Does anyone still watch CNN?

[johnboy]

I've followed CNN since its inception back in 1980 and found it to be 'reasonable' in its reporting of news events. That started to change during the last election cycle when it became pretty apparent that CNN had become little more than a mouthpiece for the Hillary campaign. OK, fine, I guess that news outlets are allowed to editorialize a bit so I can handle their very apparent bias towards one side of the street.

So last night I was doing my usual surfing through the various news channels and hit CNN just in time to catch a few minutes of a Cuomo/Lemon hate fest against guess who. I listened for a bit and was frankly shocked and saddened at the hysterical level of vitriol that was being spewed by these two. Not only was it vicious but it was also stupid. I can't believe that anyone who can say such intensely stupid things can actually be given an entire hour or more on national tv to do so.

Not that I particularly like your current CinC, mind you, but we have certainly reached a new low when it comes to tv 'news' about him.

OK, rant over.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I watch CNN, but I don’t watch anything past their daytime news people. It seems like most everyone they have on past 4:00 aren’t reporters, but are editorial in nature. I don’t watch foxnews but I read their website every day along with The Hill. Its pretty much the same there too.

Hannity = Lemon IMO

BkB

[Arty]

If you want a REALLY good laugh, watch a couple minutes of Rachel Maddow

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don’t know that I’ve e er watched a full minute of MSNBC. Just not my cup of tea.

BKB

[Hombre]

CNN and Fox are basically the exact same channel with opposite spin on stories. Neither really report the new, they tell the story they prefer. Hell both have even went to try and be honest and naming pieces "opinion". So, if you're watching those its not really caring about the news and developing an opinion its about supporting the opinion you already have. My go to "news" site is https://www.aljazeera.com/

[johnboy]

I actually watch ALL the 'news' channels, including BBC and Al Jazeera. Yes, even MSNBC for as long as I can stand it and your'e right that it's mostly opinion pieces now. I know that and can handle it but what really gets up my nose is the incredible level of outright stupidity that now passes as informed opinion. I do watch Fox but not a lot of Hannity. A bit too strident for me but at least he isn't a complete babbling idiot. Don Lemon is a disgrace.

[quercus alba]

I don't watch ANY news unless there's a major news event and sometimes not even then, and that includes ESPN and local news. I'm perfectly content to live in my blissfully ignorant little world. I'm at peace with everyone including myself. I don't even get upset with the razorbacks anymore

Works for me.

[airbud7]

I like The View

[LJ3]

I've pretty much stopped watching all of it. I went to go watch some over the weekend and was delighted that I had forgotten the channel number of all the cable outlets I used to watch.

[Big Muddy]

I love watching Shepard Smith, with the volume turned off......he's gay as a pink possum.....I watch him just long enough to see how much thicker his girly makeup has gotten that particular day.

To make matters worse, he's a day'um Ole Piss graduate !!!!!......even those snobbish bastages don't claim him. ;););)

[BarryBobPosthole]

John, is there a Canadian version of CNN? Do you watch the international one orthe one we get?

BkB

[Arty]

John, is there a Canadian version of CNN? Do you watch the international one orthe one we get?

BkB

That’s racist. And maybe even homophobic. You ought to know that if you watch CNN

[johnboy]

No, no Canadian version of CNN. Just the regular one that I'm sure you get as well. I'm not sure I can access CNN Int. but will look for it just for hoots and giggles. Our Canadian 24 hour news channels are CBC and CTV.

Barry, give Tucker Carlson a try. He talks about some interesting things besides Trump.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I read his stuff online. He’s at least as biased as Don Lemon and almost as big a liar.

But it depends on what you think when you start I guess. Our media is a refelction of us I think. A lot of folks want to blame the media for stuff that we, ourselves are responsible for. Time was, character meant something. At some point people started overlooking character issues as long as their guy believed what they did politically. And that’s how we ended up where are I think. The media we select to use just aids and abets our rationalizations. End of story.

And if you see media in the US getting more and more shrill, its because shit is about to get really real up in here.

BKb

[johnboy]

Well, he might be as biased as DL but he sure ain't as dumb. At least he talks about different things other than the evils of Trump. As you say, to each his own. I do agree that there is something building in your country and it ain't pretty. Good luck down there. I won't be coming to visit for some time (a feeling many Canadians have).

[BarryBobPosthole]

Its a shame things have gotten to where they are. Its made us all surly about some things.

BKB

[airbud7]

The left just hate to lose and lately thats all they do is lose...

They only have their self to blame...they need to find a plan other than hate everything.

[Penguin]

I know this is sacrilege, and I'll probably get taken to the woodshed over it.

Not only do I never watch TV news, I have come to believe that ceasing to watch it is one of the things we need to do in order to start addressing our problems as a nation. I guess I started feeling that way about a decade ago when the financial crisis hit. Watching the childish and inaccurate coverage was a blow to me. I came to realize that they were part of the larger problem I have seen which is the political problems I most care about are intentionally left out of the mainstream narrative.

So, no, I don't watch television news. I think it deliberately misleads and misinforms the populace. I consider it my civic duty to never watch it.

Will

[quercus alba]

Penguin, did your daddy travel thru southern Arkansas in the late fifties, cause we agree too often to be coincidence

[Penguin]

Ha! Not that I know of but he may have. :)

I'm bracing myself for a visit from my mother-in-law in a couple weeks. She watches all of that stuff religiously and has been permanently brainwashed. It's going to be a tough week or so. I remember she asked me right after the election what I thought about the allegation that Trump conspired with the Russians. I told her the truth, and that is that I believed any FBI or CIA official that didn't break down in fits of laughter at that dossier was too stupid to draw a federal paycheck and should be summarily fired. (I didn't know at the time that they were the ones who supervised the manufacture of that bit of evidence) I told her you could get him or any other politician on any number of felonies like money laundering or corruption but that the whole Russian thing was ridiculous.... needless to say that bit of heartfelt honesty was not appreciated.

You guys may think I have jumped the shark but on the issue of media, banking, the medical industry and a whole lot of other things I think a generous application of the anti-trust laws would do wonders for this nation.

Will

[BarryBobPosthole]

Y’all be sure sure to stick to those stpries even as the walls come crashing down!

And thank you for telling me why i think the things I do. I had no idea I was such a dumbfuck. (even though Captain tells me that several times a week)

BKB

[LJ3]

I read a book that gave me some clarity that's semi-related. Most humans implement some form of moral template on a subject, that is the direction they choose. The rest of their 'opinion journey' (band name) is just making sure they can reason their way to a conclusion they already reached. It's deeper than confirmation bias. I suppose the important part is how we come to our moral template in the first place. Most never change from that.

Just another opinion. Better than that Don Lemon cockstroker, anyhoo.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Two things stood out big to me in all of the John McCain memorials.
One was the quote from the greek philosopher ‘Character is destiny’. As far as what we chose as governance and how we live our lives, there aren’t many truer words to describe it. We would all be wise to heed those words.

The second was ‘politics is personal’. And the corollary to that was ‘Stop trying to tell people why they think like they do.’
In this post alone, I’ve been told I am just bitter about Hillary losing the election. That I am ‘brainwashed because I watch the news’, and that I believe the way i do because of the hate I have in my heart. Given all that its no wonder I’m wrong!

I’m a big boy and I know that my political views are different than 99% of the people here. I also realize I like politics and I like discussing it more than 90% of the people here. I used to learn from the discussions we had here. I haven’t learned much that past couple of years because we can’t discuss it any more. That’s fine, I’ll just yell at the tv!

Carry on.

But for a bunch of non-news watching fuckwagons, y’all sure have the company lines memorized!

BKB

[Penguin]

Hmmm. If any of those were taken from my comments I apologize Posty. They weren't aimed at you. :)

AAMOF I am not indicting anyone. I simply believe that watching TV news is unhealthy. Not least because I believe them to be peddling an agenda. A political one. An economic one. A societal one. You name it.

It is impossible to describe how the big news organizations appear if you haven't watched it for years on end. They come off as crazy. Bone chilling, howl at the moon, batshit crazy. All of them. Every damned one. MSNBC no more or less than FoxNews. All of them slanted, dishonest, and harmful.

But they do have a lot of people who watch them. But not me. Hell I'm too busy even if I had the interest.

Will

[BarryBobPosthole]

No offense was taken at what anyone said, Penguin. My skin has thickened over the years. My only point is that attribution has become the most often used rebuttal to almost any topic. And it is common usageof attribution, I believe, that is the cause of racism raising its ugly head in America. Racism is no more, no less than it was ten years ago. Yet, suddenly cops are killing black men because of their race. That’s an attribution, by they way, not my opinion. But it shows the importance of how we communicate with one another. Suddenly the media is the enemy of the people because they are left leaning. Or right leaning. An attribution that has only anecdotal evidence. But it isn’t enough that the media leans one way or the other,we’ve made the leap to because of that they are the enemy. Its okay if somebody is crooked because ‘they’re all crooked’. another attribution. So Manafort looked around at all the other people commiting crimes and said, oh that’s okay then! When you start looking for them, they are everywhere. And when you repeat them outloud, the ridiculousness of them is obvious.

And my prediction is whichever party stakes out character as their territory will be the next major force in our politics. The present ‘ins’ on both sides are showing their true character now. If you don’t watch the news, how do you ever recognize it?

BKb

BKB

[Penguin]

I wouldn't say that the media is an "enemy" because of any particular bias. Moreso because they not only do not inform, they intentionally misinform.

Case in point: After the financial crisis not one single high ranking banker went to jail. Even though that was the biggest swindle in the history of mankind. (Fact not hyperbole)

Why the media is worse than useless: Although overwhelmingly the US citizenry felt mad as hell, not one in 100 could honestly tell you what the crimes were and who should go bankrupt or go to jail. And in the aftermath not one in 10 could explain how these insolvent banks were saved and who paid for it. This was no accident. There were fortunes at stake and the people who run the show made sure that what we were fed on TV allowed them to keep their fortunes.

I'll take the other side of the bet on "character" becoming the defining virtue of the next powerhouse political party. I think what we saw in the last election was the first sign that we are switching back to voting for self interest.

Will

[johnboy]

Seems to me that when either party in a discussion claims the moral highground then any chance of a productive result goes out the window.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yep, I’m pretty sure the politicans here that could stake out the high ground with a straight face are few and far between.

BKB

[johnboy]

Same thing on this side of the border.

[Thumper]

Long Thump Post coming up ... but I don't have the time right now. (aren't you lucky?) ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Pardon us. We’ll just hold our collective breath!

BKB

[Thumper]

While you’re holding your breath, go ahead and grab a stool. I’ll post instructions later.

[quercus alba]

note to self, put Thump on ignore feature until tomorrow

[Thumper]

If I rented tall stools every time they’re needed around this joint, I’d be a bazillionaire!

[BarryBobPosthole]

So did we dodge a bullet or not?

BTW they did a great job on RBG’s documentary.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yeah, not in the mood. Consider yourself lucky. ;)

[Penguin]

Cool. :p

I will admit that I tune into the weather channel sometimes. Especially if there's a good winter storm headed my way. But I don't think that counts!

Will