THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2023
Was AWOL on Fox & Friends: In yesterday morning's print editions, the news report appeared on the paper's front page.
The newspaper was the New York Times. Online, the front-page report starts like this, principal headline included:
Tuberville Drops Blockade of Most Military Promotions
Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, on Tuesday lifted his blockade of nearly all the military promotions he had delayed for almost a year in protest of a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members, saying he would continue to hold up only the most senior generals.
Hours after Mr. Tuberville said he would allow the promotions of about 440 service members, the Senate confirmed all of them in one fell swoop, by a single voice vote.
“Thank God,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said after he pushed the promotions through. “These military officers will now get the promotions they so rightfully earned.”
The retreat represented a stark reversal for Mr. Tuberville, who for 10 months had steadfastly defended his move to stall all senior military promotions over a new Pentagon policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to service members seeking abortions or fertility care.
A yearlong standoff had (largely) come to an end. In print editions, the report appeared on the Times' front page—admittedly, below the fold.
For readers of the New York Times, news of Coach Tuberville's decision qualified as front-page news. That same morning, viewers of certain blue tribe programs were quickly apprised of the news.
MSNBC's broadcast day starts with its 5 a.m. program, Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire (originally, Way Too Willie). As you can confirm through this link, Lemire repeatedly cited the news during yesterday morning's broadcast.
On Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski instantly cited the news, literally at 6 o'clock sharp. As you can see through this link, the program's co-hosts returned to news about Tuberville's surrender throughout the course of the morning's four hours.
The coach's surrender was seen as major news in the New York Times and on these blue tribe programs. Elsewhere, though, citizens never heard a word about this piece of news.
We refer to viewers of Fox & Friends, the four-hour "cable news" show on the Fox News Channel.
As you can confirm by clicking this link, Tuberville's retreat was never mentioned during Fox & Friends First, the franchise's 5 o'clock hour. At 6 a.m., the regular friends moved onto the set for the three-hour broadcast of Fox & Friends proper.
As you can see through the invaluable work of the Internet Archive, Tuberville's surrender was never mentioned—not even once—during those next three hours.
The friends began with a synopsis of the events they'd be discussing that day. Included was the theft of a Christmas tree from the roof of a car—but Tuberville went unmentioned.
He went unmentioned in their synopsis. Also, his abrupt surrender went unmentioned all through the program's three hours.
Tuberville's hold on those military promotions had been treated as major news for roughly a year. When the coach decided to relent, should his decision have been treated as front-page news? Should his decision have been reported on the nation's "cable news" programs?
As always, that's a matter of judgment.
For the record, we find no immediate sign that the topic was reported yesterday morning on CNN's 6 a.m. news program. That said, the news had been reported on CNN programs all through the course of the previous day.
As you can see from this list of transcripts, the topic was reported and discussed on CNN programs during Tuesday's 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. hours. Beyond that, it was reported and discussed on The Situation Room at 6 p.m., and on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip during the 10 p.m. hour.
As soon as Tuberville's decision was announced, CNN began to report and discuss the event. It was also treated as major news on MSNBC's Tuesday programs.
For the most part, the Fox News Channel stood silent. That said, the topic was reported and discussed on Special Report with Bret Baier during Tuesday's 6 p.m. hour, with the highly nonpartisan Jennifer Griffin doing the reporting.
Question! Should citizens watching Fox & Friends have heard about this event? As is the case with everything else, that is a matter of judgment.
That said, four hours passed on the Fox morning show and Tuberville went unmentioned. He was on the front page of the New York Times—but at Fox, he'd gone AWOL.
There's no such thing as perfect news judgment—not concerning this news event, not concerning any others. On MSNBC and CNN, no one mentioned the stolen Christmas tree. Perhaps they should have done that!
There's no such thing as perfect news judgment concerning Tuberville's retreat. That said, we're offering this week's reports as a way of calling attention to a certain aspect of our floundering nation's highly dysfunctional current news arrangements.
We often hear that citizens within our red and blue tribes hear different analyses—different assessments—of various topics and news events.
There's no doubt that is true. On blue tribe cable, Joe Biden is routinely praised. On red tribe cable, he's relentlessly mocked.
It's certainly true, and everyone knows it! Depending on which news orgs they frequent, citizens will be exposed to vastly different assessments of various topics and various new events.
Everyone understands that! A different aspect of our news arrangements may be less fully grasped:
Depending on which news orgs they frequent, American citizens may not hear about various news events at all! This fact has played a major role in the development of the current state of play in our floundering nation—in the development of what we'd call our current Red and Blue Babel.
Depending on which tribe they're in, citizens may not even hear about various news events! Blue voters may hear about certain events. Red tribe voters may not—and it also works the other way around.
It isn't that they hear different analyses of certain events. Depending on which tribe they're in, American voters may not hear about certain events at all.
This helps create an unmistakable type of Babel. Can a large modern nation really expect to function this way?
As Springsteen said, "Take a good look around!" Forty years later, in a whole different context, we don't think the answer is yes.
Tomorrow: Red and blue tribe videotape, January 6
Fuller disclosure: Yesterday morning, Tuberville was also on the front page of the hard-copy Washington Post. In print editions, the front-page headline said this:
Tuberville drops hold on military promotions
To read the report, click here.
ReplyDeleteWhat's so interesting about military promotions? If the media segment controlled by one party decides to politicize the hell out of it and make it a huge story, should everyone else follow the suit?
Who politicized what now?
DeleteSomerby focuses his attacks on corporate media, which endorses a right wing neoliberal agenda.
DeleteSomerby is just providing a service to his longtime right wing readers like Cecelia and David in cal who didn’t know about this until they read it here.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 9:24am, you are correct. Today is my first time hearing this.
DeleteCecelia should be spanked, and David is man enough to do it.
DeleteFor Cecelia, because Somerby won't tell her himself:
Delete“In the end, this was all pointless,” President Biden said in a statement. “Senator Tuberville, and the Republicans who stood with him, needlessly hurt hundreds of service members and military families and threatened our national security — all to push a partisan agenda. I hope no one forgets what he did.”
The reversal came amid mounting pressure on Mr. Tuberville from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill."
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeleteI just read it myself. I don't watch the tv.
Just the occasional design or cooking show and that is about it. My husband watches The Five and too many sports events.
I get news from internet sites including the presumed nonpartisan ones. I don’t come here for news, I come for Bob’s take on things.
First I have heard of the Tuberville thi
A step in the right direction might be to skim the NY Times headlines each morning. Then you will know what other people are talking about, even when Somerby doesn't mention them (he usually doesn't).
DeleteThanks, Anonymouse10:17am.
DeleteHappy Hanukkah to all.
Delete"Happy Chanukah
DeleteThis is probably the most well-known Jewish holiday, although it’s really only a minor one. We celebrate the victory of the Macabees and the miracle of the oil in the Temple lamp lasting eight days. Feel free to wish us a, “Happy Chanukah,” or “Happy Hanukkah,” or any number of other spellings of the holiday. Although, as a note from your token Jew, I’ll point out that “Chanukah,” is the spelling that’s closest to how it’s actually pronounced in Hebrew."
https://spokanefavs.com/a-list-of-greetings-for-jewish-holidays-for-non-jews/
Thanks, David. All the best to you and your family.
DeleteWhere did David say anything? Are you assuming he is the only Jewish person here in comments?
DeleteDavid is a common name for Jewish men.
DeleteMy husband watches the Five too, they are all his cousins and former classmates.
DeleteI’m still voting for Biden, though.
Why does Somerby go out of his way to call Tuberville "coach" instead of Senator, three times in this article? It makes more sense to point out that Tuberville never served in the military. His sole occupation before running for the Senate was college football coaching and ESPN reporting. It might be relevant to ask what preparation that was for a job as a national legislator.
ReplyDeleteSomerby hardly mentions Tuberville's objection to allowing healthcare access to abortion and fertility treatment (IVF) for those in the military (and the wives of male servicemen). The hold on promotions was intended to pressure congress to disallow such medical care.
This is the latest push by the right wing -- denying women access to surrogacy and IVF treatments to aid them in creating families. Part of the motivation arises because gay and trans people might use such services, even though the huge majority doing so are heterosexual people having difficulty conceiving a child.
That's why the failure of Fox to mention Tuberville's concession is important to the right wing's culture war against diverse people, something Somerby does not mention himself. Somerby also neglects the part where Tuberville is retaining his block on promotions and appointments of four-star generals -- hindering the top echelon of military leadership.
I get it that Somerby doesn't want to actually discuss any news directly. He goes out of his way to take no side in this conflict, even though he boosts Tuberville by referring to him as coach, another good ole' boy worshipping the football Gods in the South. Tuberville's mean-spirited attack on women and families has nothing to benefit anyone except Republicans demagoguing the issue of women's reproductive choice.
The point is not that Fox doesn't report about Tuberville. It is that Fox doesn't report its own defeats (even partial ones like this) and won't embarrass Tuberville in front of his voters by reporting that he backed down. We already know that Fox is a partisan arm of the radical right wing, so what is new about Somerby's pseudo-analysis today? If Somerby won't talk about why the news was suppressed on Fox, what good is pointing out that it didn't appear there?
The point of the post is political biases in media have lead to a divided and partially informed public.
DeleteYes, except that Somerby wants to bothsides this but it is primarily the right that presents biased news and the right that suffers ignorance because of being "partially informed," not the entire public.
Delete11:57 - Isn't it bizarre that we have to keep explaining the point of Somerby's posts to his haters?
DeleteAgree or not, Somerby thinks it is a both sides issue. The post is not just about presenting biased news but "selectively reporting" or not reporting news in ways that align with each side's respective political leanings (hence the "partially informed" public.)
Delete12:22 It's kind of bizarre but they are either trolling or in an insane asylum or both. So they win if any response is given. :)
Delete12:22 & 12:25. Spoken by someone who cannot tell surface frim subtext.
DeleteYes, all Somerby's posts require you to have your mind reading equipment tuned in properly to discern their true intent. But you have to be a Somerby Whisperer: only those skeptical of his true intent can operate the equipment effectively!
DeleteYes. Their argument goes like this: "Although he doesn't SAY it, we can tell that's what he MEANS! It's OBVIOUS!"
DeleteThat isn’t what subtext means. You are talking about seeing things that are not there. Denying that Somerby has written what he has written, or saying he didn’t mean it, seems to be your main defense of him. That’s just denial.
DeleteEvery accusation...
Delete"Denying that Somerby has written what he has written . . . seems to be your main defense of him."
DeleteActually, you generally misstate what Somerby has written; I call you on it; and you respond by giving me a lecture about context or subtext or some such nonsense.
I respond by providing links to Somerby's past essays, which you state you won't read except for one, which you then deny says what it plainly does say. That is a waste of everyone's time. I assume others who might be following such a discussion can and will read the linked material and decide for themselves.
DeleteFrom wikipedia (the place where I look up what I don't recall or already know):
"Subtext is any content of a creative work which is not announced explicitly but is implicit, or becomes something understood by the audience. Subtext has been used historically to imply controversial subjects without drawing the attention of censors."
Example (from literarytext.net):
"A student goes to turn in his paper. After looking through two pages, his teacher asks, “Are you sure you want to turn this in?” The subtext of this question is the intended clue to the student that the paper is not ready yet to be turned in and he should edit through it again."
subtext definition -- a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred.
Your refusal to acknowledge Somerby's implications and subtext doesn't mean it isn't there. Obstinately sticking to the explicit, excessively literal, surface, directly stated text instead of thinking about what else is being said, is a form of refusal to cooperate in communication, a violation of the pragmatics of language (the rules and customs involved in sharing meaning via communication).
You could have looked this up yourself instead of pretending subtext means something else, and claiming it is too much trouble to look up words in a dictionary online.
Sure, let's run it again. Here's your cite to Somerby: "https://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-parochials-from-milk-carton-kids-to.html"
Delete"In this one, Somerby equates Corfman (Moore's accuser) with Juanita Broaddrick, a false accuser of Bill Clinton:"
You forgot to put the date, which is 12/11/17. Here's the web address: https://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-parochials-from-milk-carton-kids-to.html
Anyone can read the post, and they'll see Juanita Broaddrick isn't mentioned at all. Corfman isn't equated with Broaddrick at all. Instead, Somerby says he believes that Corfman's allegations are credible, the opposite of what you're suggesting. So anybody can read this post, at their leisure, and see that you are just making shit up.
I posted several more links that you have left out. I did not forget the date. You said Somerby didn't defend Roy Moore and I provided the evidence that he did. Your misreading of Somerby's essay is not accurate and others here can read for themselves what Somerby said in an ongoing series of posts (most of which you have ignored).
DeleteBroaddrick was found to be a non-credible accuser of Bill Clinton. When Somerby includes her in a post about Corfman's accusations against Roy Moore, he is doing that to remind his readers that someone like Corfman may be as non-credible as Broaddrick was found to be. He is thereby defending Roy Moore by implying that Corfman was making shit up, the way Broaddrick did against Clinton.
I don't know whether you are stupid or venal, but either way you are not dealing in good faith with my comments or with the links I provided, and that makes responding to you a huge waste of everyone's time. If you think this gets Somerby off the hook for his past remarks, you are wrong.
I will not be providing any responses to you again. I don't care whether you agree about something as obvious as Somerby's past behavior (which can be searched by anyone interested in seeing what he said).
4:54 - you were wrong about this one :
DeleteIt focuses on the need for more nuanced media reporting in cases of sexual misconduct. It does not defend Moore or claim that women typically lie about assault.
https://dailyhowler.blogspot.com/2017/11/first-accuser-in-counting-washington.html
You stupidly claimed it was a "clear defense of Moore, arguing that women lie". If that is true - show us where!! Take us to your conceptual dreamworld!!!
Excessively literal.
DeleteSo the clear "defense of Moore, arguing that women lie" is subtext?
DeleteIe. subjective, ie. in your fucking idiotic head?
Stop the insults.
DeleteFuck you troll. Fuck off with bullshit about Roy Moore. You have been proved wrong again you dumbass piece of shit.
DeleteSubtext has nothing to do with subjective, they are different words. If a gangster says to a shopkeeper, “Nice business you’ve got here, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it.” Do you take that literally and thank him for his concern, thinking he is a nice man, or do you recognize that you’ve been threatened?
DeleteYour insistence that Somerby only be read literally is deliberately obtuse. Go back and read what Somerby said about Roy Moore. Then look up the accusations against him. See if you find Somerby’s claim that it is romantic when a much older man “dates” an underage girl romantic instead of creepy. Somerby argued that Bogey & Bacall made it hypocritical for the press to object when Roy Moore was accused of rolling around in underwear on a blanket with a 14 year old. Read the article yourself.
Somerby defended Moore, and defended May December relationships in general, even admitting his own interest in young women; Somerby’s critique of Fox News today is meant to bolster his attacks against the blue tribe for selectively ignoring genuine and valuable concerns coming from the red tribe, however, his stance is offered without credible evidence and is incorrect.
DeleteFanboys are going to fanboy, in the end their ignorance and bad faith arguments fail to persuade.
"Fanboys are going to fanboy." And Somerby Derangement Syndrome sufferers gonna spew bullshit.
Delete"in the end their ignorance and bad faith arguments fail to persuade." They might fail to persuade YOU. But they're plenty persuasive for anyone not suffering from Somerby Derangement Syndrome.
Big talk! Your tone is very intimidating, but no one here has been persuaded, thus your rhetoric is mere bluster.
Delete"Blue voters may hear about certain events. Red tribe voters may not—and it also works the other way around."
ReplyDeleteBlue voters didn't hear that a Christmas tree was stolen off the roof of a car.
Red voters didn't hear that Tuberville backed down on his hold on military promotions, partially, due to political pressure from members of his own party (Republicans).
Are these really equivalent? How will it hurt Democrats to be unaware that someone stole a tree? How does that lead to babel or any other negative consequence, much less the disaster Somerby claims we on the left have created?
anon 9:59 (and perhaps you are the same anonymouse who made several of the previous posts, mp way t know for sure, as yu're all anonymice)) - in this post, TDH is not going two sides - he is faulting Fox for ignoring the Tuberville thing (not that the Tuberville holy crusade affected the existence of most people that much). He points out the trivial stolen Xmas tree item, with the attention paid by the blue side media. The main point is that each side gets fed different story lines - the "blue" media chooses to omit a lot of things too, but that's another story.
DeleteMy point was that both sides are NOT doing the same thing. I am disagreeing with Somerby, not misreading him.
DeleteI second 4:48.
Delete4:24 makes the same ignorant zombie false claim, is corrected, yet just keeps on trucking with their nonsense.
We remain ensconced in our tribes, which is fine because we have all these systems and institutions in place that have survived much worse.
For myself, reading Somerby, I am highly motivated to vote for Biden, as the blue tribe slowly becomes more progressive over time - to the horror of Somerby and his emotional fanboys.
It looks as if Hunter Biden is going to blow-up his impeachment trial by threatening to answer Comer's questions in public. This should get funnier by the second.
ReplyDeleteComer is God’s gift to Dems, he keeps excitedly running out with his nonsense claims, that then get instantly debunked, and then he returns to his hole in humiliation.
DeleteRed voters choose to watch Fox News, voluntarily, no one is forcing them to make that their exclusive source of news and information.
ReplyDeleteIt has been pointed out by journalism researchers for over a decade that those who watch Fox News exclusively are less well-informed about current events and news than those who watch other cable news and read mainstream newspapers, and more recently, less well-informed than those who watch no news at all.
https://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/fox-news-study-comparing-fox-cnn-highlights-cable-tvs-harm-rcna23620
Why is it the fault of the blue tribe when right wingers make this choice to become and remain ignorant? Are we supposed to force them to watch something else? Or does Somerby think that spreading right wing disinformation to the other networks will attract red viewers (although that didn't work for CNN)? At what cost? Shall we dumb down the whole nation in order to be ignorant-by-choice Fox viewers feel less isolated among the better educated? I doubt they feel any sense of isolation among their fellow true-believers, who they have also chosen as their sole associates. A person who is picking the news this carefully (and that includes Somerby) will also be picking his friends and the rest of his social environment. But we on the left are not causing that in any way.
Look at the way Trump isolates himself at Mar a Lago. Look at who he chooses to socialize with, who he hires. He hand-picks the people around him based on partisan considerations. When his supporters do the same thing, it is to protect their own bubble of disinformation. We on the left are not excluding them or forcing them to do that. It is freely chosen and there is little we can do about it, except resist assholes like Tuberville and the rest in Congress. Those voters with a shred of common sense left, have already done that in the latest elections last November, when the Moms4Liberty lost nearly everywhere and sent a warning to the right to stop being so crazy. Reality will catch up with Fox and the right. But they have to want to change. As long as this is a free country (which may be temporary if Trump is elected again), the right can believe and watch what it wants. But that is their choice, their responsibility, not anything left has done by being too lefty and reality-oriented. Somerby is off his rocker about that, perhaps from too much Fox-watching himself.
"When the coach decided to relent, should his decision have been treated as front-page news? Should his decision have been reported on the nation's "cable news" programs?
ReplyDeleteAs always, that's a matter of judgment. "
Whether to eat breakfast each morning is a matter of judgment. Whether to report a news story that is important to our military, to women, and to those who follow congressional politics is much less a matter of judgment. It is the purpose of the news media to report such things -- a no brainer. There are no reasons NOT to report it. So why does Somerby pretend it takes any pondering at all to decide whether to report on Tuberville's backtracking? Perhaps to make Fox News' decisions appear more rational?
Decisions are made in relation to goals and purposes. If the purpose is to inform people by reporting news, then the decision is easy and that's why MSNBC and CNN both reported the story about Tuberville. If the purpose is to help the right wing succeed in controlling our nation's government, then the decision is just as easy, but will produce a different result, suppression of the Tuberville concession, because reporting the failures of the right does not advance right wing goals by encouraging voters to support Tuberville or any other right wing causes, such as limitations on reproductive health of military women.
Calling this a matter of judgment is Somerby's way of saying he doesn't want to comment on it, doesn't want to tell the truth about it. That makes sense for someone trying to pretend to be liberal but actually advancing right wing memes and talking points. But Somerby blew his cover a long time ago. Perhaps now it merely reflects political cowardice.
When news media start considering whether to print various stories to be acts of judgment, then partisanship creeps into the media. These choices shouldn't be acts of judgment -- all news should be printed, whether the media thinks it fits their agenda or not. The agenda should be to print all the news, not to select what will suit reader or viewer sensibilities, prejudices, political needs, whatever. The saying was to present all of the news "without fear or favor" and that fear or favor part is what Somerby is calling "judgment".
DeleteGiven the way Somerby regularly complains about having to see headlines about fashion, food, relationships, cars, but not sports, he seems to want the media to screen out stuff HE doesn't consider suitable as news. That is no more appropriate than using political criteria to select news content. The media should put it all in front of readers and let us choose what to read, even if it will result in ghettoized reading habits like those promoted at Fox News. Somerby is capable of skipping the stories about Citibike Karen and lost Christmas trees, or what Melania wore to a funeral.
Karen is innocent.
DeleteBased on the video and the testimony and evidence provided by the Black teen accosted by Citibike Karen, here is what happened:
DeleteThe teen had been riding the same bicycle for several hours, re renting it every 45 min to avoid the higher rate tier, as is commonly done by most Citibike renters. The teen comes from a poor immigrant family, he has few options.
The teen had momentarily docked the bicycle and was about to re rent it when he was approached by a woman that demanded he release the bicycle to her. He politely refused, explaining he had already been renting the bicycle and needed it to return home.
The woman could not believe this Black teen refused to bend to her will, she lost it and blew a fuse. She started attacking him, yelling and fake crying, she tried to push him off the bicycle, tried to pry his hand off the handlebar and stole his phone away from him.
As she was struggling to bully the bicycle away, she swiped the QR code with her phone - momentarily starting a rental, but her scheme failed, since the teen had been holding onto the bicycle the whole time and the woman was never on the bicycle, he casually redocked the bicycle, ending her “rental”.
Her bullying, pushing, yelling, and fake crying all ended instantly when she failed to attain public support, indeed a passerby watching what was happening merely said ‘Lady, just rent another bicycle, there are others available’, at which time she promptly gave up and did that very thing.
Later she hired a lawyer, who did nothing with regard to her employment, but who started a phony pr campaign to falsely make it seem like she was the victim, raking in thousands of dollars from Go Fund Me, even though she was already well-off, making well over $100k per year.
The teen on the other hand, his family is legally indigent, have received death threats, may have to move.
Defending Citibike Karen is morally repugnant.
Full disclosure: Bruce Springsteen likely does not support Somerby's views here nor any of the things Somerby might imply by linking to his song.
ReplyDeleteSo?
DeleteI’m old enough to remember when Republicans comically thought that ‘Born in the USA’ was a patriotic song praising bedrock American values, when it was essentially the opposite, because they only heard what they wanted, not what the actual lyrics were conveying.
DeleteLacking integrity is a feature, not a bug, with these folks, who will use any means to reach their empty goals.
Should we continue to read The Daily Howler? That’s a matter of judgement. We are Corby and Korbi.
ReplyDeleteCorby is still in Iceland waiting for the eruption. Why are you pretending otherwise?
DeleteIf the eruption is delayed much longer, it will be time for the Reykjavik Bridge Festival, always a good time!
Deletehttps://reykjavikbridgefestival.com/
Van Halen’s Eruption is overrated.
DeleteTo be fair, I can’t play it. I can play The Crunge, which is a bit of a callback for those in the know.
Me and my bridge partners will vote for Donald Trump, because Joe Biden is too young. I am Corby.
ReplyDeleteIf you could actually play bridge, you wouldn't be such a troll.
DeleteYou're a discord sowing paid Palestinian-Russian troll, Boris.
DeleteTrolls hide under bridges. Only a Somerby Whisperer could see this obscure connection! And the joke is but a second layer of security which has to be penetrated with Advanced Somerby Intent Detection equipment (ASID).
DeleteAnonymouse 12:54pm, or you can read the blog from the perspective of being interested in what Bob has to say, rather than perusing his essays for attack fodder.
DeleteWhat a novel idea!
DeleteThe problem is that Somerby has not said anything new or interesting in years now. He repeats himself and expresses the same old empty complaints. If he weren't also spreading disinformation and unfairly blaming liberals, there would be no point in reading or commenting here.
DeleteIt does seem to me that the Somerby whisperers and fanboys are unwilling to consider other takes on what Somerby writes. But the whole point of comments is to express alternative perspectives and the fanboys make a huge nuisance of themselves harrassing those who do not agree with Somerby, for whatever reason. This nonsense about Corby is an example.
You think the “Corby” comments are from fanboys?
Deleteanti-"fanboy" anon 2:49 - you say TDH hasn't said anything interesting (to you apparently) for years. An obvious question is, why do you subject yourself to his uninteresting posts day after day.?You deflect from answering the question on the pretense that you've answered it before (though being an anonymouse, how can anyone In fact, you've never provided a rational answer; if I'm wrong, show me when you have) You don't seem to appreciate that it's weird what you do; or that the "criticisms" of TDH are so often whacko and so dishonest (e.g., he is a Trump supporter, he hates women, he gets paid by the Russians, or that C---- "pretends to be a woman" etc)
Delete@4:38 -- the comments are not coming from Corby.
DeleteAC/MA, what purpose is served by asking this same question over and over and never paying any attention to the answers? Whatever reply is given, it doesn't have to satisfy you -- it is the motive of the person writing the comments and it only needs to be good enough to motivate them.
Delete"For the most part, the Fox News Channel stood silent. That said, the topic was reported and discussed on Special Report with Bret Baier during Tuesday's 6 p.m. hour, with the highly nonpartisan Jennifer Griffin doing the reporting.
ReplyDeleteQuestion! Should citizens watching Fox & Friends have heard about this event? As is the case with everything else, that is a matter of judgment."
Because the report DID appear on Special Report on Fox News, it is possible that those watching Fox & Friends might have heard it there. So then the question becomes whether all of the shows on Fox News should present the same stories, over and over. CNN used to have this kind of repetitive format but abandoned it, perhaps because it does not lend itself to watching for hours each day (too repetitive). Somerby says he has been watching Fox for hours and hours each day himself. Would he want to hear the same stories over and over? Isn't that perhaps why he thinks MSNBC has been talking about Trump all the time, even though there are different stories about Trump and different aspects of his legal situation(s) being discussed if one listens more closely?
This strikes me as a marketing/programming discussion not anything deeply philosophical, concerning or relevant to how the public becomes informed about news events. There are so many sources out there that worrying about how one or another station presents a single story strikes me as not only unrepresentative but also trivial.
The ultimate problem is with the viewers over at Fox, not with Fox's presentation of stories. Those viewers have the means to watch whatever they want on a wide variety of webpages and cable stations. If they limit themselves to Fox, it reflects on them, not necessarily on Fox, although any station would want their viewers to spend more time watching them in preference to others. More ad revenues.
I am finding Somerby's complaint today muddled and it is unclear to me what he is asking for, aside from blaming the blue tribe once again for some unstated malfeasance.
--- End insanity
ReplyDeleteCecelia needs a good old-fashioned spanking.
ReplyDeleteWell, when arguments fail, right?
DeleteSsssh, Somerby will quote his favorite baseball book again if you aren't careful.
DeleteCecelia has probably already suffered too much spanking, which is why he is stuck with his trauma-borne, counterproductive world views.
DeleteYou sound like a liberal. Be conservative. Support spanking.
Delete"As is the case with everything else, that is a matter of judgment."
ReplyDeleteSomerby has been saying that a lot lately, but there are many things that are not a matter of judgment at all. Many of them are matters of fact, not judgment. Such as "did the sun come up this morning?" or "is it dinner time yet (assuming you don't eat at random times of the day and night, so there is such a thing as dinnertime)? If Biden made a statement about Tuberville today, that is not a matter of judgment at all. He either made such a statement or he didn't. Why then would deciding to report that event in a newspaper be an act of judgment and not of fact?
There are many things people do that are matters of instinct, habit, impulse, random choice and not judgment. The role of emotion and of procedural memory (memory for things like driving to work or tying one's shoes or making scrambled eggs) is to eliminate the need for deliberative judgment, since that kind of judgment is a limited resource, slow to do, and really not necessary for most acts people engage in daily (shall I brush my teeth is not an existential question).
So, when Somerby calls most things a matter of judgment, he is not only incorrect but shows a profound ignorance about how the human mind works, what it does from moment to moment. Most things require no judgment at all. The things that do require judgment are rare occurrences -- is it cold enough to need a coat, shall I take my Kindle on the train, what time should I start dinner? Even reading the newspaper involves little judgment because an article either interests or concerns you (a feeling not a thought) or it doesn't and you skip it.
Somerby really should read a psychology book (not something from the self-help shelf though). Somerthing about how the mind actually works.
Here here and well said.
Delete"but there are many things that are not a matter of judgment at all. Many of them are matters of fact, not judgment. Such as "did the sun come up this morning?"" Are you retarded? You sound like Chauncey Gardiner.
DeleteI play bridge. I am Corby.
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Operation 30:
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Somerby didn’t hesitate to criticize MSNBC last week, saying that they cover Trump’s legal problems too much, and that represents bad political judgment, he said.
ReplyDeleteBut perhaps the red tribe would benefit from hearing the details of all the legal cases. They might be less likely to label the prosecution of Trump a political witch hunt, which is what they are constantly told in their media.
And does Fox News exhibit good political judgment? Trump and the republicans remain competitive.
Also, surely Somerby doesn’t imply that the Christmas tree story is equivalent to the Tuberville story. But if you delve into why fox reported on the Christmas tree, you realize that they used it to show how Biden’s and the Democrat’s so-called “war on Christmas” is alive and well, causing people to steal Christmas trees. It’s all part of “Biden’s America.” And that is part of the judgment fox used to select the story.
Are the “Corby” comments coming from imposters?
ReplyDeleteThe comments are coming from inside your house, run!
DeleteI play bridge. I eat chicken nuggets. I like to smell my fingers.
ReplyDeleteI am Corby.
Bob offers a feeble defense of these Presidents. He acknowledges that people on their campuses are calling for intifada, His defense is that, the word "intifada" has several meanings, and some of these meanings do not include genocide of the Jews.
ReplyDeleteThat's pathetic IMO.