Showing posts with label Fox is not news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fox is not news. Show all posts

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Shambles of the Fourth Estate

Corporate media is a joke.  And I don't just mean Fox News, the Republican Party's main venue to spread propaganda, which has repeatedly been found to be blatantly dishonest.  CNN regularly fails to correct errors, instead choosing give "both sides" equal merit.

Having someone with an audience, who calls this out is rare thing.  Jon Stewart did so often, but he was far from the norm.  Even less common was the fact that he got results.



Crossfire was cancelled, with Stewart's appearance cited as the reason.  Tucker Carlson has been on the air almost the entire time since.

Knowing there will never again be "The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart" to call out the bullshit we're constantly inundated with creates a huge sense of loss.

This does a lot to show the massive service Stewart provided.  But it does even more to show the even bigger disservice done to us all by the rest of our popular media.  This comedian was a more trusted journalist than almost all of our so called journalists.

Trevor Noah's run as host of the Daily Show will begin next week, but by no fault of his, it could take him years to build the trust Jon Stewart built over his 16 years in the job.

It's a real shame that people doing what Jon Stewart did are so rare when that should be the bare minimum for the entirety of the Fourth Estate.  It's a real shame that one man is able to create such a void by simply claiming his well earned retirement.  Some consolation is in a few people whose work on the subject began with "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart", like Larry Wilmore, Steven Colbert, and John Oliver.

Jon Stewart will be missed because he was special.  I long for a world where such integrity wouldn't be missed because it's the norm.  Where it's on the regular news, not late night and mostly on cable like Comedy Central or HBO.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

December 25 Is A Popular Date

It's December, so the whining about the mythical "War On Christmas" has begun[1].  It doesn't matter to the Christians complaining about how much they think atheists supposedly hate Christmas that most atheists celebrate Christmas as well.

Christmas has been celebrated since before the time Jesus is supposed to have lived.  This, as you probably already know, is because the date of December 25 is among the many traditions Christians took from other religions to use for their Christmas holiday.

For a short list of some other uses of December 25, see this post.  That list is why people who complain about the use of the term "Happy Holidays" are, to put it as nicely as I can, arrogant douchebags.

Celebrate whatever holiday you want.  Just don't throw a hissy fit because other people celebrate other things.  Let the crocodile tears be shed on Fox News.  Besides, it's not like you'll be able to outdo them in terms of nonsense[2], stupidity[3], or hypocrisy[4].

(Thanks to:  @Teresamacbain)

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1.  The sad part is I already know that despite having written this in January.
2.  Bill O'Reilly Clashes With Gov. Lincoln Chafee
3.  Fox News Brings On Santa Claus To Discuss The ‘War On Christmas’
4.  After O'Reilly's "War On Christmas" Rant, Fox Wishes Viewers "Happy Holidays"

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Brilliance Of @PattonOswalt

If you were on Twitter tonight, whether you follow Patton Oswalt[1] or not, you may have seen some interesting tweets from him.













Well, that doesn't look good.  Each one of these tweets from his rant tonight expresses a sentiment that would be disappointing to see expressed from someone you respect.  But, there's a funny thing about Twitter.  They have a 140 character limit, so people often split thoughts into multiple tweets.  Here's the entire rant.
















Another funny thing about Twitter is how face paced it is.  It's not uncommon to only see one tweet from a series.  Sometimes people only see part of something said, and do not bother researching further to see what the entire thought was being expressed.  So they irrationally get mad at someone for something they know that person wouldn't have done instead of taking the effort to actually figure out what's going on.


Then there's the people who miss the entire point.  Some people just don't get humor.



But, some people do get it.



Some others appreciate what happened tonight.









Count me among those who appreciate it.  Context matters.  And this lesson in that was fucking brilliant.

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1.  https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Sunday Morning Shares - 05-26-2013

Here's the links & tweets to share from the last week.  It's a day later than normal, but I suspect that didn't traumatize anyone.  Most were also shared on this Facebook page or retweeted.  Please add any fun or informative stories I missed in the comments.

Random Stuff:


(via @mashable)

(via No Hope For the Human Race)
(via I Must Geek Out)

Has Photoshop Gone Too Far? (via Zach)

10 Life Lessons from Calvin & Hobbes (via Sarah & Ivy)

(via Ivy & The Dangers of Baby Training)

(via @mashable)

(via @mashable)


Religion Stuff:


‘I’m Actually An Atheist’ Shirts Being Sold to Help Out Atheist Who Spoke to Wolf Blitzer (via @hemantmehta)

The abusive theology of “deserved” tragedy… (via New York City Atheists)

(via Atheist Mingle)

Gay Stuff:


Kids in the Hall Alum Scott Thompson on Hannibal and Why Being Gay Is Now Boring (via Kids in the Hall)


Political Stuff:


Maddow: Real Benghazi scandal is how media got played by GOP ‘sources’ (via Ken)

Pope blames tyranny of capitalism for making people miserable

(via @GoAngelo)

Ron Lindsay & Women in Secularism 2:




The Silencing of Men

Tone Policing Only Goes One Way (via Vyckie)

Statement of Objection to Center for Inquiry CEO Ron Lindsay's Actions Regarding Feminism


Secular Coalition of America's Weekly Update:

National Secular Movement Update Call (05/23/2013)

Asshole Of The Week:


Reddit Porn:

(via /r/MilitaryPorn)

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Saturday Morning Shares - 03-30-2013

Here's the links & tweets to share from the last week.  Most were also shared on this Facebook page or retweeted.  Please feel free to add any fun or informative stories I missed in the comments.


Random Stuff:

5 Alternatives to Unfriending Someone on Facebook (via @mashable)


Tea Partiers boycotting FOX News for being too leftist. (via @jteberhard)


(via George Takei)

Science!:





Gay Stuff:

GLAAD to Fox News: You're on Thin Ice (via The Advocate magazine)


(via Americans Against the Tea Party)

Religion Stuff:

(via Steven Olsen)

‘Militant Atheism’ Isn’t a Religion; It’s an Oxymoron (via @hemantmehta)

Creationist offers $10,000 to anyone willing to challenge literal interpretation of Genesis in court (via Bob)

How Skeptics Can Break the Cycle of False Beliefs (via Becky)




Secular Coalition of America's Weekly Update:

National Secular Movement Update Call (03/28/2013)

Asshole Of The Week:


Funniness:

Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Thought Experiment With Double Standards


I've previously written about this billboard and how there was a complete lack of controversy surrounding it being up.  But what if there had been controversy?

What if atheists were so enraged by this billboard being up that they sent threats to Lamar and Ken Ham and his group, Answers in Genesis.  I think we all know how Fox News would report on this.  News networks would report it extensively, painting atheists in general in a bad light.  Prominent atheists and atheist groups would be compelled to publicly denounce the threats.  It would forever be used by Christian apologists as the prime example of how violent they think atheists are.  

In short, we would all be blamed for it and we would never live it down.

Christians can compare us to murderers publicly and barely raise an eyebrow.

Then there's the real situation of American Atheists' billboards in Charlotte.   When they went up, there were plenty of stories about them.  When Tampa refused to even put one up, crickets.  

American Atheists reported on the billboards coming down, of course.   The Thinking Atheist posted about it on Facebook.  A freethought blog in Arizona wrote about it.  Fox News reported it, but downplayed it in their headline by saying it was "complaints" and not threats.  The Charlotte Observer's headline, called the threats "outcry".  American Atheists is not known for backing down to complaints, they expected complaints.
David Silverman, president of American Atheists, said the controversy is exactly what he expected.
This leaves Fox News as the only major coverage of threats so bad, they got the self described "Marines of Freethought" to back down.  I'll just leave it there and give that a chance to sink in.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Disagreement Can Be A Good Thing

I'm not sure how a conversation with my mother this afternoon got to the topic of Anderson Cooper's recent coming out, but I'm glad it did.  She wasn't sure why it was a big deal.  I was afraid she was going to go the "they should just keep it to themselves" route I've seen too often directed at gays who are out of the closet and myself for refusing to hide my atheism.  Instead, she didn't think it was worthy of attention because whether or not people are gay should be a non-issue.  And she's right.  It should be a non issue.  But it is still an issue, because of the bullies and haters that still exist.

From there, we somehow got to the fact that we disagree on some things.  She's a Republican Christian who watches Fox News, and I'm a life-long atheist who recognizes that Fox is not news and doesn't support the Democrats because they've gone too far to the "right".

While we were doing the whole "I respect your right to have an opinion different from mine" thing, she said, "I tried to raise you to be a free thinker".  She certainly succeeded in that attempt.

I couldn't help myself & informed her of connection the term "free thinker" has with atheism.  She responded saying that she's knows I'm an atheist.  This was the first time I've ever heard that term from either of parents in reference to me, but it came attached with no hate, disgust, disappointment, or shame.

The comparison of my parents to the endless stream of Fundamentalists disowning their own children for even asking questions makes me lucky to have been born to the parents I was.

Not all Christians are afraid to let their children think for themselves, but I get why they are.  The rational Christians are accidentally raising atheists.  Teaching critical thinking & open mindedness fosters atheism.  And the Fundamentalists apparently know it.