The elections this year are very interesting. Unfortunately, it is making me uncomfortably aware of how little I really understand about some of the issues. And since not knowing prompts one to learn and thinking you know is static..I don't think that this is a bad thing in every way.
I watched a little clip the other night, prepared by a reporter from the Rolling Stone who did a story on how the press recieves information on the debates. They go into a room with a TV screen and watch and then they talk to PR people from the campaigns. The PR people thrown out little slogans and the journalists write them down and write an article based on this. Then the stories start coming out and they are often uniform articles written by people who don't really have an strong understanding, whether it's through their own fault or it's just because of the process, But it reminded me of kids in school who go to class unprepared and then copy the answers from each other.
Here is something else that I always notice, especially on television. They say that ageism is very entrenched in American society. Sometimes I watch these shows that seem to be staffed by young attractive reporters and they will make comments about the past with these self-assured tones and I wonder to myself....how do they know? They weren't born. They had to have read it, did they learn it through some sort of required reading while they were in college? And if so, whose opinion is it, really? And please, I'm not knocking young people, we all offer a perspecive that is important. I don't think that the perspecive of the young or the older should be discounted.
I love Lisa Ling (though she is a different type of reporter than what I am talking about) when she reports she does it in a way that you feel that she is exploring life, trying to understand things, on a journey to obtain mature perspective, she never acts like she already knows it all and this is how it should be. Even older people should not lose that quality. If older people had opportunites to be something besides conservative pundits, how would perspectives differ? It is a mistake to discount older people, even if you don't disagree with them, they still have a knowledge based on experience and that counts for a lot.
Given the nature of media, there seems to be a lot of people who strike one as parroting popular phrases that make it sound like one is well-informed in actuality, many really aren't. I'm guilty of it too, that's why I don't talk too much about politics. I hate that feeling that I am throwing out a popular catch-phrase to hide the fact that I don't really understand this obscurity at all, I'd rather not say anything at all. The only things that I feel comfortable talking about and don't feel like a phoney talking about are things that I saw myself or things that I have made a genuine and deep effort to analyze. I always intend to correct the gaps in my knowledge by finding out more and then I get distracted by something else that I am interested in and I leave it. But the elections have inspired me to learn more and what I have learned has only given me more questions, which as I said is not bad.
Last night I spent some time on the internet reading Noam Chomsky, I've meant to do this for a long time and never have and he made a comment about NPR that I found interesting. He seemed to consider NPR as one-sided as say.....Mike Savage. He was very cutting. He made a comment to the effect that wealthy people who graduate from Ivy League universites are completely out-of-touch and elitist. This is also what conservatives always say and I found this interesting for of course, Noam Chomsky is about as liberal as they come. He also said that Obama thinks that the truth lies somewhere between conservative talk radio and NPR. I'm not sure what this means. Does this mean that Obama is centrist? Or does it mean that NPR is not genuinely liberal, that it misses the point because it stands above and apart from real-life observing from an anthropoligical viewpoint instead of participating in it? Or both?
I also found this disturbing because I've considered NPR a good source of news and I'm not sure what I think of what he said but it gave me something to mull over. Ultimatley, I think he is right in his belief that we need the voices of people who have lived it as well as those who are removed from it. We need people who have made an effort to cogently form an idealogy that doesn't come entirely from books...we need another Studs Terkel.
Another thing that this made me think about is you know, even reading Chomskey gave me the feeling that I was recieving someone elses pre-digested ideas. I suppose there is no other way to understand history you have to read the ideas and perspectives of another person if you weren't alive then, it's inescapable, it takes a great effort to be truly informed and I'm not sure that very many people can achieve it though some come closer than others.
Well, I'm trailing off.......without any conclusions and I think that is good....we should always be asking questions, we should never stop, none of us, young and old...that's how we learn. We value people who seem to give us answers but we shouldn't, the searching for answers is what is the most valuable. I think I'm going to write more about these things.
32 comments:
I've probably got some misspellings and I plan to look up the name of the reporter that I spoke of but I will amend these things later. I've been neglecting my daughter all morning in order to write these things.
Hey there,
Chomsky, I hear that name all too often. I don't really know why people like him so much, he basically is just into being critical about things. Fine then Chomsky, I'll be critical about you; you are a lonely old man :P
PS: I'm not against being critical about things, I just don't see why people get excited about people who are. See also: Richard Dawkins
nah don't follow politics too deeply
-Some people get really offended when you say something negative about their party or issue they feel strongly about, which then prompts them to vehemently scrape any information favoring his stance. It is these people that go around looking for a fight with words that annoy me.
- yes on the spelling part, you seem to continuously equivoke your for you're, but it's okay i still dig your complacent entries
- and stop neglecting your daughter
happy v-day
The reporter is Matt Taibbi, the segment was from "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO. Great show because of the panel, they discuss politics for about an hour every Friday night.
You're right about everything being someone else's opinion, because the only way to know the straight facts about history is to have been there and witnessed it, and even then opinion leaks in and the true story is distorted over time.
People dig Chomsky because he's an intelligent critic of just about everything. Whether or not he's right is subjective, but I think people are attracted to that intelligent criticism after an era of, especially in the U.S., factually inaccurate mudslinging.
Chomsky uses "liberal" in a particular political sense, not in the sense in which someone might identify themselves (e.g: "I support women's rights, ergo I am a liberal"). In this sense, liberalism is a form of a limited enlightenment program that still caters to or is based on the desires and precepts of a particular segment of the elite. NPR in turn caters to this segment and hence reports (or presents the world) within those parameters. Chomsky would not call himself a liberal, in this sense.
The elections this year are bullshit and we need to get rid of the electoral collage.
Who do you think set that up? Right side christians, because it favors them.
And they want to stick to a two party system, well, they don't want to, but they have to in order to try to please everyone.
They would be more than happy if they could just run the whole show, and make you a slave.
I don't believe in democracy because humans are not mature enough for it as they vote with the kid in them.
But I don't believe in the modern christian bullshit either because that is not what christ or jesus was about.
first about young journalists.... yes half the time they are acting too smart by talking of things they dont know first hand.. which is what journalism should be about.. getting first hand info... and the shift towards news analysis (well, they analyse politics, and report celebrity behaviour :-D) means they are judging things from their own perspective without knowing how it is to be in the situation.. quite alike some sports commentators who spend hours advising team captains on TV....
someday, I hope to be a reporter who people respect... walter cronkite wasnt called 'america's most trusted man for nothing, i believe (ok, same thing.. im talking about something about whih i have only surface knowledge... iv just read some wiki entries about cronkite, and seen some youtube video's and seen the adage in both places, so i assume all those who actually listened to him during his career also considers him as trusted... but when i say it, i say it as if i was authoritative on the issue, which is a distortion.. hehe)
but an aspiring journalist has to start somewhere and has to get in touch with something that happened before he was born, or even before he was old enough to read and think for himself... but then, again, books are opinionated... like Iv read 2 books on watergate.. the chuck colson 'born again', and the john dean book (they were the only books in my home library i hadn read at one point of time) and i must say that, far from corroborating what actually happened, the 2 books left me confused as to wat actually transpired (or rather wat more could have transpired) because the stories were not the same...
I go mainly by gut feeling apart from what you think - think being the operative word - to be true, which brings you back to gut again.
Reading, watching, learning, and most important of all being involved on the ground in your own community, not necessarily in politics direct, but working to improve your community, being aware of peoples needs, and situations will give you the best education/information as to what is real.
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Just a little off track but in relation ….
I can’t understand how people find the word - and what it really relates to - offensive.
People seem to think there is an interminable market for labor; always there to provide for us- food, and shelter. Why on earth can they not see it will not always be so, and if you don't have a social net ready and in place then it will be too late to put one in place when all is dried up.
Ignore the users and abusers- find a way to deal with them separately, pay attention, please don't shun commonsense away because some are lazy- that's stupid.
You may as draw the conclusion not to have medicine because it is only the stupid people who get sick, (we know there are those who can’t help being sick, but they’ll be looked after by our great generosity, says the wise politician, and rich man) and cost the tax payer too much money.
Socialism means care.
Trevor-I haven't read too much of Chomsky yet, though I plan to read more. I will look up Richard Dawkins. I suppose a lot of people his age and younger too have never gotten over the fact that the US had a much different potential than what has played out.
Winai-It is necessary for a parent to be able to tune their kids out for a little while everyday in order to not go insane. Your political party represents something far deeper than politics, that's why people get so offended I suppose. But I think we could all do with listening to each other, even if only to understand the enemy.:)
Happy v-day to you too.
Woozie-I love Bill Maher and yes, now I remember that that is where I watched it.
It's unavoidable to talk about things that are actually other peoples experiences and opinions unless you've lived forever. Even to talk about what is happening today, well you can't be all places at all times so there will always be things that you don't understand, or you just surmise. The thing is to realize that in many cases you are just making your best guess.
And yes, that is why I am turning to Chomsky, like to read things written by people who are deep thinkers. I wonder...if I want to be balanced do I have to read William Bennett too?
Rami-Thank you. I'm often confused as to what liberal actually means. I call myself a liberal and I certainly don't consider myself a conservative but sometimes I'm not sure what being liberal actually means beyond the superficial issues. I liked your website. I will got back to look at it...as I said, I'm lacking in the more left-brained knowledge so this might get me on my way to catching up.
I looked up Chomsky to see what books he has written (A lot!) and I was struck by how he was writing about things in the 1980's that have become so relevant today.
BBC-Sometimes I think that the Christian Right has become a Godsend (pun intended). The Republican party has become much less cohesive as Republicans are trying to disasociate from them, there are great divides now in the Republican party and this is good news for Democrats.
Democracy is better than a dictatorship. And ultimately,I can't fault Winai for being interested in what is going on.
I've become so disturbed by how much damage GWB has done in his terms and how far he has set us back that I firmly believe that who gets elected is important, even if they don't hold up to my ideals, there are still worse things than bad.
Ab-I am constantly amazed by how much you know about the US. Of course, I have come to the realization that quite often non-US citizens continents away often know more about the US than it's own citizens.
I could definitely see you being a great reporter and I hope that you pursue that. And we all have to read books to understand what happened before. I just don't like it when people are so cocky.
Sean-My mother is a socialist, socialist is a fighting word here. I'm not sure what these people are thinking...they seem to think that socialism would mean that our country was being run by a few powerful people and that would be bad but isn't that already what is happening?
I think that we all go on our gut...or should. I was watching Bill Maher (you would like him, I'm sure he must be on youtube) last night, they had a conservative on the panel...he had written a book called Liberal Fascists. There was a smiley face on the cover with an Adolph Hitler mustache and I have to say, I found that intriguing, I would read the book solely to be told how he could have possibly made that connection. I fell asleep before it was over but he was talking about how Democrats always make emotional decisions...unlike Republicans apparently. I guess he's never been to where I live. I live in a very Blue collar area and a lot of the people I know that vote Republican do because A)They are against abortions, B)Frankly, they are racist, or maybe more accurately, they are racist againt people who don't act the way that their standards say that they should and C)Because they find the idea of anything unfamiliar threatening. But I grew up around these people, I don't agree with them but I know them and I don't hate them. I've been to their houses, I've worked with them etc.....they are simple and vote based on crafty slogans that the Republican party introduces during every election day. I can't believe that this guy would say that Democrats are the only ones who do this.
Everyone votes based partly on their gut and if anyone tries to tell me that they don't, I don't believe them.
There is an organization in the US called NAMI (National Association for the Mentally ILL). I looked at a section that they did where they rate the states according to how they treat the mentally ill. Most states got an F. The Republicans say that they are Christian, yet doesn't the Bible say, "What you do unto the least of your brethen, you do unto me." I am contstantly bemused by the way that Christians in politics seem to have read the Old Testament but never gotten around to the New Testament.:)
Part of what's going on is that there is a certain professionalism instilled in young journalists from the very start. While this might sound like a positive thing, 'professionalism,' when it gets right down to it, has become a shorthand, meaning "responsive to managerial control." To strive for excellence (which the the general public might construe as honesty, obejctivity, critical engagement)in such an environment will often undermine managerial control. Thus, within managerial 'excellence' gets redefined as 'professional.'
Those kids are doing what they are told to do in the manner they were told to do it.
Older people tend to be more independent in their thoughts, unless they have internalized managerial processes (in which case, they get promotions).
I've talked to a number of veteran reporters, journalists who know what questions to ask, and the savvy to critique responses. Many of them are frustrated by management, who slices their pieces into nothingness, or simply tells them that what they're working on isn't a good story or a good angle.
In PR rooms, no one scoops each other, and the stories are easy to write because PR hacks have done that for them. No need to engage critical thought in order to make a good-looking piece.
BTW, I have, in the past, assigned excerpts from Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent as a counterbalance to Edward Bernays' essay "The Engineering of Consent." Both are talking about the manipulation of the public mind in order to create universal approval, or at least universal enough to constitute a mandate. But whereas Herman and Chomsky see this as highly problematic, Bernays sees this as a good thing.
omg... thats a wonderful compliment.. thx... actually i like america.. or rather, i like wat is called the 'american way of life'.. not socially.. but it's principles of freedom, independence and land of opportunity which, is pretty skewed over here... that said, i have no plans or even dreams of migrating over there (as opposed to most Indians who usually hate everything american but jump at the first chance to make a living there...
Democracy would be okay if people didn't think and vote with the nine year old in them. But as mature adults.
X-That must be horrible to have to write things that you don't care about or necessarily agree with. I'll bet that often reporters have to sign an agreement saying that they can't free-lance too. And perhaps these are the reasons that young reporters are often used, maybe since a lot of younger people are still forming their opinions they are more malleable and less likey to protest.
I know that there are great reporters out there, I guess what I should have said was, reporters of the news that the segment of the population that isn't going to do much seeking on their own tends to listen to.
I said some things about younger people that I hope won't be misinterpreted. A younger person who is open and trying to learn is often preferable to an older person who thinks they know it all. But a young person who thinks they know it all is even worse yet. Best of all is an older person who is still willing to learn.
I looked up Noam Chomsky on my libraries website the other day and funny, the book you mentioned is the one I intend to read.
Ab-I meant it. You write some great things, but your journalistic stuff is the best. I'm very impressed with your insight and of course, reading about the US from the perspective of a non-US citizen always gieves one a fresh perspective. And you answered my next question about whether you ever planned on moving to the US or not.
BBC-I didn't really think that you wanted in Dictatorship. And it is frustrating that so many people vote who are so uninformed on the issues and very sad how the political system takes advantage of this.
Sure, and I want to be the dictator. :-)
Well benevolent monarch.
I picture a planet without big mean SUV's and things that 'democracy' allows.
Democracy just promotes greed, and it's tearing this planet apart. You don't run your home as a democracy, you and hubby are queen and king and the kids have to live by your rules.
If your family was a democracy one of them could become the president and the other the vice president and control you.
That would make your home as fine as mess as this country. Welcome to democracy.
Even folks that know politics well still vote according to their wants, and it's the nine year old in them that has those wants.
Singapore is not a democracy and it operates better than this country. People there can't do and have every thing they want, but they understand that it's for their own good.
As a monarch (as you are in your home) you can say "Because I'm the mommy, that's why."
A democracy is just a bunch of nine year olds in adult bodies that are trying to have the power. And they have it.
This country is going to topple you know.
:) hehe... (smiling wide) thx a lot.. every bit of encouragement helps...
that said, sometimes i think i also have mastered the art of deception. i can know just a trifle about things, and still come out as knowledgable.. i mean, it has helped me a lot at work so far... though occasionally i get exposed too ;)
but then, i guess a lot of people are like that... and that its just about how much you can do with how little you know or something like that.. :)
BBC-So you run on the green ticket. Everyone votes primarily for self-interest is what they say. Yes, it's a shame that there aren't more people who are interested in themselves and how their ideals relate to the whole. It's too bad that there are not more people who see the world holistically and feel that part of what would make them happy is to see that others are having a good quality of life, not just here but in other countries as well.
Ab-What your talking about is intuition, meaning the ability to see patterns and how things are related. You can't be a good journalist without that. Write that way, trusting your instincts and then look up the facts and if you have to change things because the facts prove you wrong then change them and not big deal, you learned somthing new....but intuition first. Your intuition is important. The ability to see the big picture is important. Facts can lie, especially if one has no intuition. I think your going about it the right way. And you say that you have the ability to take few facts and make it sound like you know what your talking about. I'll bet a lot of times when you check your facts, you find out that you were write. Intuition is a gift, but you have to learn to make it work for you.
A lot of television journalists that I've met have started, worked on or completed documentaries in order to say what they really want to--either that, or they write books. They seem to have retained the right to work for themselves.
I listen to NPR everyday and they have totally bungled the election coverage in ways I never thought possible. They maybe sweeping assumptions about who was going to win far too early in the race (Iowa caucus, is a bit too soon to write someone off) and they have oversimplified how people vote. They have gone in lockstep with the mainstream media by asking stupid questions like how will blacks women Democrats vote since they can choose between a woman and a black man. The answer? the same way everyone else decides. They are going to go with the person they feel comfortable with. CNN got heat for doing an article on this non story as well. The African American vote is not this simplistic thing where they all think and act the same nor are women voters who are white, red yellow or brown. NPR has really disappointed me by posing the most idiotic questions as the subject of their stories as of late. And in an effort to cover the most diverse race in our history, they have wound up insulting my intelligence with endless analysis over matters that are not stories but something cooked up by editors and reporters who have become too self absorbed for my taste as of late.
Noam Chomsky is a very insightful man but comes under fire for being a self hating Jew over his criticizms of Israeli policy for handling some situations. But then again I have done the same and there are a ton of people in Israel who do the same so go figure.
Well, that's good. Maybe I'm being to cynical.
No I don't think you are. Frustrated, yes. Are you thinking about becoming an anarchist or something?
:-)
Well, if I did become an anarchist, me and my mom could do it together. She's a socialist...how cool is that!!
yes Diana, yr right... but the problem is, its hurting me... its feeding my laziness... i dont know wether its only laziness or just a lack of interest...
but i feel i really could do much better... like, these days i just cant find a genuine interest in reading the papers and all... few years ago, i would actually be buried in any reading material i could get... but somehow these days, i dont seem to be able to put the motivation and passion that everyone else would put into something they would really enjoy doing..
and the only thing i seem to be interested in life is knowing more about things that dont really help me in the present (like the elections)
in fact that is really worrying me.. apart from a general liking, im never passionate about anything.. like my current job.... in the beginning, Im super excited, but once the novelty weears off, or more precisely, when my mediocrity startes to show, i want to move on.. and i really dont know how far i can go like this... (actually im getting tired of being mediocre, and thinking of quitting, but i hope i wont right now..)
and also, i do ponder on gow long i will be interested in the media, once i get in there.... bcos there's th guilt of making a fool of everyone who's so interested in yr future and success.. like parents, well-wishers....
i think people like chomsky b/c he has a very clear, articulate analysis that is useful in understanding the world. i recently read an essay of his that made a very simple, but very important point, about US foreign policy that made sense of something very confusing.
i do think he is also pretty bitter. but that's only natural after following politics that closely for that long.
Ab-It sounds to me like you just haven't found your niche. I think that there is a lot of pressure put on us when we are young, we are supposed to know what we want to do with the rest of our lives, but many of us don't even know ourselves or life yet....at least not enough to make such important decisions. If you feel like you are stuck in a rut then life is trying to tell you something. I don't have any answers for you, but I know that you will find them, just maybe not as fast as you would like. but if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, the things that I would do different is I would always be myself, have more fun, worry less and not take any BS off of anyone. What is it that I know now that I didn't know then? It's that things will work out.
Benji-Actually, I was thinking the same thing as you....I would probably be bitter too if I was 80 years old and I knew what Chomsky knows.
Whatever about being bitter about the past- can't you be bitter and angry about the past continually becoming the future.
Slightly pessi-mood, but then what is uo must come down, and what is down must come uo ...or?
Spring is coming.
hehe... thx...
thanks for not giving any advice... so often you get custom made advice from people who havent tried it on themselves, and you know it wont work out....
ya, when Im 40, ill be able to look back and wonder why i was so worried, but then ill have the benefit of hindsight, and more importantly, for all the wondering Ill be doing then, I wont be making any decision per se...
I think what Im going through is more a case of 1.being young and 2. having too many things to do -like studies, so i cant really focus on work full time....
so its natural to think that once Im dont with my CA final in may, ill be able to do better.. again, i think when im maybe a year or two older, i wont be this fickle mentally....
but then, isnt it asking for too much when you expect some company to fund your growing up and learning...
actually its ironical... ill be the kind of person who wants to be recognised for hard work.. who really wants to make it big working... but somehow the way i sit in the office, youll know that work is the last thing ill do....
Sean-I like that. I can't wait for Spring.
Ab-What is a CA? If your going to school and working, you may actually be more tired than you realize you are. Maybe you've gotten to a point where your just trudging along now. I used to work a midnight shift and I didn't realize how tired I was until I stopped and when I stopped my whole attitude changed.
I'm not sure what you mean...why will you not be working hard?
Hum, I just noticed that you have a blog for invited readers only. So of course I wonder what it is about.
oh CA is like the top accounting degree in India.. kind of like the CPA you have there.... but its considered to be quite a little more effort-sapping.... yes i am little tired, but everyone else does this these days.. work and study.....
now before you ask me, when i started off, i had no way of knowing i would grow to hate the profession of accounting... but now, its just like the last hurdle, and so im trying to finish it for the heck of it...
and anyway, so far, in spite of the hatred, i used to do well in all the exams... so if i quit, and i messed up in life, i wouldn be able to explain it to anyone else...
so im taking it basically as a social obligation ...
that said, th last few exams i passed wasnt without th best of efforts, so if God will help me anyway, then I should atleast be trying my bit, in my opinion...
about not working, its not like i dont work.. its just that my attitude to work depends on my moods.. and somedays i just dont feel like working, and i just end up wasting time... problem is these bouts of not wanting to work goes on for days on end, and then i feel guilty...
like last week i was working superbly.. and then something happened that really disturbed me at work.. and since then i havent been able to concentrate....
th fact is that it isnt restricted to work alone... in study too, there are these extended periods wer nothing happens... but my studies, im not answerable to anyone...
BBC-thanks. I didn't know that it was for invited readers only. I'll tell you what happened. I accidentally went into my blog at work once, and I was afraid that someone at work would read it, so I closed it off and started this one. I didn't know it was still closed, I'll open it up again.
Ab-You know what? That's exactly how I ended up in my field. I started it and then grew to hate it while I was in school so finished because I felt obligated. Plus, I've always been flighty so I would have been embarassed to quit. It actually turned out to be the wrong thing to do. Of course, you have much more invested than I did so I'm sure that makes it even harder. One of the factors that have made this this degree bad for me is that my degree simply is not flexible. I can only do laboratory work with it. Is your degree flexible in any way? Because if it is, then you should explore that. It never hurts to be diverse. Even if there are more classes you would need to take. Like maybe you would like fundraising or something. I don't know, I'm just throwing things off the top of my head but I'm just saying that you should explore other things that you could do with it, at least you wouldn't feel so trapped.
I had trouble maintaing energy at my job too. If everything was really busy, then I just jumped in and worked, but if it was slow I couldn't motivate myself. But that's because it was such a mind numbingly boring job.
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