4/5/10

Dudchik: News Aggregator or the Big CON?

Most "news aggregators" are meant to misinform. This is even truer when they are run by ideologues and propagandists more interested in hyper-partisan talking points than reality.

In order to be shocked by this I would need to be licking the inside of a light-bulb socket. If anyone else is shocked by this perhaps they should be licking the inside of light-bulb socket? This kind of stupid should hurt. Might just realign their synapses in a functioning manner so they can begin using the basic skill of critical thinking.

Sadly, aggregators like that are the first bastion of the lazy journalists as evidenced by the fact that too many of them seem to think Drudge is a legitimate source, as well, and repeat the same mistake of leaving their browser open on it all day long waiting for their next big news story and expecting a different result than the last time they did that.



Rachel Maddow's piece continues on and expands on the brigade of right wing GOP talking pointy heads concerning their fake "ACORN" and "Climategate" scandals and a litany of stupid regardless of the issues below.



8 comments:

Utah Savage said...

Olbermann and Maddow are the only two I watch for news. All the rest are suspect.

Connecticut Man1 said...

I watch a lot more than just those two. I read everything across the political spectrum, as well. And even though KO and Maddow's views are often formed in partisan opinion ... The fact remains that their opinions are based on facts and they actually think about things and don't just spout out tired talking points made up at the nearest Think Tank or by some political party operative.

opit said...

I zipped over to Connecticut Bob's to see what the fooferaw was about. There I noted what sound be obvious in response to another comment : RSS shouldn't be intimidating, even if you don't have 'skills'.
http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/links/ is simple : and 'About' gives a quick rundown of the ideas covered in the Index : Collections Forwarded to Blogger.

Connecticut Man1 said...

I think, OPIT, you must read even more than me given the extensive list of Blogs, sites, newsfeeds and more that you follow.

nathan3700 said...

I hate to break it to you, but the Huffington Post and Rachel Maddow are very left partisan outlets.

These Maddow clips are the epitome of selective fact reporting. So just because you learn facts, does that make it the whole true?

The climategate scandal did in fact prove a culture of secrecy and a reluctance to openness in the climate community. To turn around and say that it was a completely trumped up fake charge is itself a trumped up fake charge. Sure, it doesn't change the science much, but the emails proved that the scientists are defensive creatures with agendas...like most of us. What a revelation...they're human too. This is what you get when you place anyone, scientists included, on a pedestal.

About Acorn. Here again, Maddow is cherry picking an example of conservative folly while narry a word is mentioned that Acorn is in the tank for Democrats on the dime of the tax payer. You'd think there'd be at least some valid reasons for conservatives distrusting Acorn. Those are facts to that aren't getting air time on Maddow.

So if balance is what you profess, I sure hope you do spend some time reading other sources than these.

Balance is impossible, the best you can do is give people a bit of slack and listen to all sides.

Connecticut Man1 said...

Nathan: "The climategate scandal did in fact prove a culture of secrecy and a reluctance to openness in the climate community."

No. What it proved was that if an ideologue with an axe to grind got their hands on your emails they could selectively quote from them. Much the way an ideologue could do to the same editing a fictional piece about ACRN or an ideologue that is professing "Balance" but giving everything but.

As for ACORN? They are guilty of no crimes, unless you consider getting poor people to vote a crime. Naturally, the GOP does see poor people voting as threat since those votes don't break their way.

If you want to call that valid reasoning then that is your problem.

And I am a blogger. Unlike Dudchik I do not profess to being balanced. Something that Bob Adams makes clear in his posts is the real problem. Though I do a significantly better job of being fair and balanced than Dudchik does.

Why? Because I am honest enough to tell readers up front that I am a moderate liberal, unaffiliated with any particular party, and I can delineate between fact, fiction and propaganda. 3 things that you seem to miss out on completely.

As for Huffpo and Rachel Maddow?

I rarely read HuffPo since the Bloggers that are worth reading there have their own Blogs where you can read them without the soft porn and celebrity gossip.

And Rachel Maddow is by far and away the smartest pundit to come along in years. She read from a bloody court record and you want to say that she did not present the facts?

"After the videos came out, California Governor Arnold Schwarzengger was one of the Republicans who pounced on the ACORN issue, as if ACORN was a real threat to the Republic. On the basis of the fact that some of the ACORN offices where O’Keefe’s filming took place were in California, Schwarzenegger asked California Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate.

Mr. Brown did investigate. And an official warrant forced an investigation, he actually got a hold of the unedited O’Keefe tapes, the raw footage before it was cut down to make the point that Mr. O’Keefe and his conservative activist patrons and Fox News wanted to make.

And when you look at that unedited footage, well, lo and behold. Attorney General Brown describes O’Keefe’s pimp video as “severely edited” and says that the unedited videotapes show “that things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality.”"


If your problem is with the facts... Get over it. Because while I deal in my own personal opinion here I do base those opinions on facts. Not on talking points spewed forth by those who disagree with me.

You can have your own opinions but you cannot have your own set of facts. Life does not work that way in the real world.

Connecticut Man1 said...

Marry: Thank you kindly and I agree with you.

And while I may be partisan to my own personal ideologies I do look to both the left and right Blogosphere to provide the most valuable common ground service to the public: Going after the corruption in politics.

Get rid of the corruption and we would probably be about a third or a quarter of the way towards getting decent representation from all politicians. Then all we have to do is get after the campaign financing, which has morphed into nothing more than legal vote buying by the highest lobbying bidders, and we will be a lot closer to having a credible government.

Just my two cents. And thanks, again. :)

Viko said...

Good post and a fantastic read. You have raised some valid points. Great work, keep it up. I love returning back to this site and reading the quality content you always have on offer.
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