Riots in Ferguson

SVreX, I bet they forgot to mention that he was a Moslem too, didn't they? The same day, morning NBC radio news reported that and that someone in France ran over 13 people in a car and had "mental issues" or some such BS. They also forgot to mention he was shouting "Alah Akbar" when he did it.

SVreX wrote: ...The media has the power to initiate positive change. They would rather let us die choking while they shove their agenda down our throats....

Kind of a silly statement really: "initiating positive change" and "shoving their agenda down our throats" are essentially the same thing.

(I don't disagree with your general sentiment btw, I just find that portion interesting.)

Dr. Hess wrote: SVreX, I bet they forgot to mention that he was a Moslem too, didn't they?...

Also interesting. You would prefer they mention something that is clearly not relevant? (much like him being black or white)

I would have to say, him being black is clearly more relevant (although, very slightly) them him being Muslim (which from what I know, is not at all). The media seems to have been mentioning that he was clearly a head case, and THAT is obviously his most relevant characteristic.

Well now... that didn't take long.

I would prefer they describe what happened without trying to lead us or BS us. A prison-radicalized black moslem, ex-con, pumped up on media and U.S. Federal Government driven race hatred took an illegally obtained gun (ex-con, remember?) and shot his girlfriend, then posted how he was going to kill cops, for which he got 200 "likes" on FB from his "friends" and went and killed two NYC cops. Shortly after that, he killed himself, apparently while being chased by other NYC cops, although the story gets fuzzy at that point.

aircooled wrote:

SVreX wrote: ...The media has the power to initiate positive change. They would rather let us die choking while they shove their agenda down our throats....

Kind of a silly statement really: "initiating positive change" and "shoving their agenda down our throats" are essentially the same thing. (I don't disagree with your general sentiment btw, I just find that portion interesting.)

Point taken, but I think you missed mine.

The agenda is a divisive one. They have chose that.

They can choose to use their influence for good or for evil. They are not choosing good.

The public places a heavy trust in the media, and protects them with a great deal of Constitutional strength

From those to whom much is given, much is expected.

They are violating the trust we have put in them.

Dr. Hess wrote: I would prefer they describe what happened without trying to lead us or BS us. A prison-radicalized black moslem, ex-con, pumped up on media and U.S. Federal Government driven race hatred took an illegally obtained gun (ex-con, remember?) and shot his girlfriend, then posted how he was going to kill cops, for which he got 200 "likes" on FB from his "friends" and went and killed two NYC cops. Shortly after that, he killed himself, apparently while being chased by other NYC cops, although the story gets fuzzy at that point.

I agree. I would love to hear all the facts. Two issues:

1 - They really don't know (and likely never will) know ALL the facts (much like you say "fuzzy at that point"). So if you present what you have, you are slanting or misrepresenting the "truth" (which honestly you may never know, but you can get close of course). If you guess, or extrapolate, you are clearly doing that.

2 - Your statement seems to be a clear example of how presentation makes a big difference. "Prison-radicalized" (might be hard to quantify), "U.S. Federal Government driven" (seems very hard to quantify). If either of those cannot be "proven" you have fallen into the same trap.

The media can certainly do a better job at JUST PRESENTING THE INFORMATION, but it can be very hard to do that without creating some slant (even the order you present it). Of course, many don't even try. The closest you seem to get is local broadcasts, but they are also generally very short on time, and cutting stories short can make mis-representation very easy.

Prison Radicalized: He joined a black moslem hate-whitey group in prison. Fact.

Media driven and U.S. Fed Driven race-hate: Every news story, as pointed out above, was "White cop kills unarmed Black Man...." We won't get into the "If I had a son" stuff, and Holder showing up at all these things. The media isn't even trying to present what happened, just an agenda of stiring up racial tensions. Why? That I don't know. The current mayor of Chicago, "liberal," Democrat, former Obama administration very-high-up said "never let a crisis go to waste." Maybe they just want to create a crisis so they can not let it go to waste and push their agenda through?

In reply to aircooled:

Did you read my posts?

This is NOT a question of accidentally slanting, short on time, or even an issue of not trying.

They ARE trying. They are trying VERY HARD to INTENTIONALLY slant the information.

When the "victim" is black, they say so. When the assassin is black, they say nothing.

When the victim is white and the cop is black, they also say as little as possible.

These are not fuzzy facts. The guy is black, or he is not. There is really no reason to emphasize it in the first place, but it is disgusting to only emphasize it when you are trying to make your own political point.

Plus, NPR receives tax dollars. They should be held to a pretty high standard.

They don't call it National Propaganda Radio for nothing.

aircooled wrote: Also interesting. You would prefer they mention something that is clearly not relevant? (much like him being black or white)

Aircooled:

I agreed with your statement, at first. It seems completely inappropriate to randomly mention the guy's religious affiliation.

But that presupposes that religious affiliations are neutral, and do not have any relevance to the crime. You may have learned that from the media (me too).

I believe Hess's point is that he believes there is a great deal of relevance, and that the media is downplaying the significance, which promotes the causes of our enemies.

Please note, I am NOT lumping together all Muslims. And yes, I know some decent people who are Muslim. But just as most of us make a distinction between the kind folks from Westboro Baptist and the majority of Christians, we need to avoid giving violent extremist groups a pass because they adopt a name that associates them with a religion.

But, according to his own FaceBook page, Brinsley worked for a Muslim Brotherhood front group, the Islamic Society of North America. He also made posts about "striking terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah".

If this is true, is is most certainly relevant.

I agree, at this point, it should not be printed.

But if it becomes apparent that he worked for a radical group that promoted violence, it is very important, and should be reported as loudly as possible.

It won't be.

Dr. Hess wrote: Prison Radicalized: He joined a black moslem hate-whitey group in prison. Fact.

But that is not what you said. You said he was a "A prison-radicalized black moslem". One is a fact, one is a opinion. I know it sounds pedantic, but there is a difference (you don't know the details or the effect of his joining).

BTW - you keep spelling Moslim wrong.

Dr. Hess wrote: Media driven and U.S. Fed Driven race-hate: Every news story, as pointed out above, was "White cop kills unarmed Black Man...." We won't get into the "If I had a son" stuff, and Holder showing up at all these things. The media isn't even trying to present what happened, just an agenda of stiring up racial tensions. Why? That I don't know. The current mayor of Chicago, "liberal," Democrat, former Obama administration very-high-up said "never let a crisis go to waste." Maybe they just want to create a crisis so they can not let it go to waste and push their agenda through?

And you are quantifying that effect on him HOW? Still sounds like an opinion to me.

I am not entirely disagreeing with your points, just the way you are presenting them.

SVreX wrote: I listen a lot to NPR. In the past several months, I have heard the phrase "unarmed black man killed by a white cop" hundreds and hundreds of times. I became so aware of it that I started paying VERY close attention.

I listen to NPR a lot, too, so I FTFY.

BTW, Ismaaiyl Brinsley's name is apparently Ismaaiyl Abdullah-Muhammad.

At least that is what he called himself on his FaceBook page.

More media bias.

SVreX wrote: In reply to aircooled: Did you read my posts? This is NOT a question of accidentally slanting, short on time, or even an issue of not trying....

No, I am not disagreeing with you. I was referring to a theoretical "perfect news presentation" and how hard that would be even to get close to.

Sorry if I was not clear on that. E.g. If you were to create a "perfect news presentation" on any story, how would you do that. (not expecting that to be entirely possible btw)

I don't expect perfection.

I expect an effort.

And I also expect of myself that I will call someone out who intentionally distorts the truth.

SVreX wrote: ...I believe Hess's point is that he believes there is a great deal of relevance, and that the media is downplaying the significance, which promotes the causes of our enemies...

(Sorry for the multiple posts)

Yes, I understand what he was saying.

Don't you find it a bit ironic though that he is injecting something that is clearly his opinion in a discussion about how facts are not reported (or slanted) as if it is an important fact? That may indeed be a very relevant fact, but it clearly is not currently.

aircooled wrote: BTW - you keep spelling Moslim wrong.

You might want to Google that before you fall on that sword.

http://www.gingersoftware.com/english-online/spelling-book/confusing-words/muslim-moslem

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110430053823AAxzbDV

DOH! Auto correct, damn you!

(I could criticize him for not capitalizing, but I suspect that is on purpose..)

SVreX wrote: ...I expect an effort....

That would be nice eh?

Doesn't sell toothpaste though.

There is very little difference between news and entertainment as I am sure you are aware. NPR and the BBC have some potential to avoid that, but clearly there is an effect there also.

aircooled wrote:

SVreX wrote: ...I believe Hess's point is that he believes there is a great deal of relevance, and that the media is downplaying the significance, which promotes the causes of our enemies...

(Sorry for the multiple posts) Yes, I understand what he was saying. Don't you find it a bit ironic though that he is injecting something that is clearly his opinion in a discussion about how facts are not reported (or slanted) as if it is an important fact? That may indeed be a very relevant fact, but it clearly is not currently.

Yes.

But it is only his opinion if Muslim is neutral.

If Muslim is not neutral and it in fact incites violence, and many of us have been brainwashed to believe otherwise, then it is very relevant.

I am confident that I no longer am sure of what I was once certain.

aircooled wrote: BTW - you keep spelling Moslim wrong.

It's spelled مسلم Muslim follows MSA/classical pronunciation, Moslem is more dialect-y or lazy Englishizing Note: please don't Z-ify the "s", it should stay an "s" sound. It's like leaving the "e" off of the end of Porsche...

BTW one of those links with the explanation is fairly accurate, except for the root of the word. "Salaam" for peace isn't the root, the root is the verb sa-la-ma/yis-li-mu (this looks dumb without script, but most of you probably can't read it anyway so I'll leave it out and write out how the word sounds), which means "to submit." The word Salaam (peace) comes from the root for "submit" (I forget grammatically which form of the root it is, but the implication is that peace comes from submission, i.e. to God's will instead of your own). Islaam is the verbal noun of Measure IV of the root, which shifts the meaning to be causative or emphatic/continuous. E.g., "continuously submitting" (again, the implication is submission to God's will). The word "mus-lim" is the active participle, meaning "the one who continuously submits".

Get the laughs out of your system... Expecting E36 M3 to get out of hand again.

Teenager is fatally shot at gas station in Berkeley

Keep your head down Sperlo.

Dr. Hess wrote:

This is the truth. Many years ago I was working a clinical rotation for nursing school at our local psychiatric hospital. Two planes flew into a pair of skyscrapers one day and within a week the population of the hospital more than doubled.

People who were just barely keeping things together couldn't stop watching the news and it really messed with their heads.

Not to pat myself on the back too hard here btw but for some reason I was the one who noticed this and turned off the day room TV. Again, simple solution but the minute the talking heads stopped blathering at us you could feel the patients' mood and demeanor improve.

(The management offered me a job)