Author: Kevin Driscoll

Just a blog of random thoughts. Some will be about street photography; some about DMR radio; some about weight training; we can chat about cigars, motorcycles and tools. Since everyone has an opinion, maybe I'll throw in the dreaded political thoughts.

Odd Position

People in Washington are protest marching with a partial anthem that includes, “I disagree with the outcome of the election”.  What???  What is the disagreement?  One side won, the other side lost.  Just because you don’t like the outcome, and just because you say you aren’t going to sit there quietly, doesn’t mean the election results aren’t what they are.  Am I missing something?

Accountability

One side says it’s “size” is bigger than the previous. The other side thinks this nonsense is newsworthy. One side says it is going to hold the other accountable. The other side sits there and cowers without retort.  And, we, really the only ones who should count, still await real leadership from one side and real informative news from the other. And by the way, there is only one group that is going to be holding the other two “accountable” and that’s us. 

Sore Losers and Sore Winners

I’m hoping yesterday was the last. The last of all the pro-Hillary / anti-Trump and of all the pro-Trump / anti-Hillary posts, videos, pictures, captions, cartoons.

I’m not suggesting a big fireside cum-by-ya, just a little peace and quite from the posts that started almost two years ago.

I think most of us are on social media to be, well, social. That is, we thought it would be cool to catch up on the lives or keep up on the lives of our family and friends. Then, we started to see advertisements based on what our browsing history is and “news” from various organizations. Frankly, if I want the news, I’ll go to one of my various news apps. There’s nothing we can do about the advertisements. But, there’s a lot we can do to eliminate the stress, head banging, hair pulling, our side won, you suck even though you won, posts.

It’s getting worse because most of us feel the need to “help our friends and family understand their position is wrong” while alienating those very same friends and family. I bet I lost a lot of followers on Facebook and Twitter with my rants and raves over the past election season. I don’t think one single person was “changed” by my “wisdom”. I bet if I would go back in my timeline and feeds I would shock myself with the number of times I forwarded something from CNN, the NY Times, or the WS Journal and added my own knowledgable commentary.

So, I’m vowing not to make any more political comments.  Well, at least not personal attacks.  If I read about a policy or law, or bill, etc., that I don’t like, I reserve the right to comment on that.

After all, you all have so much to learn from me.  HAAAA!!!!!

THE MEDIA – Credibility, Accountability, Truthfulness

There has become a rather large misnomer about “the media”. The members of this industry are alleged to be liars, cheats, ultra-left wing radical liberals, etc. etc., spreading all types of false stories, false news, unsupported allegations, etc. about the target of their story piece.

Certainly, there can be an argument that “the media” has slanted views and its reporting is biased towards supporting whatever view it holds. It would be cliché to suggest all you must do is watch CNN and Fox News and you get a clear idea of what bias is in “the media”. How easy is it to see Sean Hannity is totally a Trump person while Rachel Maddox is so far in the other corner? (By the way, I remember when CNN and Fox were actually news channels. Now they appear to be tabloid shows. I miss those 24 worldwide news broadcasts’ when one could almost be like the CIA and know what was going on around the world at any time.)

We seem to have lost our understanding of exactly what “the media” is supposed to do. And, perhaps we also misunderstand the difference between “the media” and journalists. We also seem to have forgotten there is a big difference between a reporter and someone who simply reads the news at dinner time from a teleprompter. I would dare say, a journalist is someone like Anderson Cooper, a guy who gets out in the field and does his reporting and moderates panels for in studio discussion, while a media person is someone like Megan Kelly (both of whom I thoroughly enjoy watching and of whom, I think, bring a great amount of respectability to their field) who, more or less, host panels and picks apart particular topics arising during the day.

I am hoping the large news organizations acknowledge that we have, for the most part, lost faith in their ability to bring us the facts. “Fair and balanced” means you are presenting a “side” of the story. I don’t want a “side”. I want the facts unaltered by the media’s interpretation of what those facts mean.

Accountability needs to be restored. Hear the argument, check the facts, report accordingly and hold those who spread “false news” and non-fact checked articles or broadcasts accountable for their actions. Self-police yourself, news folks. Or, we might just not watch / listen to you any longer.

I think we are all hoping that these large news organizations look inwards and seek to determine what it is they need to do to regain our respect and regain their credibility. Perhaps a lot of “just the facts, mam” reporting is what we all really yearn for.

The share of income going to the middle class has fallen in almost perfect correlation with the declining percentage of people working in jobs where they enjoy a union. Collective, democratic representation in the workplace is essential to shared and durable economic prosperity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/opinion/dont-let-trump-speak-for-workers.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share