Trained Monkeys

Trained Monkeys

       Maybe the medium is the message

But I don't think so. Maybe when TV first got going, but I think not so now.

Think about the so called "news" in the USA these days. Often "it" is reported on cable news channels dedicated to 24/7/365 reporting, including  repetitions in the middle of night.  Even the big three broadcasters, CBS, NBC, and ABC, often have something similar.

Basically, they all have to fill time slots to successfully broadcast for their business, like fill the vastly available hours their business needs and consumes. This news business has been profitable for decades, but seems to be fading these days as a profit center.

Often part of filling the available time slots these days uses "pundits" willing to offer their opinion on TV. And they are usually TV appealing,  good debaters, and educated at what they do. Their producers who often control what is said and asked are another group, too. I suspect most producers are smart, educated, and not good looking enough to be a TV news reader, in the British term. And most producers are hard working, or so I think.

So is this how you want to be ruled? Is this the way? Did you get a vote?

I trust others more, like even old neighbors at the local Hardees (where I live) during morning coffee time. My alternative is what I read and hear and see, usually based on the NE USA corridor where many of these people live.

I, myself, also have chosen to find another way to choose my "news" in my opinion in 2013. Mostly it is hit and miss, but the same story reported in the foreign press is a good start, at least for me. I started on this course over two years ago.  Often what the foreign press reports is different from what the USA media reports if you try this method. In my case, the Internet helps me. Even the two groups often report completely different stories.

And another type story.... I have relative who lived on a boat with her Family in London in the Bengali area.  And she was forcefully telling me her opinion, which came across as pretty prejudiced, to me. I terminated listening to her as a waste of my time. I know more about Muslims, in the case of her story and opinions.  Typically, she was just reporting about where she lived.

After all and in the end, it is my life and my Family's lives that count on good decisions based on the real "news", like the real circumstances around me. No trained monkeys or high school cliques for me.