Re: Fifty-six Deceits in Fahrenheit 911

From: Ken Smith (kensmith_at_green.rahul.net)
Date: 08/12/04 

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:19:44 +0000 (UTC)

In article <118afaeb.0408112233.10ed98f0@posting.google.com>,
Product developer <jdurban@vorel.com> wrote:
>kensmith@green.rahul.net (Ken Smith) wrote in message
>news:<cfdk2k$gvs$1@blue.rahul.net>...
[...]
>> No, 87% of the press "says" they are liberal. If you admit that their
>> reporting is bias, you also have to admit that their reporting of their
>> bias must be biased. So this is a case of you selectively believing them
>> when they happen to say something that matches your preconcieved notions.
>
>Selectively believing a survey? Either take someone's word or not. I
>don't understand.

It is a survey of news people. Previous arguments included the claim that
they were distoring the facts. This survey asked them if they were liberal
or conservative and then assumed that on this question they had not
distorted the facts.

>> >If there weren&#8217;t a clear left wing bias in the reporting of the
>> >news, Rush Limbaugh and FOX NEWS would have never evolved into the
>> >powerhouses they have become. The market was ripe for alternative or
>> >fair reporting
>>
>> Brad Pitt has become a famous actor even though there was not a clear bias
>> toward being ugly in the existing pool of actors so I don't see that your
>> logic holds.
>
>WTF? Lib logic?

Too complex for you?

Ok I will try to do it in smaller steps.

(1)
The claim was made that FOX NEWS became popular because all of the rest of
the news has a left bias.

(2)
The claim, of cause, is presented without any supporting argument other
than an implied seeking of a different option by the views.

(3)
In order for the implied seeking of a different option to be used in the
argument, there must be evidence that the tendancy to seek something
different, in the media, exists in the population.

(4)
An obvious example of an existing bias in the media is the bias towards
good looking people. (You don't see many stump ugly actors)

(5)
Examine the evidence to see if there is a trend in the population towards
ugly actors.

(6)
Brad Pitt is the latest, I could think of, actor to join the ranks of the
popular.

(7)
Brad Pitt is certainly above average in his looks.

(8)
There is no trend towards ugly actors. If anything the trend is towards
ever better looking actors.

(9)
Therefor there is no evidence that the population seeks something
different. If anything there is a tendancy towards seeking a more extreme
example of what they already have.

(10)
The evidence indicates the FOX is not popular because of some left bias in
the media. Instead it is more likely that it is popular because of a
pre-existing right wing bias in the media.

>> People are more comfortable when their cherished notions are confirmed.
>> In the other new orginizations, facts were sometimes checked and surprises
>> found. This upset people so the switched off the news and turned on Rush
>> who never bothered about facts.
>
>Fuzzy logic again? Do you make this up as you go or do you really
>believe what you are shoveling?

Do you have a single shred of evidence or logic to indicate that I am
wrong or is this insult the best you can do?
 
BTW: Yes I did read this far before I answered the part above.

[...]
>One man's truth is another's lie I guess. I hear little truth from the
>left.

Oh my gawd! A right winger admitting he is a moral relativist!

I assume you define "truth" to mean that which agrees with my preconceved
notions.

>> I see ads for shows and readings of press releases and other junk in place
>> of news but I don't see this bias you claim to see. When did you last
>> have your eyes checked. Perhaps you mistake stories about the latest
>> events on Survivor as a left bias.
>
[...]
>I don't have time to watch TV shows. I work 16 to 18 hours a day. The
>last series I watched was Miami Vice because it was cutting edge at
>the time. Can't help you on the survivor question.

Do you watch TV news? It was the "TV news" programs I was refering to.

>> As you get more options for the same number of people to select from the
>> number selecting any given option will normally decrease. There are
>> several other reasons too.
>
>How does that explain the shift to conservatism?

Many of the newer options are further to the right. There is no trend
towards conservatism however. The trend is towards Limbaughism, an
unthinking rightwing extremism.

> The left has a
>stranglehold on public

"Strangle hold" is over the top for this.

> and secondary education,

Less true. I've met rightwinger school teachers.

> network news,

Wrong.

> most of
>the newspapers,

About 50-50 left vs right

> and kooks like Micheal Moore.

I'm sure he worries about your opinion as he goes the bank to cash the
latest check.

>Simple Common sense
>favors conservative thought.

My first impulse was to agree with this until I considered what else
"simple common sense" has been said to favor.

>> We've had the alert level raised and our right curtailed so it doesn't
>> seem to be working anyway.
>
>Every day I wake up and jump in the shower I worry about all the
>rights I have lost in the patriot act. I am so afraid that when I am
>cutting a trace with an exacto blade that someone might think it is a
>box cutter.

I guess you just haven't noticed. I don't know if my cat knew what
happened to it when I got it fixed. It seemed happy enough afterwards. 

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