Caltrops - Site Comments





	[quote name="Mischief Maker"]Seriously, I find out more about American politics from BBC. I recently tried reading John Nichols' <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Farce-American-Elections-Democracy/dp/1595581294" TARGET="new">book</A> about the failure of the American media. Either the book was an intentional self-parody or Nichols has been immersed in the media for way too long because the damn thing was unreadable. It read like a press release, he kept quoting and requoting and paraphrasing the same James Madison quote over and over and over again. The thing with press releases and interviews in our modern media market is to only say one sound bite over and over again, regardless of the actual question asked, to guarantee reporters have no choice but to transmit that message and only that message in their story. A couple weeks ago I saw something on the local news that could only be described as a handjob for their advertisers. They profiled a local family (who may or may not have been paid actors) who were addicted to their electronic gizmos. It showed a typical scene of the mom sitting in front of the TV working on her laptop and texting while her daughter sat next to her, playing the DS and texting, all at the same time! So the local news station put them through the "high tech challenge" in which the family would have to go for 48 hours without any electric gizmos to entertain themselves at all, not even the TV! So the first night the family gathers to play a board game. Soon the father is squirming in his chair and saying, "I've got to watch some TV!" Then they show the mother, berift of her Kindle, trying to distract herself by reading a book on the bed. It's a book of Sudoku puzzles. After about 5 minutes of seeing the family suffer without electric gizmos to distract them from the howling void, they pass the 48 hour challenge and the news reporter gives them back their toys. This was followed by a triumphant image of the family throwing themselves at their blackberries and flatscreens like a starving man at a chicken leg. Some half-assed attempt was made at saying they might have learned an important lesson that family is more important than gizmos or whatever, but the real message of the piece was crystal clear.[/quote]