xarkGirl

False equivalency

I was all riled up yesterday by the ridiculous attempts of the MSM to equate McCain's attempt to portray Obama as a terrorist because of his tenuous association with Bill Ayers with Obama's linking of McCain to the Keating Five. One is fiction, one is fact.

I was all set to post on it, but luckily for you, Glenn Greenwald has already taken journalism to task for its contortionism in the attempt to be "balanced." I do believe that real journalistic integrity has been compromised by the (pretty much futile) attempt of media outlets to be seen as "fair."

Greenwald links to this speech by John Walcott, Washington bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, given on Oct. 7 when he accepted the prestigious I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence, but it's worth another plug. for good stuff like this:

"Instead of being members of the Fourth Estate, too many Washington reporters have been itching to move up an estate or two, to become part of the Establishment or share in the good times."

Izzy Stone, a renowned rebel journalist, is sometimes called the "Patron Saint of Bloggers." My favorite quote is this:

"To be regarded as nonrespectable, to be a pariah, to be an outsider, this is really the way to do it. To sit in your tub and not want anything. As soon as you want something, they've got you!"

Amen.

Hilarious

A poem from John Cleese (yes, THAT one) via Talking Points Memo:

Ode to Sean Hannity

by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity

The revolution is here, Part 2

I've made a brilliant realization. Aside from understanding that the perks of having a relatively unread blog is that I can call my realizations brilliant without dispute.

Here is another way the digital age is changing the human experience:

The old way of thinking is fairly rigid. This or that. Black or white. Right or wrong. Clear-cut boundaries are so comforting. It's much easier to navigate the world with a map that shows clear direction. The not-knowing is disturbing, stressful. True dilemmas suck.

But computers change all that. They change the way we make choices. They expand us beyond the a or b choices into the less certain, but more empowering.

Sexism, Rant 1

My current personal situation has made me  hyper aware, now, of the memes about women that pop culture and the MSM cling to and spread. Tired stereotypes are just recycled. Sweeping generalities are stated as if they are God's own truth.

My Scots-Irish is up over this comment in the wake of the debate:

As the front-runner Obama needed to hold the line tonight, and he did. He likely won favor with undecided voters and women because of his ability to motivate through emotion and tap into the emotional component of viewers’ personal values.  He earned extra credit for his cool, confident demeanor.

-Andrea Tantaros, Fox News

Women in general are more emotional than men. I have no problem with that. Our brains are wired for it. In fact, there are some very nice perks that come from our emotional intelligence. One study shows that emotional imprinting means better recall.

But in MSM and pop culture, it's portrayed, often subtly I'll grant you that, as a negative. Here, the subtext is that women like Obama because we are  "motivate[d] through emotion." Not because of issues like, gee, health care? Equal pay? Keeping our homes? We just like him 'cause he's adorable! And who doesn't need a big, strong man to make decisions for her?

Well, maybe, they have a point. Because I hate this kind of glib talking point.

Design: Print, eewww.

As some of you know, I was recently kicked down to do layout and design on 1A (a night-time shift I had, oh, 20 years ago) at my newspaper job. For legal reasons, I won't detail my feelings about that ... as yet. But I will say this. Designing for newsprint sucks. 

What is crisp and clean, eye-popping and saturated on a computer screen is mushy and sedate on paper that soaks up ink like a ShamWow.

Oh, to reach the days of designing for the Web. Three classes down, three to go.

Confessions of an infovore

The laptop might be the single greatest invention of all time outside of dishwashers and ceramic hair straighteners.

I have moved out to my porch these days, armed with a beverage of choice, glasses (yes, I'm on that side of 40) and a stout Dell to read, post, enjoy the breeze and read some more. I have to tell you that few things are as disappointing as reaching the end of my GoogleReader.

More importantly, I am successfully avoiding the pile of clothes that gets moved from floor to bed to floor again in a daily routine. The dishwasher that may or may not be full of clean dishes. The sink that is full of definitely not clean items awaiting that bit of reconnaissance. I won't detail the bathroom, as it could risk an impromptu visit from the health department.

I hate housework and its meaningless, repetitive, never-get-aheadness. I will never match my mother's ability to maintain a house that would be ready at a moment's notice for a Southern Living photo shoot. I care enough about that only for sporadic guilt, not real action.

I, instead, console myself that I have Other Interests that some day will pay off with fame, fortune and the ability to hire someone with better skills than I.

Back me up, brothers and sisters.

Racism, irrelevance and the lizard brain

So the campaign has gotten ugly, with a shift to attacks and answering cries of racism. We're really not surprised, are we?  McCain announced as much last week.It's not as if the Rev. Wright furor didn't turn the conversation to black-on-white racism.

The talk in the blogosphere has gotten more belligerent and the behavior of a few has turn hateful in meatspace. (It is a few, too, that feel free to be so blatant. For perspective, the Clearwater, Fla., Palin rally that erupted in violence was about 3,000 people. By contrast, Obama has been drawing crowds many times that.)

I say, bring it on.

Racism in this country -- in all its permutations -- is a stain on the underside of the sofa cushion. We know it's there and we make sure it's hidden when company comes. However painful in the short term, we must acknowledge that we have not yet overcome. We have not reached the day when we judge solely on the content of character.