Media Responsibility

www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/28/white-house-party-crashers-looking-sell-story/?test=faces
It has been reported that a couple that reside in Washington D.C. are trying to get on the Bravo networks Real Housewives Show. Bravo's film crews have been following them around while they attend parties at the White House and so on, but wait, they were not invited to the party at the White House! Is it partially Bravo's responsibility to look into the people that they just might employ on a TV show in the near future? Of course it is!! Just like any other employer it is quite necessary, on the other hand it is also Bravo's responsibility to make sure that they are giving us the "real deal." Do you think that Bravo should have checked to see if these people were even invited to the soiree? I think it is sticky because Bravo is not reporting the news and they are presenting "reality" TV that really is not reality.
What is even more disturbing is that these people were able to get into a party at the White House that they were never invited too!!!! Maybe Bravo is getting scammed by their "reality," just like the masses are being scammed into watching fake "reality."

Commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmOY6whi-Y&feature=playlist&p=28BC5CE9A310FA82&index=8

This is one of my favorite anti-drug commercials. It shows a kid growing up smoking pot and eventually he turns into pot. I guess that it just like the old saying you are what you eat! My point is that when kids see commercials like this do they really help or do they laugh? I can tell you that most of the anti-drug commercials out there I find them to be quite amusing, so if that is my reaction, then most likely that is the same reaction that most kids have. Do they think by telling kids that they will turn into weed if they smoke it will stop them from doing drugs. This is a case of the media telling the American public the consequences of doing drugs when most of the people in the media are probably under the influence of something. A lot of these commercials are not effective, like the kids going through the drive thru and they hit a girl on a bike, I find that to be highly improbable if they were smoking weed, maybe if they were drunk or on some meth. The media and their masters direct us to what to think, but some things that they do are not working.

Media Tells Us What to Think About?

So if the media has the ability to direct Americans what to think about, then imagine what could happen if this gets out of control; or is it already out of control?
Generally speaking the average U.S. citizen is not that smart or has enough common sense to disect the facts of a story and be able to determine what is true and what is a fallacy. People take stories for what they are worth which is not much and believe everything that is stated. If they believe everything stated then it is easy to dupe the American public. For example, a few months back on 9/11, a few news stations reported that the Coast Guard was firing on enemy boats on the Potomac River, now many people believed that until the story was recanted; do you realize the fear that it could have caused? What is even worse is that more than one station was reporting the fallacy. If we cannot decipher fact from fiction than maybe the American public deserves to be told what to do.

Sesame Street & Fox News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=O-1j9T90-8

I had problems embedding this video, but it is a short & funny 36 seconds!

We are all pretty aware that the Public Broadcasting System is a liberal, publicly funded network. In this amusing video we are shown how the networks influence what is put on the airwaves. Sesame Street needs to be more responsible just for the fact that we live in a country where we are able to make our own political decisions, Sesame Street is all about getting along and cultural diversity; therefore Sesame Street should not try to sway our youngsters in any way, conservative or liberal. The political affiliations that our future decides to affirm themselves with needs to be completely up to them, when networks air programs that are directed at children that put down certain political affiliations could be considered as distastedul or even a ploy to start them out young, political parties have decided to start campaigning to those that are still in the womb, in preschool and kindergarten; they better start early to get that vote!!

Is it the news or the reporter?

I like to observe my father's reactions to the daily news and some days he is more wound up than others. For example, a couple of Fridays ago my father was really wound up and he made a comment that Rush was really on it today, whatever that means. I made a comment to him saying that whenever Rush is wound up, he gets really wound up, my father replied that it was not Rush that winds him up that it is the news that is reported that winds him up. I honestly think that it is a little bit of both. So my question is is it the reporter that gets the masses "stoked" or is it the news presented that gets them "stoked?"

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/

I can definetly see how Rush Limbaugh can get anyone wound up! If you take a gander at his site, you will see bright colors, parodies of politicians, a lot of flash player being used. The colors are vibrant and just by looking at them it could raise your blood pressure. Needless to say, if it is not Rush stoking the fire it would be another news reporter doing it. Their job is to make us question what is going on, I believe that Rush's goal is to inform Americans yet to instill power into the masses, we have the right to choose how our government is run and just like Glenn Beck they want us to hold the government responsible for their actions, as any due dilligent citizen should do!

Newsworthy???

So as I like to look at all of the headlines on the the various websites I wonder what these different sites determine as newsworthy. I look at www.comcast.net and see the top headlines, the third headline is "Bachelor Jason is getting married." Why is this in the top headlines? Why is this even near the top headlines? Why is bachelor Jason near a headline about a woman in West Virgina lying about torture and a Massachussetts man being held in an attack plot. I am really confused, was there nothing else to report on? There was nothing else that was more newsworthy than Bachelor Jason? Sometimes i just don't understand. Maybe it is a plot by comcast to push the Bachelor series. Well like I say, it always comes to money and who is paying for what.

Dramatization

I was watching Glenn Beck the other day with my parents and he was talking about saying good bye to an old friend to lead into the commercial break. I asked my parents, "who died?" They said they did not know.

So Beck comes back on and is about to do a eulogy for his "old friend," as it turns out this "friend" is school bake sales. I found this to be quite hilarious. Bake sales? Why are we saying good bye to bake sales? Well the answer to that is that it is to fight childhood obesity. So we declare a war on drugs and are losing, have lost or lost it completely, it is a war that we cannot win, just like the fight against obesity, food is just as bad as drugs, people want it and you cannot stop people from eating sweets or cheeseburgers with Krispy Kreme donuts instead of a bun. Now are they not only extinguishing bake sales, they are talking about a sweet tax, which I would group with a sin tax like on cigarettes. My point is the media does make certain issues very dramatic like Beck did with a eulogy to a bake sale, but that just shows that it is not limited to bake sales, they dramatize what the other side does, or makes a politician look worse than they already do. Dramatization lives on as it raises ratings and heart rates!

Communism & An American Symbol

I came across a story on foxnews.com and the Associated Press, that reported that the Empire State Building's light were yellow and red (they are normally white) in celebration of the "bloody Communist takeover" in China. Here are my questions:
Why would the people at the Empire State Building want to celebrate Communisms takeover? Or even think that it was okay to celebrate the takeover? I am absolutely baffled! As the article stated, the Empire State Building is an American Monument, it represents America, why would Americans celebrate something that is so not American, actually the opposite of American. Ias this a time where we sympathize or celebrate Communism? This is actually scary, why is this acceptable? This is very strange & I am very confused. My father would definetly say that this relates to Obama being in office and it represents his administration!
I did not see this story visibly on Comcast news or CNN. It was visible on CNN & Fox as well as the Associated Press. I think that this story is quite important and the American people need to know about this, if this would have been done 50 years ago, people probably would have gone mad! I am just so confused and baffled over this decision to celebrate the Communism takeover. Aren't we going backwards? I thought that we were trying to advance in the world and not celebrate the oppresion of an entire nation! This should bother the American people, my Father sounds crazy sometimes but he has this knack for always being right!

News in General

So, myself like many Americans enjoy "smut." When I say smut, I mean publications like; In Touch, Life & Style, shows and websites like TMZ or E!. I love smut, it is so interesting to me that millions of Americans have an obsession with a Hollywood star's life or a pop-diva or rapper or athlete. We look at these "news articles" and have some sense of happiness knowing that our lives are not as complicated as those stars or that our spouse is not cheating on us. What is even more fascinating is the spin that the media puts on these stories. They do the same thing in political news as they do in the entertainment news. For example, I enjoy the entertainment website www.mediatakeout.com Now this website is dedicated to urban stars whether they are actors, singers, rappers or athletes. Sometimes this website reports the most inane and useless stories which are just fillers, a picture of Beyonce or Ciara claiming some silly story that gets you to just click on the link for their advertising dollars. What my point is, is that any media outlet is about dollars and what will bring it in. It does not matter what the story is as long as they can put a spin on it to attract readers or viewers, the better. Money makes the world go round and mass media is no different, they are at the top of their game!

Investigation Anyone?

There were reports earlier today from a few news sources that the Coast Guard was firing upon a private ship. Now, this is a problem. It was not a private ship but the Coast Guard executing exercises. A big part of the news these days is who can get the story the fastest. For the sake of the story breaking on your network first your producers decide to run with a story that is inaccurate. Do they do this because it is exciting, for ratings? Is this right? Does this make the network less credible? This happens and it makes one wonder if the people running these stories feel just a little bit stupid for putting out an inaccurate story and one that might cause some type of fear or panic in the public. I think that it is wrong. I would rather wait just a little longer and get the real story, not something that someone made up. It is kind of like that telephone game that you play in grade school; one person starts with saying something in the first person's ear then by the time it gets to the 20th person's ear it is something totally different from what the first person said. The news seems like that sometimes. I want the real story!!!!!

THE SPEECH!

So on the eve of this big Obama speech I am happy that I will not be at home. My father will be extremely happy that So You Think You Can Dance will not be replaced by Obama, when Obama takes over Fox programming, he gets pretty peeved, almost to the point of my amusement. Now if Obama would come on over American Idol, he would start writing letters to Fox expressing his disappointment in their programming choices, using a few choice words to describe our president. Now as you can imagine, there are many Americans sitting at home watching TV getting ready to watch their favorite reality program and instead of that program, the president comes on, a lot of Americans do not like their regularly scheduled programs to be interrupted, nonetheless by the president. I myself get irritated when what I want to watch gets interrupted by the president, or an amber alert or a weather alert, its selfish I know, but we live in a self serving world. I think that it is absolutely ok that Fox opted out the speech, it shows people that companies have no reason to be afraid of the government due to the decisions thast they make for their business. It also makes their viewers happy as well as driving up ratings for the Fox broadcast channel, the people that tune in to watch NBC or CBS thinking that their regular program is on and see that Obama is on and it is not something that they want to watch, they are going to turn it to Fox, who is showing So You Think You Can Dance. And who knows, maybe they will hook some new viewers for that program!
So do you think that it is ok that Fox decided not to air the presidential speech?

My Conservative Life

So, many might ask why my title is "My Conservative Life." Well I grew up and still live in a house where Fox News is the authority and my father went out and bought an industrial radio so he can listen to his daily Rush Limbaugh injections. My father is a staunch conservative, where I am not so far away from his conservatism but not as extreme as he is. Some nights at dinner Rush Limbaugh has gotten my father so wound up, he is on a perpetual soapbox, which isn't a problem, well sometimes it is.
I asked my father if he cross checks stories with other news sources and he said yes, I would consider my father an extremely well informed citizen , he goes to town hall meetings and is constantly watching or listening to the news, he also started reading parts of the healthcare bill and complained that it was in lawyer speak. So what my point is is that my father is on a constant streaming of media, he knows exactly what is going on and where, however sometimes I think that the media gets him revved up, he gets excited over specific topics and threatens to up and move to Ireland or to Texas because they have the right to seceed from the United States. He speaks of important rights, for example, the right for us to protest if we do not like what the government is doing, which is our right and what the founding fathers felt was important for our country.
Media can be good or bad, in my father's case it is a little of both. It inspires him to stand up for what he believes in yet sometimes it leaves him worked up and my father is not easy to deal with when he is worked up!