Seems like there is always one news story, or another, that puts people in a foul mood or sets off a new “public debate.”
Now, I don’t like debate, because most things become clear if you can momentarily reflect on them and see how they fit in the real scheme of things.
I get a kick out of one of my liberal friends who is qick to jump in and often will introduce extraneous material into the dialog while my natural inclination is to keep things simple and to point. It’s something I leaned as a journalist: You can’t be a reporter until you can be a good “summarizer.” And to be a good summarizer there is a simple technique that will help drain the emotions from any polarizing story and will get down to the gist of things in a rational way.
The way I go around this is to “flip the roles” on stories to see if they make sense if the parties that are making the claims and tossed in the blender and the “other side” is plugged in.
Here’s an example, just to get you started on the concept:
“Sarah Palin slams “punk-a**” protesters who disrupt Donald Trump’s events.”
Hmmm, let’s see here: We have a conservative female, white, tossing barbs at protesters, who disrupted a white fellow running for President.
How could the story look if it were flipped around?
“Al Sharpton slams “punk-a$$” protesters who disrupt Hillary Clinton events.” (Or disrupt what’s her name’s).
Of course, there has been no disruption of Clinton, but I think you get the point.
When I read either version of the story, it doesn’t do much for me one way or the other, but since I have a sense of how the other side would be scripted, should the shoe have been on the other foot, I get a sense of serenity about the story. If a conservative white female can do one then, then a liberal black male taking the opposite side is neither surprising or unexpected.
As far as I know, Sharpton has said no such thing, but he’s definitely in the Clinton camp as it is reported…“Al Sharpton: Bernie Sanders ‘has not resonated’ with black voters.”
A flip-side story would be one where (Fill in the name conservative Christian leader says) Marco Rubio ‘has not resonated with white voters.” Which would also be true, but that to me offer very little news value. It’s more like the “packing” in an Amazon box. Yet, it fills up the thing (and gives news media marketing departments something to sell, but it’s hardly the kind of thing that really changes the world.
The BIAS OF THE MEDIA becomes clear when we see a big story crossing the line Monday like “Putin Orders Start of Syria Withdrawal, Saying Goals Are Achieved.”
The “flip-side” of this story would be for the USA to see a headline like “Obama orders start of Syria support withdrawal, says Goals are Achieved.”
Except that we do not see a headline like that because (and this is complicated) the neocons never were and still are not conservatives (and sham on the Bush family for being so dim-witted about it) and the not only screwed up Iraq, but Afghanistan, and Syria, and with Hillary’s help, Libya.
Still, it would be nice if the West could be a little more conscious of how this “Wearing of the other man’s shoes” does help us see things.
If the U.S.,, for example, started to build islands in the middle of any of the world’s oceans, like, oh, offshore Mexico, for example, or off Honduras, what would the world make of it?
When analyzing things around here, I will often pause and think through not only what is the “headline value” of a story, along with “Does anyone really have skin in this, or is this just hype shuck and jive to sell advertising and drive lambs to advertising (slaughter)?
A note from warhammer is instructive because he’s very good at “seeing both sides now” (with an apology to Judy Collins):
American Laurette Mark Twain famous noted that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Such is the topic of this Financial Times article this morning:
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be952500-e7a8-11e5-a09b-1f8b0d268c39.html#axzz42sOro6ic>
The article’s comparison of 1930s British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with sitting U.S. President Barack Obama is accurate on multiple fronts. Most importantly, both leaders wished to lead their nations out of troubling economic times and cutting military spending was one way to pump funds into social programs and more civilized endeavors, all while hell was boiling over around them.
In 1938, Hitler annexed the Czech Sudetenland unopposed. In this decade, Russia annexed the Crimea and E. Ukraine and solidified its military position in Syria, also unopposed, propping up Iran friendly Syrian president Assad in the process. One might think of Shi’ite Iran as Putin’s version of a Middle Eastern SS, funding anti-Israeli terror groups such as Hezbollah and decimating Sunni Arab populations.
I’m not implying that America should eternally serve as the world’s police force, however, without a viable deterrent military alliance to oppose them, history warns that authoritarian regimes will surely sprout like spring dandelions. With the U.S. election cycle causing much domestic gnashing of teeth and orchestrated social turmoil, one can expect the more nefarious actors on the world stage to move quickly and take advantage of America’s current inward focus.
I’m interested in where the money funding the well-organized European and American political protests originates. Ure readers should pay very close attention to the behind the scenes actions of these shadowy, deep pocketed special interest entities. They are the ones attempting to steer us all in one particular direction, much akin to a rancher tending to their herd of cattle. The question is, are we being driven to the pasture, or to our collective ideological and/or financial slaughter?
We live in interesting times. By all appearances, they’re about to get a lot more interesting.
Cheers,
Some things to think about…and flipping your perspective and plugging in the other side of things does help one remained centered.
Now, Onto Hollywood
When I see stories out of Hollywood, the generalization goes further. Example:
Kim Kardashian’s Nude Selfie Is Now a Mural In Melbourne
In my head, I am rewriting this as “Woman I don’t know with large breasts who uses sexuality to gain attention has nude selfie but nowhere near here.” Well, that’s nice.
But it seems to be increasing, and for the same advertising-driven reasons as useless political content. Here’s another one:
This one is easy to generalize, too: “Woman who I don’t know with large breasts who uses sexuality to gain attention says she is a bigger star than another woman I don’t know with large breasts, as she sits down for radio show on a station I’ve never heard and and can’t receive. That’s freakin’ peachy.
Fortunately, I am already married to a woman I do know (and you can fill in the blanks) so at 67 and still not needing Viagra, my sense is that “A bird in the hand is worth six in the press.”
And the unabashed silliness of it comes out with:
‘Don’t apologize for your past!’: Khloe Kardashian posts lengthy Instagram note about loving yourself as she recovers from James Harden split…”
Whoa-boy. This generalized to “Yet another woman with large breasts, who I don’t know, posted on a service I don’t use about “loving yourself” as she recovers from a presumed buffo male who I also don’t know. I suppose it’s nice to know she loves herself. A bunch.
And we’re supposed to spending our waking hours falling this shit?
This is going to come as a terrible shock to readers, but I place a lot more emphasis on brain-size and heart-size. Near as I can figure it, none of these self-congratulatory people in Hollywood have done much more than wear make up and do “repeat after me” as the coaching director works them through a scene.
Sure, maybe one of them can troubleshoot a problem down at the COM layer developing in ASP or fixing an APK compiling issue but, gee, I sort of doubt it.
It’s yet another Ure axiom: Brain size and Heart size before bra size.
Why I Can’t be a TV Writer
No one in Hollywood has called me about making a move of my book DreamOver, yet.
I put out a really good script for a series I titled The Whitelist. It’s a story about an fellow named Raymond Addington who has a secret list of unpublished ingredients being put in ultra- processed food to keep America in a stupor. Stars the FDA. Easy to produce: Nothing happens in Season 1.
I also submitted the following:
Blonde Spot. A woman emerges from bag, naked, in the middle of New York and is found to be covered in a paint-by-numbers drawing. The show moves slowly but people seem drawn to it.
Botch The story of a single auto mechanic who wanders around beating up parts runners who show up late.
Sleepy Follows This is a tale about what happens when the hero takes a date-rape pill. The series is very easy to produce. You get 1-minute of first-person dialog, then the screen goes blank until next episode.
East Wing This the series where we learn that the Clampetts secretly bought the US government back in the days of black and white television and now secretly live at the White House with the Obamas. They do the gardening, too, when Michelle isn’t looking.
The W Files This is what happened before the X Files.
Eat Wings A Colonel goes to Washington and opens a chicken joint near the centers of power. In the pilot, Foghorn Leghorn runs for Congress. He wins in a landslide.
Surrey A collection of weird tales from before they added the Fringe.
Code Puce This fast-paced heart-stopper is about the stomach pump specialist on full moon and welfare check weekends in the E.R.
Jump Suits Which is about how a lawyer, who actually did go to Harvard but quickly turns into a drug dealer once he gets sent up the river.
Limited The catchy story of a man who takes an experimental drug and goes to work for the federal government. In the series, the effects of super-drug NZS become evidenced as the man dumbs down to Neanderthal and fits in perfectly.
The Talking Dead A reality series based on politicians running for office. Special emphasis on the Gang of 8. In the exciting season finale, the republican party is buried.
Bachelor with Pair of Dice True adventures of a single man who can’t crap out.
565 Monkeys Science fiction set in Washington D,C,. Eventually one or two make sense, but they are quickly murdered.
The Man in the High Condo A former Deutsche bank trader follows Angela Merkel after her political career is ended by removing fluoride from water in Germany.
Agents of S.H.I.T. Learn all the secrets of better GoPro movies from the team at Super-Hot Industrial Television. After this series, you really will know S.H.I.T!
Packers This scraggly group of rowdies offer to take on the Vikings in season 51.
The Flush In this play on Joe the Plumber, things move quickly but the acting is watered down.
Person of Pinterest A blogger’s rise to fame and fortune writing a survival and prepping blog loosely based on www.backdoorsurvival.com.
Transplanet Arriving on a new planet, the aliens have no idea what sexual identify is so they wing it with hilarious results.
Better Call Mordecai Shot in Albuquerque, this take off on an early epic (Breaking Wind) skips right from the courthouse to the back alleys where the real “deals” are hammered out.
Last Month Tonight with John Oliver Only in America can news be recycled – and right in your own living room! (Follows 962 Hours)
Sally Slut The other side of Jane the Virgin’s family.
Cargo An out of work longshore union man makes his way along the docks and wharves of Minot, North Dakota.
Where’s my agent? He was here a Minot ago… I got hot this idea for a new one called Mist Busters…
Actually George BLM has protested Hillary at least twice on 10/30/2015 and on 02/25/2016. They blame her for the crime bill which has resulted in the mass incarceration of blacks. BLM also protested a Bernie event which Bernie had to cancel as a result.
So it becomes terrorism when, exactly?
Personally I think it is still protected political speech. It doesn’t get much more political than protesting candidates. It’s the highest form of protected speech. I don’t agree with them going into actual events to protest. They should limit their protests to public areas.
Terrorism? Not even close. That’s what fascist leaders say about their opposition right before the opposition gets purged.
http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm
So, if they’re protesting everyone, then who do they support? Obviously, they aren’t very good at figuring out that someone has to be a leader.
Maybe they approve of anarchy….
It seems to be more ‘disruption’ than ‘protesting’…and the odd (to those of us who actually think) thing is that they simultaneously achieve exactly the opposite on both counts of causing people to think twice about Trump (they’ve simply hardened the faithful) and discredit their own position.
Of course, the facts that those who ‘protested’, uh, disrupted the events seem to be clearly organized and funded by some of the most left centered individuals/organizations out there doesn’t help their cause either.
“Free speech” is only free when you agree with me…these idiots have a strain of cognitive dissonance that strains rational and reasoned thought.
“Near as I can figure it, none of these self-congratulatory people in Hollywood have done much more than wear make up and do “repeat after me” as the coaching director works them through a scene.”
Hold on a minute! Kim Kardashian just bailed her husband out of his 53 million dollar debt that he tried to crowd-fund. That’s something. (This is the husband that wants to run for president in the next election, and still lives in his mother-in-law’s basement.)
I really enjoyed your laugh-out-loud column this morning!
If Donald Trump either wins the Republican nomination or (unlikely) the general election, he will reap the whirlwind that he has sown – but don’t complain if it turns into a class 5 tornado, and causes massive destruction of values (and value) that are/is held dear. No claiming that ‘you didn’t see that coming’ – besides if your timetable is right he gets to be the lucky president during the next depression, and won’t that be ‘special’.
What part of our being ruled by Demoncraps hasn’t ALREADY reaped us the whirlwind??? Where have you been? Have you been to the borders and welcomed the illegal millions? Have you been to the Federal Reserve and unleashed the trillions? Are you sitting with the highest banks as they fleece the citizens?? Have you been to the Congress and Senate and unlocked the flood of H1B and Visa holders to take our jobs??? Have you been meeting with the lobbyists as they craft a TPP to further erode our Republic? Have you been to the graves of the thousands killed by illegals? Have you comforted the hundred of thousands of citizens being maimed, raped, assaulted, and run over by illegals? Do you collude with the treachery of a supreme court that rules from the bench against the will of the people AND the constitution? Do you attend the dumbed down schools which turn out the dumbed down kids to work the part-time ACA mandated less than 30 hour a week no benefits jobs but eligible for tax payer subsidized freebies that has caused the biggest wealth transfer in history crafted and passed by the Demoncraps so our youth can work service jobs for life??? Do you sit on the board of the companies that own our media and tapdance the cheat sheet of talking points heralded from sea to shining sea calling American Citizens bigots, racist and all manner of disgusting terms because they resent this invasion of their country on all fronts which is causing a transformation of unbeforeseen anihilation of a sovereign nation? Wake the hell up! The whirlwind is here, it was heralded in by this latest lieing, stinking administration backed by the new world order which is hell bent on destroying this country’s greatest assets and liberties. We have been sold out, taken over and high jacked. Our people are used for illegal wars and our Treasury is used against us. Our values have been assaulted by our sick culture crafted again by MONEY!!! Trump is the least of our worries! No resistance on any fronts is our treason to each other!!!!
If you wish to claim the wisdom of an infinite, historical being – than have at it! Otherwise, one can only effectively deal with the present situation – as someone once said – you have no control over the past, the future is conjecture, you can really only control the immediate present . . . How one handles the situation with Donald Trump (or Hilary Clinton for that matter) is in the present. It’s obvious that you favor Trump. Getting in a ‘lather’ for no good reason is bad for ones health . . . ‘Cool your jets, man!’ it’s good six months til November!
It is interesting to see Putin compared to Hitler for small, measured responses to the U.S. tromping around the World like the Hulk. AstroTurf rooted “color revolutions” funded in the billions, installing orchestrated chaos in entire regions is somehow unworthy of mention, while securing its borders and key military bases, while protecting an ethnic Russian population from overt genocide by a fake government of a fake country is somehow Nazi-like. Funding terror groups like Isis, supporting the most retrograde and anti Western theocracy in hundreds of years, murdering any World leader who dares to try to stop using federal reserve notes in commerce, installing over 800 military bases around the World, forcing foreign nations to accept corporate dictates about food, medicine, commerce, communication, morals, and currencies is somehow unworthy of note. It is inevitable that Americans are seen as ignorant, ill informed, dangerous, deluded, spoiled and foolish by virtually all of the rest of Humanity. Collectively, we behave like fat, stupid, spoiled, self righteous, entitled rich kids with bodyguards, allowances bigger than the guards’ salaries, and toady friends.
Well said, bravo.
And have you not noticed that the rise of Trump is also being compared to the rise of Hitler? That to believe in a sovereign nation WITH protected borders and caring about the citizens of a country would now be considered racist and bigoted. The controlled government media mouthpiece is doimg it’s damnedest to silence all Republic loving constitutionally caring citizens to turn against themselves and sign their own death warrants.
the blurbs that take up “news” space are easy to not pay attention to or read. I, personally, am too busy living my own life to spend any time, whatsoever, reading or listening to a blurb about some person or persons who has/have absolutely no value in the world except for generating pictures of themselves and fabricating words that fill empty space. But perhaps they and it serve a function of distracting the masses from their own unhappy, unfulfilled and troubled lives because it is the ‘easy/fluff’ stuff to pay attention to, instead of the bigger picture/worldly issues. Maybe that is the only purpose of the hollyweirdness – past, present and future.
It would be helpful if your contributors were accurate in their facts when offering opinions.
Specifically, the uprising that displaced an elected president in Ukraine was instigated by NGO’s that were financed with 5 billion dollars supplied by the US (as was attested to by Victoria Nuland, US undersecretary of state via recorded statement). It’s normally considered a “no no” to overthrow an elected leader of a sovereign country. This of course is the normal course of action by the US when a countries leader isn’t playing ball with the US (wasn’t going to join NATO and allow US missiles to be deployed against Russia in their country).
After that overthrow occurred, Crimea VOTED by over 90% approval to join Russia. This is also known as self determination, a concept supposedly supported here in the US.
Eastern Ukraine, whose people for the most part speak russian and relate most closely to Russian culture, has not been annexed by Russia. Russia is militarily supporting the citizens of E.Ukraine, who are being bombed by the guy (porky) who was installed by the US gov’t. Normally they would be called Freedom fighters but for the fact that these folks aren’t following the narrative put out by Washington.
In short, people need to collect their facts from sources other than from main stream media as this source is only allowed to report the narrative from washington. It is criminal what our country has done in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. I hope that your contributor will rethink his conclusions with these corrected facts.
Exactly right!
Couldn’t have put it better myself !
Ditto for Syria let us stop losing to ourselves. USA 100% behind taking out Assad same repeated plan already completed in Afghanistan Iraq, Lybia, etc. No internal uprisings unfunded by USA. They are not giving up on taking out Iran. These are basic truths ALL alert and oriented citizens should agree on.
Lying to ourselves….
And who called Putin an evil man during her last presidential shot? Madam secretary figured she was going to put Putin’s feather in her cap the Arkansas way.
All in time for her corination.
The Ukraine is all about Madam Erdogan(oops…)Clinton’s ego.
Maybe the Ruskies are pulling out because there’s going to be a flash over Ankara pretty soon………..
The word “nude” has been devalued.
The K girl who posed “nude” showed nothing that wouldn’t be seen on a boardwalk or conventional beach. “Nude”, by my definition requires explicit nakedness. Otherwise it’s just deceptive advertising.
She’s a bit of a cow anyway.
First Amendment – Religion and Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. I have had conversations with several people over the last couple of days regarding Chicago. They told me the rioters had the “right” to do what they did. According to the First Amendment protest only covers the right of people to peaceably assemble. I think what was done could be considered terrorism, but it was definitely illegal.
Your satyrical scripts poking fun at existing TV “entertainment” belie your claims to not watching!
Here’s one: ‘Busted George’- about a financial writer/screenplay-wannabe who turned on a TV to ‘research’ some ideas and was later found paralyzed and brain-dead.
I was a TV engineer, remember? :-)
As a rule discussing politics or religion or such other personal beliefs is alienating, and thus counter productive. Weather, Hollywood, economics etc. is benign enough, and one should stick to it.
Both BLM’s appear to believe in anarchy.
Please tell Warhammer that “decimate” means a 10% hit. As a military man he should know the origin of this. The word he wanted was probably “devastate”.
[sigh] as a military man, I certainly ‘do’ know the primary definition of the word decimate. The one KMikan refers to is the archaic origin and secondary modern definition of the term.
A simple search on Google (below) or dictionary.com would have clarified any misguided interpretations:
dec·i·mate
?des??m?t/
verb
verb: decimate; 3rd person present: decimates; past tense: decimated; past participle: decimated; gerund or present participle: decimating
1. kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of. “the project would decimate the fragile wetland wilderness”
o drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something). “plant viruses that can decimate yields”
2. historical
kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers or others) as a punishment for the whole group.
Origin
late Middle English: from Latin decimat- ‘taken as a tenth,’ from the verb decimare, from decimus ‘tenth.’ In Middle English the term decimation denoted the levying of a tithe, and later the tax imposed in England by Cromwell on the Royalists (1655). The verb decimate originally alluded to the Roman punishment of executing one man in ten of a mutinous legion.
“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow it’s cloud illusions I recall. I really don’t know clouds at all.”
OK George, you did it again…
Did this just accidentally end up being a waste of time or did you plan it that way to see how many people would interpret this as serious journalism? Then again, by today’s standards I guess it is.