411 Politics Fact or Fiction: Week 48
Posted by Ryan Latimer on 06.18.2007
One establishment that has yet to be "tarted up."
Good first day of the week, 411 reader people, and welcome to another edition of Politics Fact or Fiction. I'm your host Ryan Latimer, and I'm the guy who forgot to inform District Attorney Mike Nifog about that important DNA evidence. As they say on the street: "my bad."
Speaking of dimwit D.A.s, plenty of stuff to discuss in the crazy world of current events and politics, which of course is where our fine staff members here at 411 come in. This week we have columnist Rob Rabies and go-to politics guest George Sirois taking on such issues as George Tiller the Baby Killer, Dan Rather's verbal tussle with CBS, that nutty Boulder, CO again and…Paris Hilton. Yeah, she counts, like it or not, but that question is more on the media frenzy surrounding the matter and not Ms. Par-tay herself, so stick around, woodya? If I don't get enough hits Ashish and Jason Easley cut off my water supply.
Have at it…
1) Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller (who has been labeled "Tiller the Baby Killer" by some) is under media scrutiny for supposedly performing late-term abortions for unethical and unlawful reasons. Tiller deserves investigation and possibly legal repercussion for his alleged actions unbecoming on a medical practitioner.
Rob Rabies: FICTION - He's under media scrutiny because it's a talking point of the National Right to "Life"'s annual convention. When Ryan says "media scrutiny" I assume that he actually means Bill O'Reilly (you know, the registered Independent), and various anti-abortion activist groups. The thrust of this "investigation" isn't about Tiller—it's about trying to reframe physicians who perform abortions as irresponsible murderers so that Roe v. Wade can get overturned by Alito and crew. It just so happened that the investigation was started by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, a conservative Republican. I'm sure that there is no political impetus behind this at all. After all, Kansas would never allow itself to be derailed by religious fundamentalism, like banning the teaching of evolution in schools.
George Sirois: FACT - I'm Pro-Choice myself, but I don't believe in using abortion – especially late-term abortion – as a form of birth control. Besides, if these actions were performed in a state that bans it, then yes, he should be brought up on charges because he BROKE THE LAW!
Alright, you caught me. It was an O‘Reilly thing, but I usually try not to disclose such information only because I believe it influences answers sometimes, not because I‘m an O‘Reilly Fanatic (I‘ve said many times I USED to be a fan of his many years ago). Damn you Rob for being so smart! 0 for 1
2) Former CBS anchor Dan Rather and CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves have engaged in a controversial war of words following comments made by Rather in regards to Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News. Rather has accused the network of "dumbing down and tarting up the news" while Moonves calls Rather's comments "sexist" -- and blames "sexism" for the ratings failures. Both men are out of line here.
Rob Rabies: FICTION - Fictionish. Ok, Rather was out of line for the "tarting up" comment. It was reductive and unbecoming. But aside from that, he's completely right.
Moonves has allowed the Evening News to be structured far more like an episode of Today than a standard evening news broadcast. Is that a bad thing? Well, I guess a lot of it depends on whether or not you actually like to receive information about pertinent events in the world as opposed to a fluff story intended to make people feel better about their own worthless and meandering existences J. One of his bigger defenses, that Couric has only been around 9 months, is a tacit acceptance of the fact that she's been a failure at her job thus far.
Is "sexism" an appropriate response for the lack of ratings? Highly unlikely. I don't think that most of the viewers decided to watch the first week of Couric's programming (which averaged well over 10 million), and then suddenly became sexist—dropping it down to the sub-6 million level. It's a poor program, indicative of increasing corporatism in news that values entertainment over information. After all, a stupid public is a lot less self-conscious with their money.
George Sirois: FACT - Rather's credibility has a long way to go to get restored from the 2004 Bush Military Record fiasco, so he should just focus on that before anything else. However, he does have a point and Moonves should own up to his news division's mistake of "tarting up" the evening news. Despite the way things are going, this is not the Howard Beale Show, and the evening news has no business going for a "style over substance" approach. Want to get better ratings? First, focus on delivering accurate news and the rest shouldn't be a problem.
Interesting takes, gents. I don‘t watch Couric, but then again I don't watch any 6 o‘clock news at all, so I can‘t comment on whether or not Rather was correct in his, shall we say, blunt assessment of the matter. But yeah, he was kind of being a dick about it. 0 for 2
3) The Boulder, CO school board is scheduled to meet in regards to an informational assembly at a city high school last month, which sparked controversy when the speakers made what some considered to be inappropriate comments, including an alleged "encouragement" for the young students to "have sex and use drugs appropriately," among other questionable content. The board should not admit error as the assembly was informative and appropriate.
Rob Rabies: FICTION - Ahh…from the archives of World-Net Daily, bastion of non-partisan journalism.
Here's a quote from the seminar:
"Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway," he continued. "I think as a psychologist and health educator, it is more important to educate you in a direction that you might actually stick to. So, I am going to stay mostly on with the sex side because that is the area I know more about. I want to encourage you to all have healthy, sexual behavior."
Wait, you mean to tell me that he isn't demonizing sex and drug use? The downfall of America is complete. After all, look at the decay of Western Europe as its fallen under a haze of lax morals and wanton sexuality. You can't go anywhere in Berlin without seeing at least 10 crackhouses on every block.
I'm sorry that it's uncomfortable for conservatives to acknowledge, but human sexuality is perfectly normal. It's not icky or wrong, and the more that people know about sexuality, the more apt they are to make reasonable and mature decisions, unlike many children raised in Evangelical homes, who still have sex, and then because they don't know how to protect themselves, wind up pregnant. And then, we have to go to Dr. Tiller, don't we?
As far as the drugs comment, I'm going to quote Knocked Up—as long as it isn't pills or powder you aren't going to get yourself in any kind of trouble. Now, I gotta go down to Weedbucks for my morning octuple hash latte.
George Sirois: FACT - The speakers in this assembly were simply applying themselves to the basic rule of talking to children: the more you tell them not to do something, the more the chances increase that they're going to do it. Basically, all they were saying was that they expect the kids to go behind the backs of their authority figures and engage in experimental sex and drug use, but if they adhere to basic guidelines and keep an open communication with their parents, then they'll be doing it safely. The only thing I would have done differently was to have the speakers tell the children to bring their parents to it as well, so that there will be a greater chance for open communication.
I don't know, George. I'm willing to believe that those speakers were well intended and I even think that some of their comments were taken out of context, but I also found a lot of what they said to be completely irresponsible and reckless. By the way, Rob, is that sarcasm? 0 for 3
4) Paris Hilton has made international news for her prison sentencing and an emotional aftermath. Regardless of whether or not Paris deserves jail time for her crime, this is a relevant news story and the media was justified for covering it the way they did.
Rob Rabies: FICTION - I just peed a little in my pants. Ultimately, this depends on what you view the job of the media is: should it be to inform its viewers about goings on in the world (see question 2), or is it there to entertain us like a dancing bear.
If the "story" focused on favoritism vis-à-vis celebrities and the legal system, then there would be a valid reason for actually covering it. Sadly, the only websites I see actually taking that approach are celeb gossip sites like What Would Tyler Durden Do.
Paris Hilton is a stupid, racist whore with virulent Herpes and a substance abuse problem. Is she rich? Well yeah, but she's actually not that rich. It's not like she's the Onassis heir. I'm trying to imagine my grandparents watching the evening news when the lead story is about the imprisonment of a 26 year old girl over a DUI whose only talent is sucking dick and drawing attention to herself. It's a sad , pathetic indictment of the modern institution of journalism—but that's what happens when the news is controlled by cabals with a profit motive—it's about making you stupid enough to buy into anything, not to inform you. Don't conflate the two.
In the words of Morgan Freeman, "People want to eat cheeseburgers and play the lotto." Especially Carl's Jr. cheeseburgers—they're hot.
George Sirois: PUSH - Fact and Fiction. This one gets a push from me. Yes, this is a relevant news story, but not for the reasons everyone thinks. Sure, it's a great bit of schadenfreude to see a poor lil' rich girl crying in the back of a police car, but it's mainly a cautionary tale of how easily the wrong people can get away with the wrong things if they pay off the right people.
Sheriff Lee Baca's no stranger to catering to celebrities, and this incident forced all of his dirty laundry out in the open so everyone can get a good whiff. Thanks to Paris ' predicament, we now know that her grandfather made a $1,000 donation to Baca's re-election campaign last year, which people believe helped sway his decision to confine Paris to house arrest. This opened the door to more skeletons in Baca's closet. Now, we also know that he was the one that tried to keep quiet all of Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic ranting when he was arrested, because Mel had done a video for Baca's children's charity program. So even though it's nothing we haven't seen before, this mess shows just how easily people in positions of power can be bought off.
At the same time, when I think of the paparazzi trying to climb on the hood of the cop car to get the right shot of Paris crying, I cringe. With all the important things going on in this country, this is what everyone is focusing on? Believe me, the whole issue about how people can be bought off is NOT why people are climbing over themselves to get a 37th picture of Paris , so no, the media is NOT justified for covering it like this.
I usually don't allow pushes, but George did explain himself well and made sense regardless of whether or not you agree, so I'll let it slide today. Don't let it happen again, pal... 0 for 4
First clean sweep in quite a while. Note to self: pair up Sirois and Rabies more often. Even if they don't give me total disagrement, Rob is such a smart-ass. Reminds me of someone.
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