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Thomas Siglin
Aaron Clayton
ENG-110
College Writing 1
14 December, 2009
Op-Ed
During a recent conversation with a family friend I was surprised to hear him utter the “fact” that Obama's parents were not married, I replied to him “You watch a lot of Fox news don't you” and his eyebrows rose as he answered “yes”. Also at issue in my friends mind was whether Obama was born in the United States or a citizen of South Africa. He continued talking about how it was a serious blow to our system for this to happen and what a sorry state of affairs out country was in because of this fact. Did I say fact? Was there information and evidence that a conspiracy was in progress?
Listeners tune into talk shows for their entrainment value as well as positive re-enforcement for their own personal views. Talk show hosts often construct a story from flimsy material, then embellish it with as much “fill” as possible. In the case of the “where was he born” issue, some enterprising citizen has possession of a birth certificate proving Obama is a foreign national, has a Arab middle name and is, at this very moment, plotting to overthrow the nation if not subvert the world as the Antichrist.
Several friends email me cartoons and breaking news features on President Obama's latest whisperings or better yet, a great story from Glenn Beck about how the Democrats are going to tax everyone five-thousand dollars per year for not living healthy. Inevitability, it turns out, these friends are staunch Republicans/conservative/right wing losers. Did I say losers? Yes losers because the nation elected a Democratic congress even under the guided care of the media. So, does not seem to really matter what Rush Limbaugh, Ann Colter, Glenn Beck, and the rest of the talk show hosts say?
My father had a favorite saying: “Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me!” As registered voters, we have a responsibility to discount speakers bias, read between the lines, and be on the lookout for political motivation in presentations we hear and see. While the current focus of this opinion in radio and television “news” is slanted to the political right, a recent past view of most mass media methods will show evidence of negative traits. A noticeable theme throughout many of the “controversial” subjects appears to be that of magnifying or puffing up the theme. Whole books are being put forward on a single thread of a contrived conspiracy, all in the effort to gain notoriety and make money. As the recipients of these contrived efforts we owe it to ourselves to become media literate. Designing men now have the resources to publish their point of view not previously available in past years, flooding the market with contrived dribble, email, facebook, etc.
Where did all these people's ideas spring from? Individuals have always had th option of personal understanding and opinion. Issues brought before the people may have been polarizing but the understanding and capability of the average citizen was limited by the times. Today with the possibility of a better educated audience and mass methods of news distribution, the average listener is bombarded with numerous sources of information and dis-information. Coupled with major shifts in reporting accuracy and honesty, it leaves the less informed and less educated in a quandary to sort out the important issues of the day.
An interesting phenomenon of the Beck/Limbaugh effect is the reverse factor where listeners and readers have published “meme” (in the form of a parody) to poke fun and take the talk show hosts to task for their commentary. Reports that Glen Back “may” be guilty of rape and murder are spreading online thanks to a gang of Internet pranksters whose purpose is to skewer the bombastic talk show host using his own methods.
Does the listener have a responsibility in the news dissemination process and should he be required to apply a critical ear to the information pointed at him? Prior to the advent of the Fox
Network and extremes on the WWW, the answer might have been no, but today's news and commentary demands an effort to stay focused on real issues and discard the chaff of opinion, gossip and outright lies. In the end, it is the listeners who decide to believe the output of these commentators. It is sad to find so many people believing that they are actually receiving honest and accurate news when in reality the information is tainted at best and outright lies in some cases. By observation, the mature citizen seems to be a great partaker of this fare with a younger generation ignoring this and most other news outlets. Instead of delving into the issues, they prefer a light diet based upon hearsay and inaccurate sources.
Become the active listener and wonder what the point of todays news really is. Examine what you hear and read in a critical way to find supporting evidence. Is the story actually important or just information designed to shift focus away from relevant issues? We may not have the resources to literally stop the flow of dis-information but our minds can provide an effective filter against the efforts of the world to influence our thoughts.