Ever since the last election, reporters have been blamed for anything and everything. They are not asking any questions, they are asking too many questions, they were being somehow unfair to Palin by asking her questions and talking about her family on one side of politics, while the same side was bashing Hillary and her family. And the same was happening from the other side. This has been an ongoing trend for a while now, but this last year has been as worst as I've seen it. Now, much is being made of this video of Matt Lauer's interview with Michelle Malkin about her new book "Culture of Corruption" on the Today Show. I don't even care what her book is about, the odd part of all this is how folks feel he lost his cool. Maybe I'm just happy when any "journalist" asks questions of an opposing side no matter how strongly they have to ask it in order to get a word in edgewise, but I was ok with him doing it. I'd be ok with any of them on any station doing the same to one of their guests. Or maybe I just have a different view of how "journalists" should do their jobs.
It is my belief that reporters/journalists should always ask questions as if they were the devil's advocate to any topic being discussed. And yes, part of that belief is because I do think there are too many people that only listen to the sound bites of whatever network news they choose to watch. And I also believe that many people don't know enough or care enough to dig any deeper than what they hear, or maybe they aren't even capable of doing so. So, any good journalist should ask opposing questions. Do I believe there are folks on certain stations that would never have interrupted Michelle because they wanted only her side heard by their listeners?... absolutely. I also think that there are stations that would not interrupt someone saying that Obama is all great and all knowing because that's their belief. However, that's not what reports should be doing. They should ask questions on both sides regardless of their personal opinions. That's the only way to get some listeners to think for themselves... something I think is sorely lacking these days by how news stations are providing their version of news.
I certainly get that there are many many people that are strictly partisan, no matter what. Personally, I'm not one of them. I'm not naive enough to believe that even if I vote for someone, or a particular party, that they will always do the right thing, any more than I believe that just because I didn't vote for them, that they will always be wrong. But a lot of people are and will never, given the stations they listen to, be able to even hear another side if journalists don't do their job correctly. They need to go back to the Walter Cronkite days and ask the tough questions regardless of their own opinions or what network they work for. Partisan reporting is like partisan government, and we all know how much work gets done when no one will even attempt to cooperate with the other side. It's been happening for far too many years now. It's like watching 2 year olds play in the sandbox... you just want to scream "why can't we all just get along". Or maybe we could just at least attempt to for the sake of this country that everyone claims to care so much about. Not much will ever get done to get us back on track if all we do is just stick to our own views and never ask the tough questions.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Atheists moral compass
Last week, I was working from home and not really paying attention to what was on TV in the background. Then something caught my ear. The Tyra Banks show was on. I know, I never sit to actually watch it, but comedian Steve Harvey was on and he has apparently written a book called "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man". He was on promoting it and he was saying a lot of things that you always knew men thought, but didn't really ever say. He was telling women why it is that they weren't getting or keeping men, from a man's perspective. Some of it was very funny, some we women already knew, but he was entertaining. I was actually even laughing at a couple of spots. My oldest daughter was too. But then we just shook our heads at what came next.
They came to a portion of the show where he was giving advice about things that it's okay for women to ask men very early on in their relationships (even after just a couple of dates). 1st was that it's ok to ask them about their short term goals. Ok, fair enough. 2nd to ask about long term goals... even better. But 3rd is what got me out of my chair and very over Steve's advice in general. 3rd was to ask about his faith. It wasn't the question at all that was bothersome as most people want to know that about their partner. But Steve's assertion, so matter of fact, is what frankly angered me. He said in no uncertain terms that if someone says they are Atheist, run as fast as you can because "it means that have no moral compass". That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Unfortunately, there are many people that not only believe a statement like that, but perpetuate it. They are happy to spread that nonsense around.
That type of blanket statement bothers me for many reasons. First of all, you cannot categorize any "group" of people so strictly. Are there atheists without a moral compass? Yes, absolutely. But to say that all of them are lacking morals is nonsense. There will always be an extreme end to any group that ruins it for others, but not all people in any group are the same. It's the same as saying that every professed Christian is a good person. We all know that's not the case. If it were, we wouldn't see so many self-professed Christians taking the lives of others, trashing other people because they think they are better than everyone else, or even simply judging others.
Personally, I know many Atheists that have far greater moral values and live them, then a lot of self-professed Christians that are just taking up seats in the pews every Sunday, but forget what it is they are supposed to be learning during the rest of the week.
So, I was quite over Steve Harvey when he made such a ridiculous comment about the topic. All he showed me is that he is an unfortunate soul that has no ability to not only accept people for who they are, but he doesn't seem to even want people to give others a chance to prove their worth. If we all took his advice, we would only ever be with people just like ourselves, or at least those that "claim" to be like us.
For me personally, if I took that advice, I'd have missed out on some pretty great years, and more to come in the future, with the man I love. Yes, Tim is an Athiest. Tim is also one of the best people I know. He is a loving, passionate, hard working, honest, decent person that is very very grounded in moral values and lives them every day. I would trust him with my life, and more importantly, the lives of my children. He doesn't pretend to be anything he is not and he doesn't judge those that don't believe what he does. And, yes, he even likes that I am Christian and that being so is meaningful to me. He never tries to push his Atheism on anyone, including me. In fact, I've had better discussions regarding religion with him than I have with any one.
Maybe Steve Harvey should have spoken to some non-extreme Atheist people before making such a judgmental statement... especially if he's claiming his own Christianity. I don't think that's what Jesus would have done.
They came to a portion of the show where he was giving advice about things that it's okay for women to ask men very early on in their relationships (even after just a couple of dates). 1st was that it's ok to ask them about their short term goals. Ok, fair enough. 2nd to ask about long term goals... even better. But 3rd is what got me out of my chair and very over Steve's advice in general. 3rd was to ask about his faith. It wasn't the question at all that was bothersome as most people want to know that about their partner. But Steve's assertion, so matter of fact, is what frankly angered me. He said in no uncertain terms that if someone says they are Atheist, run as fast as you can because "it means that have no moral compass". That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Unfortunately, there are many people that not only believe a statement like that, but perpetuate it. They are happy to spread that nonsense around.
That type of blanket statement bothers me for many reasons. First of all, you cannot categorize any "group" of people so strictly. Are there atheists without a moral compass? Yes, absolutely. But to say that all of them are lacking morals is nonsense. There will always be an extreme end to any group that ruins it for others, but not all people in any group are the same. It's the same as saying that every professed Christian is a good person. We all know that's not the case. If it were, we wouldn't see so many self-professed Christians taking the lives of others, trashing other people because they think they are better than everyone else, or even simply judging others.
Personally, I know many Atheists that have far greater moral values and live them, then a lot of self-professed Christians that are just taking up seats in the pews every Sunday, but forget what it is they are supposed to be learning during the rest of the week.
So, I was quite over Steve Harvey when he made such a ridiculous comment about the topic. All he showed me is that he is an unfortunate soul that has no ability to not only accept people for who they are, but he doesn't seem to even want people to give others a chance to prove their worth. If we all took his advice, we would only ever be with people just like ourselves, or at least those that "claim" to be like us.
For me personally, if I took that advice, I'd have missed out on some pretty great years, and more to come in the future, with the man I love. Yes, Tim is an Athiest. Tim is also one of the best people I know. He is a loving, passionate, hard working, honest, decent person that is very very grounded in moral values and lives them every day. I would trust him with my life, and more importantly, the lives of my children. He doesn't pretend to be anything he is not and he doesn't judge those that don't believe what he does. And, yes, he even likes that I am Christian and that being so is meaningful to me. He never tries to push his Atheism on anyone, including me. In fact, I've had better discussions regarding religion with him than I have with any one.
Maybe Steve Harvey should have spoken to some non-extreme Atheist people before making such a judgmental statement... especially if he's claiming his own Christianity. I don't think that's what Jesus would have done.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Interesting thoughts by Peggy Noonan
While reading my news feeds this morning, I came across an article that really caught my attention. The full text is really worth the read if you go in with an open mind. A lot of people will think it just a slam on Sarah Palin, but honestly, those parts of the article are not at all what caught my eye. What was interesting is it's an article by a conservative that kind of nails what I was trying to say all during the last primary season and through the general election. Our country is in so much trouble, on so many different fronts, that we should really think more clearly and thoughtfully about what kind of people we think are capable of getting us through it. Peggy is writing this with the Republicans in mind specifically, in the sense that they need to rally together to truly pick the brightest person in their party to win next time around. But I think this is true in either party, and any others that would like to crop up as well.
So, if you're a Sarah fan, you can ignore Peggy's comments about her specifically, or realize that those comments are not what I'm talking about today. But for the bottom line thoughts that each party should really think about for their futures, it's worth the read.
So, if you're a Sarah fan, you can ignore Peggy's comments about her specifically, or realize that those comments are not what I'm talking about today. But for the bottom line thoughts that each party should really think about for their futures, it's worth the read.
Thoughts that should matter...
While reading my news feeds this morning, I came across an article that really caught my attention. The full text is really worth the read if you go in with an open mind. A lot of people will think it just a slam on Sarah Palin, but honestly, those parts of the article are not at all what caught my eye. What was interesting is it's an article by a conservative that kind of nails what I was trying to say all during the last primary season and through the general election. Our country is in so much trouble, on so many different fronts, that we should really think more clearly and thoughtfully about what kind of people we think are capable of getting us through it. Peggy is writing this with the Republicans in mind specifically, in the sense that they need to rally together to truly pick the brightest person in their party to win next time around. But I think this is true in either party, and any others that would like to crop up as well.
So, if you're a Sarah fan, you can ignore Peggy's comments about her specifically, or realize that those comments are not what I'm talking about today. But for the bottom line thoughts that each party should really think about for their futures, it's worth the read.
So, if you're a Sarah fan, you can ignore Peggy's comments about her specifically, or realize that those comments are not what I'm talking about today. But for the bottom line thoughts that each party should really think about for their futures, it's worth the read.
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