Thursday, May 28, 2009

Q Tips

NPR related comments welcomed.
Posted by Mytwords at 6:26 AM
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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know how you listen to national propaganda radio everyday without tearing your hair out.

Just this morning I learned from NPR that Ramallah (sp?) in the West Bank is booming because of an influx of affluent Palestinians and that the reason health insurance in the U.S. is so expensive, for those who can afford it, is that so many CAN'T afford it. huh????

And to think long ago I gave money to these clowns; me,the Dept. of Homeland Security, Appalachian Electric Power and Exxon-Mobile.

Really enjoy your site.
Thank you

5/28/09, 10:05 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Indeed, my pate is thin enough without listening to NPR. So now I don't.

As I see it, much of the criticism about NPR in this blog is based on pure disappointment in NPR. That is, that it could be so much more than it is, but it has degraded into a platform for dubious information diffusion, instead of being a relatively reliable news service.

We can endlessly slice and dice, but the bottom line here is that NPR has morphed, and those who are doing the morphing have specific reasons for doing so. That alone is worth study and critique.

5/28/09, 11:12 AM
Anonymous said...

"much of the criticism about NPR in this blog is based on pure disappointment in NPR. "

Actually, my main criticism is that NPR is using public funds for propaganda -- to push the particular agenda of NPR management.

That's not only unethical, but it is actually illegal.

And I don't so much find NPR disappointing as I find it revolting.

The organization is actually a lot like Fox News -- essentially a group of very smug, elitist people who see themselves as superior/smarter than the rest of us and feel they are performing some sort of "public service" by educating us (the ignorant masses).

5/28/09, 12:54 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

That, too.

5/28/09, 1:26 PM
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...

NPRCheck got a nice nod today from FAIR blog.

5/28/09, 3:01 PM
miranda said...

My main criticism is that NPR strategically masquerades as an "unbiased" or even "liberal" news source. Its college-educated listeners flatter themselves that listening to NPR makes them part of a special, well-informed elite as they absorb the soothing pro-war, glory-to-the-empire messages. That's what galls me about NPR.

5/29/09, 6:26 AM
Anonymous said...

miranda

I think you have hit the nail on the head.

When I listen to NPR, all I hear is the dripping condescension, but then again, i have an ear tuned specifically to the "propaganda frequency"

The NPR supporter hears something very different: confirmation of their own identity.

That is precisely why so many people support NPR. It's a group dynamic. And NPR encourages the whole charade, of course. After all, that's the profitable thing to do.

5/29/09, 9:04 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Good points, all.

NPR is an entity that is initially mysterious to critique head-on. In fact, to some (to use NPR parlance) it is downright blasphemy.

Stuff that appears blatant to many of us comes across as subtle or obfuscated to others. As in, 'I didn't think that's what they were saying at all!' You can quickly get into arguments involving interpretation.

After all, this blog didn't really get going until the depths of the Bush Dark Age, and when more and more evidence of NPR's other agendas was pointed out by perceptive listeners.

The NPR entity is pretty vast when you think about it. They've got many places to hide, to use special effects, promote innuendos, and play games while sounding 'credible', 'important', 'sophisticated' and other PR techniques. Also, you can't see their faces. At least on Fox TV, you see their expressions and all the visual communication in its obviousness. NPR capitalizes on their subliminal powers, and that's why the term 'propaganda' is used so confidently around here.

5/29/09, 11:01 AM
Anonymous said...

I had a feeling there was more to this story. Here is a perfect example of National Propaganda Radio, this a.m.:

Obama to appoint Cyber Czar-

To oversee an enhanced security system for the nation's computer networks, Obama is creating a "cyber czar" as part of a long-awaited plan stemming from a review he ordered shortly after taking office.

The New York Times version, a bit more honest look at what's really going on:

Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Wars in Cyberspace

The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

The military command would complement a civilian effort to be announced by President Obama on Friday that would overhaul the way the United States safeguards its computer networks.

(text from Left I on the news)

And my friends and family still think this is a democracy- ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

5/29/09, 11:29 AM
Bartman said...

Thursday morning Steve Inskeep interviewed a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter from Las Vegas. In his praise of her doggedness, he asked her a question along the lines of, "Why didn't you stay at home writing a blog in your pajamas?"

5/29/09, 1:05 PM
miranda marx said...

"Last night I shot a blogger in my pajamas. How she got in my pajamas, I'll never know." (h/t and hooray for Captain Spaulding).

5/29/09, 2:14 PM
Anonymous said...

Hey, NPR's Anne Garrels wrote naked and never left her Baghdad hotel room and Stevie Instakrap never gave her a hard time about it.

5/30/09, 7:40 PM
Anonymous said...

"Everyone Should See "Torturing Democracy"Saturday 30 May 2009

by: Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

"In all the recent debate over torture, many of our Beltway pundits and politicians have twisted themselves into verbal contortions to avoid using the word at all."
///end Moyers quote


That was written for the people at NPR, of course, who, like Dick Cheney, are still referring to waterbaording and other methods of torture euphemistically as "enhanced interrogation"

Dick Cheney, NPR, FOx and other media outlets stand alone in this regard.

Civilized people call it what it is: torture.

Anyone who refers to waterboarding as "enhanced interrogation" is most certainly NOT civilized. In fact, they have no business taking part in our democracy.

5/30/09, 7:57 PM
Bartman said...

Good going, Miranda. Who ever looks to pajamas as a news source, anyway?

5/31/09, 11:25 AM

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