Mother Robin - Take 2

In yesterday's posting, I didn't mean to sound as if I am against people expressing their opinions. I have no problem with that in most cases. And I am considered a loose cannon when it comes to opinions - for proof, read on:

My problem is that all too often the news media act as if opinions are more important than facts. Our local newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and particularly The Chicago Sun-Times, and our local television news teams, particularly Fox (I shudder, I shudder) present themselves as interactive and hold call-in and internet polls on matters of fact instead of opinion. Some of them are truly absurd: Does Iraq have Weapons of Mass Destruction? Does Iran have nuclear weapons capability?

The first, even though the Current Moron lied to us, has proven to be false. And even when the question was asked before we invaded Iraq in an illegal preemptive strike, no one knew for certain. Not the newscasters, not a kept-in-the-dark Congress, not lied-to Colin Powell, and certainly not the well-intentioned but naive people who responded to the silly polls. I hesitate to use the term slack-jawed yokels again.

The second question is equally unknown to the American public, although my guess is Not Yet.

And even though the questions are patently silly, the media all too often put the responses to these inane questions on the front pages of their newspapers or lead with them on television news - and use them as teasers for hours before the news. Iran has nuclear weapons! Details at Ten!

Unfortunately, the details turn out to be a horseshit call-in poll answered by a bunch of people who have no lives outside their own bubbles, and who spend their time watching Fox News and judging people who have what these flat earth-ers consider heretical religious beliefs.

I don't find this much different from the call-ins conducted by otherwise thorough C-SPAN that elicit answers like, "I worked for Hillary, but I don't agree with Obama's stand on abortion so I'm voting for McCain." How is Obama's view on abortion different from Hillary's? From what I can tell it isn't. This kind of illogic is crazy-making.

When I taught high school English in another life, I once had a student who didn't like studying vocabulary and tried to lead a revolt in the classroom. He said we should vote on what we thought words mean rather than learn a standard, universal definition. While this is an idea that Lewis Carroll's Queen of Hearts espoused: "It means what I say it means," it confounds communication rather than enhancing it. And this immature logic is very little different from that shown too often in the media.

As always, I welcome your comments. Click Comments below to leave one.