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The American Press Is Destroying Itself

taibbi.substack.com

331–340 of 618 posts

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#332
post #283

> I always question, why does a Black life matter only when a white man takes it?... I mean, Lacy does have a point that this kind of question in the context of the protests is nothing more than distracting. The protests are about systematic discrimination of black people. No one questioned that black people can also be perpetrators - it's just irrelevant to the topic at hand. Would nazis running concentration camps…

> The protests are about systematic discrimination of black people. No one questioned that black people can also be perpetrators - it's just irrelevant to the topic at hand. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? There is something to be said for asking someone to start by getting their own house in order.

I'm not sure I understand your comment correctly.

Are you saying that black communities should be reasonably crime-free before they can expect institutions not to systematically discriminate them and enact retributionless, extralegal violence upon them?

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#333

I’m getting to the point of just switching off. Whatever your opinion, there will be many others who deeply and vehemently disagree with you and do so with passionate, fiery, certain-to-be-correct righteous indignation. Carry your true opinions in your head and share them with no one.

It’s all well and good until your colleagues start shaming you on Twitter that you failed to denounce xyz. And that’s one of the better situation, too.

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank god this rubbish isn't how the legal system functions in any civilized country.

Who is talking about the legal system? This is the political system.

The political system doesn't work like this either. All governments and political bodies are capable of dealing with multiple issues simultaneously. As far as I'm aware, none will deny you your rights or restitution just because "hey look, some people who look like you have done bad things, too."

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you feel like there are many parallels between being a Jew in 1939 Germany and being a black person in 2020 USA?

That's not how analogies work, so this is completely missing the point. For example, if you say the Colosseum is to Rome what a roller coaster is to an amusement part, you are not saying that the Colosseum is similar to a roller coaster. No, what you're comparing is the Colosseum's relationship to Rome and the rollercoaster's relationship to the amusement park. xg15's analogy isn't meant to equate Black people in Ame…

> Always surprising to me how the basic structure of analogy is so commonly misunderstood.

It's what happens when people don't have a rebuttal to the point being raised. It's generally a good sign that they're no longer engaging in good faith.

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#337
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean it's not like taibbi is speaking up for child molesters Unlike, say, the NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/opinion/pedophilia-a-diso...

Your characterization of the linked article could not be more wrong. They write about acknowledging the disorder of sexual attraction to prepubescents (=pedophilia) to prevent child abuse. Last sentence: > Acknowledging that pedophiles have a mental disorder, and removing the obstacles to their coming forward and seeking help, is not only the right thing to do, but it would also advance efforts to protect children fr…

I think they really undercut their argument with "not a crime" in the title. They may be technically correct for non-offenders, but it's incredibly naive to think such a phrase in the title won't get a lot of scorn and suspicion, even if their hearts are in the right place.

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#338

The US seems to have fallen into a game-theoretic local minimum where each party lets their crazy cousin go throw dumb rocks at the opposition because it seems to be the optimal way to drum up fanatic support for their side, all the while whistling as if in ignorance of what's going on. At least that's how it seemed to start, now it's just devolved to outright scat slinging that's co-opted our system of government in…

Well said. infogulch for senate!..?

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is talking about the legal system? This is the political system.

The political system doesn't work like this either. All governments and political bodies are capable of dealing with multiple issues simultaneously. As far as I'm aware, none will deny you your rights or restitution just because "hey look, some people who look like you have done bad things, too."

> All governments and political bodies are capable of dealing with multiple issues simultaneously.

If that were true there would be equally prominent protests and proposed legislation on both issues simultaneously.

> As far as I'm aware, none will deny you your rights or restitution just because "hey look you've done bad things, too."

You're talking about the legal system again.

Re: The American Press Is Destroying Itself

#340

I don't think they are. I think they are optimizing for survival. Serious news is expensive, and at this point, a niche market. Few people would consume it (or even be capable of doing so), even fewer are ready to pay the real price of it. So they did the next best thing: they changed to please the market in a way that makes money. Grabbing a lot of attention, as cheaply as possible, so that you can sell it to the hi…

Serious news is expensive, and at this point, a niche market. I suspect that's correct. It's hard now to find any news outlet now that sticks to "Who, What, When, Where, Why". This is a consequence of pay per click, probably. The left and the right now both have a checklist of mandatory positions required to avoid punishment. Those positions are in many cases contrary to fact. That's not good. Denial has become a cor…

It doesn't help that there's not really any competition with news any more. Nearly every small news outlet is owned in some way by a larger one and those are in turn owned by an even larger one. Everything is fed top down, so even small local stations end up showing the same news as large ones. The main problem is news isn't news any more. It's entertainment, it exists to tell a story, not explain current events in an objective way.

It's been going on longer than the internet era. My dad jokingly blames entertainment tonight for starting the entertainment news trend, and while I don't think that's likely the reason, it does show an apt comparison. News has definitely become more like entertainment tonight, for nearly as long as entertainment tonight has existed.

It's a problem when every news broadcaster reminds me of fox news from the 90's and they're now actually considered a proper news outlet.

Now for people that have noticed a distinct decline in news quality over the last ten years specifically, this may have something to do with it.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-...

In 2012 restrictions were lifted by the government banning government disseminated news, essentially propaganda to the American public.

Since then, there's been a big push, by both sides of the media, to tell their approved stories. These companies lobby the shit out of the government.

https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-media-companies-...

Both the government and news companies have it in their best interests to keep major news organizations as shallow entertainment willing to spout whatever the message of the day is.

It's not much better than if the news was state run media, it's just hidden a lot better and government and private interests share the same goal.

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