Thursday, March 02, 2006

Chad & Laura agree on something?!?!

First - apologies for the length - I think it's interesting though :) On September 18, I made a post, just expressing some questions I had over (at that time) Tropical Storm Rita - and my brother responded... so recently I emailed him another article concerning a similar topic... It was from BBC - I've been trying to get more impartial news lately and I find that international news of the US tends to help with impartiality - not always - but some... This is the article... A video recording shows President Bush was warned of the Hurricane Katrina danger on the eve of the disaster. And this is my brother's drunken response - which I will be commenting on :) "First of all: The press is notoriously left wing, nobody can deny that. We should all be smart enough to form our own opinions from facts... not waiting for AP reporters to tell us what to believe." I will agree that the press is no longer offering news, the press is offering editorials of one sided opinions, unresearched and presented simply to achieve an agenda... that's why reading several different aspects of the same news story is important - but I will whole heartedly disagree that the press is notoriously left wing...um hello!?!? FOX!?!? Can we say Conservative Central? "Second: Do people honestly think that disaster planning, down to the zip code level, falls on the responsibility of the President??? The liberal voice wants to blame everything on the administration. Let's go ahead and blame hurricane Andrew on Bill Clinton while we're at it." Yes, if we are going to blame president bush for Katrina, than yes we can and should blame president clinton for Andrew - so no we can't blame INDIVIDUALS - especially individuals at national levels for local events or weather. This particular video, as I understand it, was given to the president the DAY BEFORE the hurricane hit. If there is anyone to blame, or anyone to look at, lets look at the administration and leaders in New Orleans that had been most likely receiving information about the severity of the storm long before it was thought to be a national problem. Let's look at the people who had ignored the inssufficient levees long before this storm hit. And better yet, let's stop perpetuating our "sue happy" world, stop trying to figure out who to blame, and simply lend a hand, lend a dollar or say a prayer, clean up the mess and continue to serve as a support system for those who actually lived through such a horrible ordeal. A friend recently informed me that some individuals are saying, "President Bush allowed Katrina to happen" - WTF people? That would be equating Bush to God. Bush does not control natural disasters, Bush has no control over the weather, I know he's a powerful man, but come on people. And in the same breath I will comment on the idiots that keep saying that God brought the hurricanes to New Orleans because it is our modern day version of Sodom & Gomorrah. A) Sorry to burst your bubble, but most of the First (Old) Testament is a MYTH - It is not intended to serve as a history lesson, the stories in Genesis have a richness that simply reciting data cannot have. The myths are truth represented symbolically in order to escape the limitations of literal meanings. So you cannot equate a truth of what happened to a legend or a myth that is supposed to prove a point. (I won't even comment on what the story of Sodom & Gomorrah is ACTUALLY about) B) God put the order of creation into place long ago, before human beings could possibly perceive of the depth and amazing nature of the created order. Hurricanes and weather patterns were set into place LONG before anyone in New Orleans commited any sort of sin - and God is not about to go changing the orders of nature in order to prove a point or smite people. Have we completely forgotten about the grace and mercy offered to ALL through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ? And even if that were the case, that God was going to change creation in order to "smite" sinners, the millions of sinners that have come before, that came long before anyone in the United States in general, would have been swallowed up in some horrible disaster long ago. "And let me guess... somehow a hunting accident is a democrat vs. republican issue too, right? Everything is not intrinsically partisan. It's just gets old listening to whiners, instead of problem solvers." No comment on the stupidity of an individual and his inability to safely use a gun while hunting. He's an individual, I could care less what he does on his own time. Dick Cheney's accident did not affect the working order nation in any way, shape or form. "I just watched the video from the AP.... and I'm about ready to swear off newsbroadcasts altogether.... b/c nothing is really reported as "news" anymore. Everybody wants to "break a story", which means everything is now an'editorial', rather than actual "news" that's left to the public to form their own opinion. When was the last time you actually heard a news story that just reported the unbiased news, and you didn't have a strong opinion sent from the broadcaster?? Since when did the press's job become putting a negative spin on everything? Who does that benefit?" You are right - it does not benefit anyone - but I will say that part of the problem with news is that the American public has become lazy - in many ways - but I will specifically comment on the American public and our laziness and inability to form an opinion. The ancient study of rhetoric, "The art or study of using language effectively and persuasively," has been lost, so people require others to provide them with not only the language to argue a point, but the ability to form an opinion about that particular point. Because of this, news broadcasts, both left wing and right wing, have taken advantage of the situation and continue to spoon feed the public without the public so much as blinking an eye, and taking those reports as fact rather than a persuasive opinion. I think the real problem here lies in the laziness of individuals and their lack of desire to attain knowledge and truth in their lives. "*** Changing Topics***Just like the Cheney hunting accident... (horrible ordeal, and yes... his fault), but it has nothing to do with running the country. Cheney doesn't owe the slime-ball press one word of updates. That was a private matter(horrible nonetheless), but it has nothing to do with running the country.The press likes to glamorize everything.... and make a big deal that they weren't informed sooner. Who cares? Did they need to know right away?... no. Did Clinton come forward about his personal life issues that had nothing to do with running the country???... no... in fact, he lied when he WAS asked about it. "Uh, I had a BJ in the oval office... just thought you should know." Guess what, that didn't happen... he didn't fess up to the press in the first 24 hrs. within the BJ, and he lied when eventually asked about it. But guess what else.... that has nothing to do with running the country either... so I don'tcare. Show me a voter that is free of sin, and I'll give you my life savings. Both scenarios are bad news (BJ vs. shotgun incident) .... but neither one of them had anything to do with running the country, and they weren't our business." Agreed - very well said - I wonder if our fascination as a country with reality TV is affecting the way we watch and yearn for news... Those two incidents seem like they should have been on Real World or Survivor - something that we can watch for entertainment - but leave it at that - public and international policies aren't not a reality show - and maybe we should start treating the american presidency as such.

1 comment:

John said...

Media is media.. everything has a bias and slant... to me the most unbiased media is the BBC of all places... that and NPR.. which most conservatives would argue is liberal.

As for the evidence.. I don't know how you can be more damning than audio and video that proves you said what you said and lied to the American people about it in one of the worst (natural) disasters to ever touch American soil.

As for Cheney... I think it's pathetically funny.. You are right.. the fact that he had a hunting accident doesn't make him less capable of leading Americans.. The fact is that it is a private matter, not public.. just like the whole Monica thing (side note.. if you are going to have an affair on Hilary.. at least have it be with a hot intern!)