CLIMATE OF FEAR

[thepatriot]

On 2004-10-25 19:08:00, Deborah wrote:

"

Uh, maybe its because the person who owns the media (radio or tv) is republican. and they do 'edit' every piece of journalism before its aired. And an employee will be fired for reporting unapproved content.

Here its hard to hear anything on talk radio except the radical, righteous, right.

WBAP has them lined up all day long. There is no Dem equivalent.

Always have wonder why. And the conclusion I gave is the best I can come up with. "

TV owned by a Republican? ok Fox News and Rupert Merdock, but what about CNN, CBS,NBC,ABC owned by REpubs? sorry Deb when you have guys like Peter Jennings, Dan Rather Cokie Roberts, I see no connservitive spin in their rhetoric. Have you ever attended a major University? what type of people do you think teach there. Our Universities where these liberal journalists are schooled are full of far left professors. In fact it is almost impossible for a conservitive professor to achieve tenure at any school, let alone for a student to challange their rhetoric and then end up with a D or F in their course. Thats what kind of educatinal back ground these Dan Rather types come from. The repubs may have talk radio locked up, but there are for more left media outlets as a whole. Either way you look at it its either spin for left or right propaganda and that leaves the guy in the middle with few choices to get his or her news from.

_________________
Sarasota Straight Escapee
[ This Message was edited by: thepatriot on 2004-10-26 06:12 ]

[Polarbear]

Right on, Patriot.
He's got it right about the owners of the media and the educators of the journalists.  
My personal experiences support it.

But this isn't the issue.  We're getting off the topic.  The source of the reports I cited isn't as important as the truth of the message.  This news is widely reported and freely available from any number of sources.

The fact is, there have been a number of incidents, a certain organization is either connected or happy to profit from them, and the process of selecting a leader in a free nation is being threatened.  If these violent tactics continue they will probably escalate and could ultimately lead to a violence in the streets.  I look at places like the Balkans for a slice of the future if we accept these tactics as OK.  Violence begets violence.  

This isn't how I want my society to be shaped, either.  I don't want to live in a system where we kill those who disagree.  But that could be the result of a system that moves from the open exchange of ideas to intimidation and thuggery.  I don't care about party in this-if my party supports it, I'll be upset about that, too.  So far the only cases I'm aware of are 1.  The widely reported RNC-connected voter registration group in Nevada that tossed out Kerry supporters' registration forms.
2.  The mention IN THE ARTICLE I POSTED of Republican supporters also being a nuisance at the polls in Florida.  
In these cases I will state I do not support them.  I've been a poll observer and we maintained a respectful distance outside the station.  No problem. We didn't twist any arms and it was a nice chance to talk to people.  That's it.  I would like to convince you that you have a common cause with your fellow man and that this is everyone's problem.  Enjoy-Polarbear

[Antigen]

In 2004, Bagdikian's revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations -- Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) -- now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric's NBC is a close sixth.
Context: http://www.corporations.org/media/

Go to opensecrets.org and see where their money goes.

The right of self-defense is the first law of nature . . and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.

--St. George Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries

[southern boy]

You would have to be a fool to think the media is controlled by the Republicans.  Fox news and talk radio is the only media that leans toward the right.  All of the other news channels are very biased to the left, then you also have HBO and other cable channels.  What gets me is how can anybody vote for a man that all the fake ass communist celebrities support. :flame:

[Polarbear]

That is true, I am well aware of the media giants that control the vast majority of media in this country.  But that doesn't change the bias in the people who traffic in the popular media outlets in print, radio news, and television.  A majority of these people are liberals.  Their bosses are promoted from the same ranks in many cases.  The news constantly shows their particular stamp.  

Look at the current scandal about 60 Minutes planning to air a shock story about explosives in Iraq, even though the story was reported a year and a half ago.  The story was passed to them by a UN rep who contacted the NY Times as well.  This story was already covered AND easily verifiable.  They were holding it to use for election eve.  Shoots holes in their credibility as far as I'm concerned.  

GE has been seized on as proof that the news is not biased to the left.  Now, I've heard stories in the past that they take care to insure they aren't negatively covered on NBC.  Fine.  It's dishonest, but even if that is common practice that does not prove a right wing leaning.  The quotes I put up were from the well-known reporters themselves.  What else do you need to see?  The source that collected the quotes is supposedly non-partisan.  Even if they were to be Republican-oriented, does it render that information invalid???

There is something else that comes to mind for Anonymous in that early post.  Maybe the news media seems biased to the Right to you due to your own political beliefs being even further to the left than theirs.  
Enjoy-Polarbear

[southern boy]

On 2004-10-27 17:39:00, Polarbear wrote:

"
There is something else that comes to mind for Anonymous in that early post.  Maybe the news media seems biased to the Right to you due to your own political beliefs being even further to the left than theirs.  

Enjoy-Polarbear"

What a brilliant statement, I always knew you were a smart one polar bear.   :smokin:

[Antny]

You know, I am really upset about the whole nature of the system right now.  Neither side has any credibility left in my eyes.  Republican control,  inequality,  enviromental disaster in favor of corporate interest, idealogical soap box politics (gay marriage, abortion illegal, etc) and War on top of War have lead to this.  The Bush administration's policy of silencing those who disagree with them officially by removal from their positions,  and an incredibly innacurate media campaign by both parties have left the American people polarized, confused and angry.  I personally think it is time for a drastic change in America.  Things cannot go on this way for long.  There must be an open forum for debate outside of the 2 party system, which is corporate controlled on both sides.  What about Bardnarik...what does he have to say.  He was on the ballot when I voted and I have no idea what he said, and I watched the "Presidential Debates" intently to hear both sides.  What about Nader, he has some extremely valid points that deserve public air time...but he can't get it.  It may be time for the "PEOPLE" to rise up and take this country back from the political parties and corporations that own almost everything.  This is not how democracy was supposed to be.  I don't think that events in this day and age reflect the vision of the Founding Fathers.  

Anyhow, if you want to sling terror tactics around in a partisan argument and you support Bush, you are being incredibly hipocritical.  His whole campaign has been to discredit Kerry.  He can't stand on his record...it sucks.  His policies suck.  He can only play on the biggest fear of all, "Terrorists want Kerry in office"  They'll attack again...we'll be less safe..."  over and over.  That's terror tactics for you.  I certainly don't condone theft and violence, but I must say that my own personal emotional response to the Bush Reign in America has been disgust to the point of action.  That's why I'm online telling you this.  I am intelligent enough to take action with my words.  I feel incredibly powerless, and I see America headed down an incredibly wrong road behind some idealogical principles,  mostly religious based.  I see two controlling factions right now, the rich and the righteous.  The far right wing Christian coalition that's pushing the anti-abortion pro war platform...(is that pro life?) and the wealthy faction that is pushing tax breaks (how does that make sense in war time economics?)  I know the argument...give the rich tax breaks, and they'll create jobs.  But they don't, they invest in stocks and bonds, etc...and live healthily off dividends hapilly ever after.

No, Bush and the controlling party right now are way out of line with what I hold to be American Values.  I draw a distinction between American and Christian.  An important distinction to make!

[southern boy]

Neither side has any credibility?  All I hear you saying is negative remarks about the right party.[ This Message was edited by: southern boy on 2004-10-27 18:19 ]

[Antny]

You know,

I've seen a good proportion of Rebublican lawbreaking also when it comes to voter intimidation, and even trashing Democrats voter reg cards (that Nevada incident).  Has America declined so much that we can't even hold a legitimate election anymore???  All the more reason to change the system.  It's gotta start sometime!

[southern boy]

I am sorry but the whole Florida voter scandal is such bullshit.  With John Edwards running, that sue happy pretty boy is going to bring legal action when they lose no matter what.  And speaking of healthcare if it was not for trial lawyers like Edwards, doctors in offices all over would not have to worry about malpractice insurance rates being so high they have to move.

[Antny]

On 2004-10-27 18:18:00, southern boy wrote:

"Neither side has any credibility?  All I hear you saying is negative remarks about the right party.[ This Message was edited by: southern boy on 2004-10-27 18:19 ]"

Actually, I do disagree with the Republican economic platform, and I don't like the idealogues that push the Christian agenda into the Federal election process.  Aside from that, I think the Republicans are just Americans, with differing ideas than my own.  

Bush himself is what I have been talking badly about.  His Administrations policies have been horendous!

[Polarbear]

What do you mean change the system?  It isn't the system that is failing, it is the people who are failing the system.  Things have changed in recent times.  I can understand there being a level of corruption.  Not everyone is perfect.  But the election has aroused the worst in a lot of people.  A young recruit about to join the USMC threatened to kill his girlfriend for wanting to leave him and vote Kerry.  
Kerry supporters called a black republican leader in Florida a racist and KKK supporter.  
Republicans have been involved in disturbances in front of polling places.  
A democrat tried to run down and kill Katherine Harris and her supporters with his car today in Florida.  
Not to leave out the unsolved burglaries, vandalism, SHOOTINGS, and union-supported assaults on RNC offices nation-wide, voter irregularities on both sides that pushed the number of registered voters in Ohio above the population, and the various fraudulent voter drives.  Things are a mess.

I think this is symptomatic of the death of community in America.  It has been a problem for some time.  Community and social interaction and civic pride have been withering for a while.  But things have mainly been peaceful.  The few flare-ups and outbreaks have been easily swept aside or met by the Police.  And other things have only aroused interest briefly when they were too extreme to ignore.  If this year isn't the trigger, maybe the next election will be.  We could begin to see widespread violence as people realize it serves their needs easier than civility and polite disagreement.

I wish we could back away from this election and realize we've all been amped up by the parties this last year and that it's time to drop it and relax.  I don't want to be at my neighbor's throat just because he isn't on my side.  But that's what's being encouraged.  Competition taken to a ridiculous extreme.  maybe a deadly one.  People have far too much invested in this to back away and admit it isn't important.

November 3 I hope my candidate is the winner.  But I also hope we aren't prepared to fight in the streets over it.  Regardless of who wins we're still neighbors.  I value community and I don't want to see the land divided by a common political interest.  
Enjoy-Polarbear

[southern boy]

polar bear, I am glad you are hear i agree with you completely.  i wish we would have talked more twelve years ago.  But like you said water under the bridge.  The government is supposed to be the people, we are a representation of our government.

[Anonymous]

***And speaking of healthcare if it was not for trial lawyers like Edwards, doctors in offices all over would not have to worry about malpractice insurance rates being so high they have to move.

Oh Pahleeeez.
Doctors worry about malpractice because they've been trained in a system THAT MAKES PEOPLE SICK.
They don't know there ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to preventing illness. I wouldn't go to one unless I needed an arm sown back on.

They worry about malpractice because the annual death toll from synthetic prescription drugs ALONE, both from the correctly prescribed and the incorrectly prescribed, amounts to about 231,000 deaths every year. To put this into perspective, this is the equivalent of a world trade center disaster every week for over a year and a half or the crash of two fully loaded 747 aircraft every day of the year.

Forget the cases where they chop into little Bobby's knee, only to discover they don't know their right from their left. Or, remove both breasts on a woman and subject her to chemotherapy and radiation only to find out that she NEVER HAD CANCER to begin with.

Lavish lifestlyes and ignorant, unethical practices are why health care costs an arm and a leg. Lower doctors pay to minimum wage (or even average pay) and see how many of them would stay in the profession.

[Deborah]

Speaking of Climate of Fear.... Great Video.

http://www.infinitecat.com/rnc.html