Do you agree with O'Reilly that we should let Al Qaeda attack San Francisco?

[dazzleman]

O'Reilly seems to be coming a little unhinged lately.

At this point, I can't tolerate any of those political shows.  They're either a bunch of people screaming at each other, or they spend the whole hour talking about the latest missing blonde.  There is simply too much dead air time to fill.  I'd rather watch reruns of Law and Order, or something like that.

[dazzleman]

jfern, and everyone else, don't take him seriously.  Take it as comic relief.  If he's gonna make an arse of himself, it's better to laugh than think he's serious and get angry in his favor or against.

Oh, don't worry, me and my friend sometimes would watch him, and laugh at how "fair and balanced" it was.

Actually, the "fair and balanced" claim does not apply to opinion shows, like O'Reilly or Hannity and Colmes or Greta's show.  They are not news shows.

[dazzleman]

jfern, and everyone else, don't take him seriously.  Take it as comic relief.  If he's gonna make an arse of himself, it's better to laugh than think he's serious and get angry in his favor or against.

Oh, don't worry, me and my friend sometimes would watch him, and laugh at how "fair and balanced" it was.

Actually, the "fair and balanced" claim does not apply to opinion shows, like O'Reilly or Hannity and Colmes or Greta's show.  They are not news shows.

Well regardless of whether you think it does, the term "no spin zone" is specifically for O'Reilly's show, which seems to imply some sort of reasonably non-biased views. Hoping that San Francisco gets attacked by Al Qaeda does not fall in that catagory.

I doubt he wants San Francisco to be attacked.  I think his point was probably that we should not try too hard to defend San Francisco, since the people there are so hostile to the concept of national defense.  He has a point, actually.

[dazzleman]

I doubt he wants San Francisco to be attacked.  I think his point was probably that we should not try too hard to defend San Francisco, since the people there are so hostile to the concept of national defense.  He has a point, actually.

Does that go for everybody in San Francisco?  What about the people who do care about national defense?  Would O'Reilly mind if they all got killed in a terrorist attack too?

I think it's a general statement made for rhetorical effect, not to really be taken literally.  Clearly, those who care about national defense, and those who do not, cannot be geographically isolated.  In general, people in far left places like San Francisco are hostile to national defense.  I'm not necessarily defending the intent of the statement, but just trying to explain the context in which it was probably made, and suggest that it isn't 100% off the wall.  People should not s&$t where they eat.

[dazzleman]

I realize that, but I expect 54,355 people would probably disagree.  (The number of Bush voters in SF County in 2004)

Yes, I'm sure you're right.  God bless those poor people, living in a virtual insane asylum.

Of course, I don't want an attack anywhere, and if there is to be one, I certainly wouldn't choose one place over another.  We should be a united people, but I fear that most people on the far left are perfectly willing to sell the rest of us down the river.

[dazzleman]

God bless those poor people, living in a virtual insane asylum.

Heh, my mom used to live in San Francisco during the 1970s-1980s. She attended graduate school there and then taught at a number of (grade) schools. As you can imagine, she ultimately moved out. Surprise? I think not.

It's a shame because San Francisco really is a beautiful city.  But it's getting to the point where it's hard to really consider it part of the United States.  The hippie generation there has just taken over everything.

[dazzleman]

I certainly would rather SF be hit than Dallas or something. They certainly would deserve it collectively, but not every person in SF is a complete loser, just as not every person in SF is queer.

That's ridiciulous. I stand against terrorist attacks, whether they are Kerry's 3rd best county (San Francisco, CA), Kerry's 9th best county (New York, NY), or a more Republican county.

It's nice to hear you say that, Jfern.  I have gotten the sense for a long time that the far left would not mind seeing more conservative areas of the country attacked, as long as their areas are left alone.  I think this is a deplorable attitude whether promulgated by conservatives or liberals, so it's nice to hear you say that you are against it, and not more hostile to Texas than you are to al-Qaeda.

[dazzleman]

I don't have a source, but a usually reliable friend of mine that reads more news than I do apparenlty saw somewhere that O'Reilly's ratings have been tanking, and thus he's been resulting to more outlandish things to say to get people's attention.

This could be 100% false, but in theory, it definitely makes sense. Anyone have the most recent ratings of Fox News shows at hand?

I don't know the ratings but I wouldn't be surprised if you were right.

Most people I know tell me they can't tolerate these cable news shows anymore, and I feel the same way.  At this point, they're just boring.  On political issues, they're not telling me anything I don't already know.  The rest of the time they have people screaming at each other, or they obsess over some missing person, 99% of the time a white woman.

One of the big problems with our media is that they provide no perspective.  Even if they sometimes report well on certain events, they seem to have no way to put it into context of relative importance, and few members of the general public seem to have that ability either.

Perhaps this genre of television has just run its course.

[dazzleman]

That's one of the most insightful posts on cable news I've seen in a long time. I've been trying to say that for years, but I think now people are starting to listen.

Thanks dude. 

I think there's just too much air time to fill, and not enough to fill it with that the public wants to hear.  What's really important is not necessarily interesting, and wouldn't get good ratings most likely.

At a time when Iran is working toward an islamic bomb, among other threatening developments, we see show over show obsessing over every twist in the Natalie Holloway case.

And I can't take these shows where they just have people screaming at each other over some issue.  Frankly, my opinions are already formed, and I'm not going to change them because some nutcase liberal gets on a show and makes snide comments about the president.

What's your next crusade Nation?  Could you speak out against "The Surreal Life" and "My Fair Brady?"

[dazzleman]

The media reports on nothing for a reason. If they wanted an informed populace, they would obviously report on real news. Instead they report on Scott Peterson or whatever to distract people from the serious problems that America faces. I don't give a sh**t about Scott Peterson, and he dumped his wife's body right near where I live.

The question is not whether the media wants an informed populace, but whether the populace wants to be informed.

[dazzleman]

The media reports on nothing for a reason. If they wanted an informed populace, they would obviously report on real news. Instead they report on Scott Peterson or whatever to distract people from the serious problems that America faces. I don't give a sh**t about Scott Peterson, and he dumped his wife's body right near where I live.

My grandparents live two doors down from the Peterson's house.  They ended up going on vacation for a couple weeks at the height of the circus because the media was such a nuisance.

The overall crappiness of the news media is a combination of two factors: one, the public wants to watch crap (ever watch daytime TV, with the soap operas, Judge Judy and Jerry Springer?) and two, the media promotes crap, which just leads to more of number one.

It's a cycle.  The public finds there pretty white girl missing stories tantalizing, for whatever reason.  I follow them mildly, but not to the extent of many people.  The advent of the whole thing was probably the OJ case and trial.  Watching talk shows like Jerry Springer is pretty scary, because it's scary to realize that there are actually people like that out there.

[dazzleman]

Hey! No cheap attacks on Judge Judy.

I like Judge Judy, but you have to admit, the people who appear on her show are trash.