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Because they would just be talking into an abyss, conservatives don't watch CNN therefore a conservative would never have an audience there and Liberals don't watch Fox News so a liberal would never have an audience there.
I follow both rather closely but what does the fact that I am the exception to the rule tell us about what most Americans think in general? How they think?
They did that in the past. But more recently it has been pretty much all PC all the time at PBS, especially when it comes to anything intersectionality-related. Something will be pushed as a concern of immigrants, women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, gays, trans people, etc. There will be a feature story and "experts", often members of the concerned group, will teach us about all the ways in which it is indeed quite concerning. This kind of thing represents the majority of PBS Newshour's content.
I know some people get a little frustrated with the effort to be PC, but is there anything wrong with the effort or effects all told? I really don't think so. Not like we can really be too respectful and civil to one another regardless our differences right? Never strikes me as an issue anyway, so perhaps I don't see what you see when watching the PBS NewsHour. I'm also not sure we shouldn't be a little more concerned about such things, these people, but that's surely a matter of personal perspective.
I also appreciate all else the NewsHour offers well beyond what you seem focused upon...
"Monday on the NewsHour, uproar grows around a racist photo from the medical school yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., sparking calls for his resignation. Plus: The UK’s countdown to Brexit, Politics Monday on the Northam scandal, the New England Patriots win a sixth Super Bowl title, a play about the rise of Vladimir Putin and a humble opinion on why not knowing the truth can hurt us."
Some hours are better than others, but rarely do I feel any were not worth watching, give or take a piece I may or may not zip through. About the best balance of news reporting I know of anyway, PLUS no commercials and no in-your-face sensationalism that other news organizations love to feed their audience. I'll take the inclination toward PC instead, any day of the week...
I follow both rather closely but what does the fact that I am the exception to the rule tell us about what most Americans think in general? How they think?
It's really not a crazy idea at all, as a conservative why would I want to watch a bunch of liberal pundits on CNN telling me how stupid I am just for being a conservative?? I am sure liberals feel the same way about fox news. It's not any different then if you went to a sports game, would you want to sit on the side rooting for the opposing team?? Of course not, you would want to sit with "your people" not the other side, this isn't just limited to politics, think back to school remember all the groups sat together, "skaters" "stoners" "Goths" "nerds" what have you, it's just human nature to congregate with people who think along the same lines and share the same values that's all, I don't think it's some kind of twisted thinking or anything spiteful it's just how humans are
I know some people get a little frustrated with the effort to be PC, but is there anything wrong with the effort or effects all told? I really don't think so. Not like we can really be too respectful and civil to one another regardless our differences right? Never strikes me as an issue anyway, so perhaps I don't see what you see when watching the PBS NewsHour. I'm also not sure we shouldn't be a little more concerned about such things, these people, but that's surely a matter of personal perspective.
I also appreciate all else the NewsHour offers well beyond what you seem focused upon...
"Monday on the NewsHour, uproar grows around a racist photo from the medical school yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., sparking calls for his resignation. Plus: The UK’s countdown to Brexit, Politics Monday on the Northam scandal, the New England Patriots win a sixth Super Bowl title, a play about the rise of Vladimir Putin and a humble opinion on why not knowing the truth can hurt us."
Some hours are better than others, but rarely do I feel any were not worth watching, give or take a piece I may or may not zip through. About the best balance of news reporting I know of anyway, PLUS no commercials and no in-your-face sensationalism that other news organizations love to feed their audience. I'll take the inclination toward PC instead, any day of the week...
True, the Newshour is better than network news, but that's such a low bar these days. And yes, "PC" probably isn't the best term to describe what is most troubling about the direction Newshour and most other mainstream media has gone in peddling racial animosity. This media campaign:
It starts out harmlessly enough with a reporter filming a black woman in Cincinnati who benefits from the help of a black social worker who visits her regularly and reminds her to do all the things pregnant women need to do. But four minutes in we get to the main message: black babies die because of white racism. No evidence is offered for this beyond the fact the black infant mortality is relatively high. At 4:45 we're treated to a bull session with black mothers sitting around a table trading rumors and urban legends they've heard about racist white doctors. At 5:45 we meet a woman who "lost her baby after only four months of pregnancy". (The bold reflects the vocal tone of PBS' John Yang, who presents this information as if something so shocking as a miscarriage at four months could only have been the result of horrible racist abuse.) We learn there were no warning signs the doctor could have seen, but that the woman was stressed at the time by her boyfriend and didn't feel comfortable talking to her doctor about it because he is white. For her second pregnancy she had a black doctor the baby was born normally. This is apparently the best specific example of racism by a white doctor that could be found.
We hear so much about Trump and conservatives being "divisive". But it's hard to imagine anything more divisive than this continuing mainstream media campaign aiming to teach blacks that personal tragedies they might face, like the death of a child, are the fault of white people - absolutely despicable.
Last edited by The Dark Enlightenment; 02-05-2019 at 06:23 PM..
It's really not a crazy idea at all, as a conservative why would I want to watch a bunch of liberal pundits on CNN telling me how stupid I am just for being a conservative?? I am sure liberals feel the same way about fox news. It's not any different then if you went to a sports game, would you want to sit on the side rooting for the opposing team?? Of course not, you would want to sit with "your people" not the other side, this isn't just limited to politics, think back to school remember all the groups sat together, "skaters" "stoners" "Goths" "nerds" what have you, it's just human nature to congregate with people who think along the same lines and share the same values that's all, I don't think it's some kind of twisted thinking or anything spiteful it's just how humans are
That is not a great thing. We need to know what is going on all around us even if we don't agree. I watch and listen across the board, in truth sometimes the "other side" does have a point about some things.
In high school I didn't belong to any of those cliques, I got along with most everybody unless they were so insular they would not associate with anyone but their group. Gotta love the brooding goth types who hated everyone.
Lots who "love" Carlson are not quite so enamored anymore, because he slipped from the far right narrative and touched the third rail for conservatives of criticizing capitalism.
I follow Fox News along with a good many other news sites every morning, and no doubt Fox News is a show all it's own. This article happened to appear in The Guardian this morning for example. Another news site I follow every day.
There is nothing about Fox News I respect much, other than as a glimpse into what the Fox News audience seems wanting to see and hear.
In particular, I avoid listening to talking heads altogether, because they also tend to be people we tune into not so much because we're learning anything but because they talk the talk we want to hear. AKA "preaching to the choir."
I try hard to avoid those sorts of confirmation traps and people trapped in them, because they are a lost cause...
There's nothing about Fox News (acknowledging, BTW that you're conflating Fox NEWS with their OPINION programs) which you "respect," yet you follow The Guardian, which you've quoted as stating, incorrectly, that Carlson is a fierce opponent of immigration.
I see.
Adjectives like "illegal" are such pesky things! And liberal clowns are so amusing!
It's really not a crazy idea at all, as a conservative why would I want to watch a bunch of liberal pundits on CNN telling me how stupid I am just for being a conservative?? I am sure liberals feel the same way about fox news. It's not any different then if you went to a sports game, would you want to sit on the side rooting for the opposing team?? Of course not, you would want to sit with "your people" not the other side, this isn't just limited to politics, think back to school remember all the groups sat together, "skaters" "stoners" "Goths" "nerds" what have you, it's just human nature to congregate with people who think along the same lines and share the same values that's all, I don't think it's some kind of twisted thinking or anything spiteful it's just how humans are
I have to disagree and here's why...
I don't follow all the various news sites in search of hearing what I want to hear or avoiding what I don't want to hear. What I want to KNOW are the facts regardless how they are presented. Up to me to figure out what is worth knowing and what's not, and that process should not be stunted by our bias nor theirs.
Fact is all these sites generally report the same sort of "headline news," but not always, and just that difference is interesting to consider in terms of what is important and why, according to some vs others. All the various news sites also report different facts in different ways, that you simply don't come across if you limit what news you follow according to what "team" you're on.
To use your analogy, instead of being biased toward your team, say you want to learn which team is better, has the best plays, best players, has the best chance of getting to the Super Bowl. Would you only watch one team in order to make such a determination? Even if that one team were your own home team? Of course not.
This is the essence of what confirmation bias is all about and why it is such a problem for all of us. Why so many Americans are not thinking objectively or critically. Not even close...
Same goes for this forum. Why would anyone come here only to read the comments they like and ignore the ones they don't agree with? That sort of "mental inbreeding" is nothing but an "ignorance is bliss" sort of comfort having little to do with what is really going on around us. My opinion anyway...
True, the Newshour is better than network news, but that's such a low bar these days. And yes, "PC" probably isn't the best term to describe what is most troubling about the direction Newshour and most other mainstream media has gone in peddling racial animosity. This media campaign:
It starts out harmlessly enough with a reporter filming a black woman in Cincinnati who benefits from the help of a black social worker who visits her regularly and reminds her to do all the things pregnant women need to do. But four minutes in we get to the main message: black babies die because of white racism. No evidence is offered for this beyond the fact the black infant mortality is relatively high. At 4:45 we're treated to a bull session with black mothers sitting around a table trading rumors and urban legends they've heard about racist white doctors. At 5:45 we meet a woman who "lost her baby after only four months of pregnancy". (The bold reflects the vocal tone of PBS' John Yang, who presents this information as if something so shocking as a miscarriage at four months could only have been the result of horrible racist abuse.) We learn there were no warning signs the doctor could have seen, but that the woman was stressed at the time by her boyfriend and didn't feel comfortable talking to her doctor about it because he is white. For her second pregnancy she had a black doctor the baby was born normally. This is apparently the best specific example of racism by a white doctor that could be found.
We hear so much about Trump and conservatives being "divisive". But it's hard to imagine anything more divisive than this continuing mainstream media campaign aiming to teach blacks that personal tragedies they might face, like the death of a child, are the fault of white people - absolutely despicable.
I remember seeing this segment, and I didn't have the reaction you did, but I watched it again to focus on the parts giving you heartburn...
Funny how you say it starts out "harmlessly enough" as if we're to fear something as we go on, but it does start out explaining what I think is the "main message" that is repeated at the end. That these woman have an opportunity to express their point of view is part of that message in that they being heard and those sentiments acted upon helps them feel like they are getting more of the attention they deserve.
I tend to believe you/we are fighting a losing battle by trying to suggest racism and/or the problems of racism are not at the core of all these statistics that pretty well demonstrate the level of disparity between the typical life experience of a white person vs a black person. It's complicated, but I always remind myself that in just about any of these scenarios where the black experience is highlighted, as a white person, I wouldn't want to trade places and above all that, it's about how to give the children a good chance at an equally healthy start. To me that's what this feature is all about more than racism.
Simply look at the numbers, and although there are a good many varied factors that determine infant mortality rates, the plight of a black child is not that of a white child. Quite different as a matter of fact. I'm not willing to say much of that problem can't be improved by all this feature explains that can be done, but to suggest racism isn't also involved is simply ignorant of the facts. That or not understanding how the problem of racism past and/or present is ultimately at the bottom of these consistent disparities that are only recently being evaluated with a little more consideration as to the many reasons why.
If nothing else, listening to news stories like these are good reason to think about the topic and maybe search out more of the truth yourself...
Here are more statistics about the infant mortality rates by race. In the U.S., the number for "Non-Hispanic Blacks" is 11.2 per 1,000 births. Considerably higher in states with larger concentrations of black residents. For "Non-Hispanic Whites" the number is "NSD."
I'll leave it to you to see what that means if you are interested, and of course you will draw your own conclusions about why these numbers are what they are, but careful! Racism isn't just about a doctor treating white patients different from black patients. It's about much more for a long time now, and why again I wouldn't want to trade places with a black person/mother even today given most if not all these statistics. Same with incarceration rates...
I wouldn't call any of this "peddling racial animosity" in any case. Have mercy. More like eye openers after a long time of white folks simply looking the other way!
One way or another, got to hand it to Fox News as quite the source of interesting entertainment...
"A fixture of Fox’s primetime lineup, Carlson has been a gleeful scourge of liberals, a tireless disparager of social programs and a fierce critic of immigration. After he said in December that immigrants made America “poorer and dirtier”, more than two dozen companies dropped their ads from his show. In his jeremiad, however, Carlson sounded like Bernie Sanders. “For generations,” he declared, “Republicans have considered it their duty to make the world safe for banking while simultaneously prosecuting ever more foreign wars.” Americans “are ruled by mercenaries who feel no long-term obligation to the people they rule”.
Fox News Crowd?
I don't know anyone who watches Fox News except for Democrats like you.
So I guess that fits given the violence of the leftists when they don't get their way.
That is not a great thing. We need to know what is going on all around us even if we don't agree. I watch and listen across the board, in truth sometimes the "other side" does have a point about some things.
In high school I didn't belong to any of those cliques, I got along with most everybody unless they were so insular they would not associate with anyone but their group. Gotta love the brooding goth types who hated everyone.
Agreed. Listening to Trump last night is another similar case in point. Trump is certainly not someone who rings true or right with me, but am I not going to listen to him anyway? Should I not here his arguments, contrary to what others like me might think? People who mostly don't agree with his thinking or ways of doing things? Ways of acting?
Sometimes I'm tempted, but sticking your head in the sand in these respects is not the mark of someone who really wants to understand all angles of these rather difficult issues.
"I learned to have the patience to listen when people put forward their views, even if I think those views are wrong. You can't reach a just decision in a dispute unless you listen to both sides." -- Mandela
If Mandela could manage the patience after so many years of imprisonment thanks to those who didn't like what he was saying, I think we can probably muster more patience to hear others out than we are usually willing.
Last edited by LearnMe; 02-06-2019 at 11:49 AM..
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) which you "respect," yet you follow The Guardian, which you've quoted as stating, incorrectly, that Carlson is a fierce opponent of immigration. 
