the networks airing the hearings. Thing is, those hearings ran without commercials. All of them. So ratings are useless if you have no ads in them. The same goes for most news. Part of the reason why news has shifted towards emotional stories is because those generate a feeling of interaction. When you used to get a story about forest fires in California, now you get a tear-jerker about a lost home, a dead dog and a family displaced. You're drawn in, and advertiser care more about how you're relating to the content than they do to the overall numbers. The "hard" news - the stuff you're talking about, is entirely about agenda-setting. It's driven by upper management. Tell the story to support the meme. Is Obama president? Don't say anything bad about him. If there is something bad, find something bad to say about his opponents and position it that way. Is Trump president? Find as much mud to sling as possible, because he says an awful lot of stupid stuff that provokes an emotional response. Find it, use it, get people to hate him. I'm not even a Trump supporter and I can see this happening. But overall, you're right. Anyone who thinks Charlottesville was about the 'rise' of the far right is about as deep-thinking as an old shoe. If anything, that group is in its death throes, and the press is unwittingly giving them a platform for recruitment. Marginalized people want to join passionate groups they identify with. Both Antifa and white supremacists are passionate. It's easy for people to think Antifa is 'good'. After all, who isn't opposed to fascism? And, to make matters more interesting, it's OK to be anti-fascist and violent, because HEY - those damn fascists DESERVE it! Except if you're not Antifa, then you're fascist....so you can expect violence and hatred brought upon you if you tell them they are even a little bit wrong. I remind people who toss up memes about D-Day being a group of Anti-fascists busting up a white supremacy party that there were other anti-fascists fighting the war. They were called the Soviets, and they turned out to be more dangerous, and killed and imprisoned more people, than Hitler. But hey, it's anti-fascism. We can all agree that's a good thing, right? Right? (agree or they'll throw a rock at your head) I was wondering the same thing about the Russians. This is a repeat snippet of my comment on Scott Adams' blog post "How To Know You’re In a Mass Hysteria Bubble."
The Nazi mass hysteria bubble was created to distract the Left from the faltering Russia, Russia, Russia hysteria. The Left needed a quick and definitive switch to keep the momentum going. The people who have been brainwashed to hate President Trump are no longer capable of stepping back and seeing reality. If I had the mind of a conspiracy thinker I'd consider the following and more: 1)The guy who organized the "Unite to Right" rally was an Obama operative. 2) The Democrat Mayor of Charlottesville held back the police 3) The rally participants where directly funneled into the anti-first amendment (antifa) protestors. Curiously, since this isn't being reported in the news, I wonder if black Americans are fairing economically better under President Trump. What I'm seeing... I think they are.
The city I live in has a significant... immigrant population. They do the low-pay jobs, fast food, Mexican restaurants, you know the drill. Two local Mexican places had boards at the entrance, with copies of the green cards of the workers. Those cards are no longer there, and the Hispanic workers have been replaced with high schoolers. Some black, some white. Went to the car wash today. In the past, there's been a couple of Hispanic guys doing the prep before you go through the tunnel. Pair of teens, one black, one white. And there are a LOT of help wanted signs popping up locally. Three years ago when my son was trying to find a part time job - there was nothing. So... yes, I think the economy's improving. And I think the media will do everything it can to ignore that. Though anecdotal, I am seeing the same thing concerning Help Wanted signs and lower numbers of immigrants. And that was one reason I was thinking about black unemployment. Secondly, and more complex, the Left will tell you who they are trying to sway by their protests. Women get code pink and pussy hats. Young white voters get occupy wall street. Hispanics get vigils and marches for immigrants. And of course Black voters get a plethora of groups. The election is over, President Trump's policies are making a difference for the better in black American lives. Time to smear him as a racist.
If at first you don't succeed try, try again.
Heard anything about Russia lately? Only on the internet.
There was no hack of the Democratic National Committee’s system on July 5 last year—not by the Russians, not by anyone else. Hard science now demonstrates it was a leak—a download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device. In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNC’s system. https://www.thenation.com/article/a-new-report-raises-big-questions-about-last-years-dnc-hack/ Yes. I am sure you are right NJ. A tempest in a teapot not deserving of our attention. Just a bunch of losers having a rumble.
That said, John Brown and Gavrilo Princip were losers as well and look at the conflagrations they helped to start. The Russian revolution started as a bread riot. One never knows when events like these might take on a life of their own. About as interesting to me as rival gang warfare in a neighborhood not my own.
Mainstream Media, Democrats some Republicans always have the answer they just need to pose the question.
What arrogant, know-it-all drivel.
"It doesn't concern me"...until they're at your door in overwhelming numbers, too great to restrain. It's about selling?! Sell that cr*p to lesser idiots. The attempted erasure of history is more than a metaphor for an all out attack on Freedom of Speech and of Thought. But, NOOOOO, Mister arrogant know-it-all says "Pay it no heed, it doesn't concern you." YOU are worse than Antifa and the MSM; YOU want us to sit there and SUBMIT. Your attitude is not only disgusting, but also suicidal. Minor technical correction: "... the media need drama and excitement to sell Subarus and furniture and Verizon accounts pharmaceuticals, class-action lawsuits and auto insurance...."
America Is Under Attack from Within
QUOTE: RUSH: America is under attack from within. Our culture, our history, our founding are under the most direct assault I have seen in my life. And I’m sure it’s the same with you. We haven’t seen anything like this. You might even get away with saying that we are on the cusp of a second civil war. Some of you might say that we are already into it, that it has already begun. However you characterize it, though, we are under attack from within. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/08/18/america-is-under-attack-from-within/ Quote:
The one function that TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were. - David Brinkley Yup. In previous years we had !1sharks!!sharks!!everywhere!@!.
Other years it was missing young women in DC, or a missing girl in Aruba. Slow news days (and August is a slow news *month*) make for idle hands, and idle hands are the devil's keyboard pressers. |