Media bias

I've wanted to talk about this for ages now. I don't know if I have said it and am repeating myself, but seriously, please, don't believe the crap they feed you. I mean, I think I have understood why AMUNC was not that pleasurable an experience for me beyond the fact that I didn't stay up all night drinking with everyone else. It's because actually despite all that "debate" crap, most of them just parroted the western media line.

I mean, when I hear someone gushing about Al Jazzera, I just feel pity. They actually believed all the lies they have been told. I mean, Chinese people do to, but we have been obviously lied to so much, we leave room for doubt. A lot of people in the West actually believe that the media does their best to report the news. The free speech BS, and democracy BS. Newspapers are a business. Now I understand William Randolph Hearst: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." Power, power, power like no other. Money is not power. Politics is not power. Broadcasting rights are power. Think about it. If on a BBC commentary was outraged at a foul or a PK in favour of the opposing and England loses....riot. On the other hand, if BBC commentator didn't mention, or said something to mollify the crowd, perhaps smaller riot.

Hmm...is that why the church was so powerful in renaissance europe? It is the ability to fool people into believing in you to make their lives better. But not so much, that, when they almost inevitably get disappointed, they will not be so disappointed that they want to revolt against you.

Is that why Obama is falling now? Like I have always maintained, he is way too n00b. I mean, there are avenues of getting things done. The Clinton camp, before their connections were torn by Obama's popularity, had them. Now...somewhere in between. I don't think America need new, better ideas. Bush's were not all that bad. Education reform, endless supply of oil secured, trade tarrifs to protect the mid-western industry so that they may have some time to change to other industries where the US has a comparative advantage even bio-fuel, while not good, is still a solution to what is probably the biggest question of the 21st century. Energy.Yea, what America needs, is someone to implement and fix up the irregularities in the system. NOT someone to think up brand spanking new ideas and try to layer them on top of the old ones...ergh......

Oh well, it's a democracy, so, if he gets elected and screws up, it means that the people has spoken, and they obviously want a president that can screw everything up further for the next four year, so it's alright. Right?

On the subject of bio fuels, I mean, we used to spend more than half our income in food. Now I think, in NZ at least the average is less than one fifth. So what if we spend more if the price to pay is to be able to run our cars? I mean, economic growth is a miracle. As Robert E. Lucas so vividly illustrated for us. Resources are limited. It just gets recycled, I mean there must be a physics law, energy conservation? That means that economic growth must stop at some point. Oh yea, the steady state rate of income in economics. Haven't reached that yet, but, it's getting closer and closer right? Because it has to be finite.

Btw, if you are heading towards something that is infinitely far away, can you say that you are getting closer to it?

In closing, take the media as a bit of a guideline to the situation. Don't naively think they are telling the truth. Like I used to. I actually used to read every sentence like it was a literary masterpiece or something. Now I scan the first two sentences of each paragraph and if it doesn't interest me i skip.