So did you hear about the American band Bloodhound Gang who desecrated a Russian flag in the Ukraine? You can read about it here. God, I'm sick of stupid, ugly Americans acting up overseas.
I think stupidity in the United States has been on the rise because of the laws that changed how we get our news. Before Ronald Reagan there were laws in my country about radio and television news. If a station expressed an opinion instead of delivering facts they had to offer "equal time" to someone who ask to express an opposing point of view. To prevent having all those people taking up air time, broadcast stations were careful to give news and go easy on the editorial comments.
Before Reagan media outlets were limited as to how many and what kind of businesses they could run, especially in one town. No way could you own a TV station, a radio station or two, AND a newspaper in the same town!
Now when I want news I have to go to al jazeera online. Really, al jazeera news reporting reminds me a lot of what television news used to look like in the U.S.
In the U.S. there is precious little unbiased reporting. There are multiple outlets spewing hateful lies 24 hours a day. And not even precious little NPR (National Public Radio) can be trusted. They turned distinctly rightward after the 2000 election and now you can listen to one of their shows for 10 or more minutes before hearing any news. Infotainment. That's what Americans get and too many of us think its real news. It makes us more stupid and hateful every day.
I will go so far as to say this, too: Better public education in America is doomed unless we revert back to pre-Reagan broadcast news laws (and apply those standards to online outlets of those broadcast news organizations). It's doomed because children are not able to watch and think about reasoned debate. What passes for debate is really BAITING. In fact, it's bullying. The same behavior I have seen during an interview from, say Anderson Cooper even, I would have called bullying in my classroom. Instead of clarification-type questions Anderson and almost ALL the others on TV "news" will try to make the interviewee escalate his/her original statement. It's like kids. "I hate this class." "Oh, yeah. Are you saying you hate our teacher. I like her." "No. I just hate this class." "Oh, maybe you hate me, too, huh? Is that what you're saying?" Etc.
I think stupidity in the United States has been on the rise because of the laws that changed how we get our news. Before Ronald Reagan there were laws in my country about radio and television news. If a station expressed an opinion instead of delivering facts they had to offer "equal time" to someone who ask to express an opposing point of view. To prevent having all those people taking up air time, broadcast stations were careful to give news and go easy on the editorial comments.
Before Reagan media outlets were limited as to how many and what kind of businesses they could run, especially in one town. No way could you own a TV station, a radio station or two, AND a newspaper in the same town!
Now when I want news I have to go to al jazeera online. Really, al jazeera news reporting reminds me a lot of what television news used to look like in the U.S.
In the U.S. there is precious little unbiased reporting. There are multiple outlets spewing hateful lies 24 hours a day. And not even precious little NPR (National Public Radio) can be trusted. They turned distinctly rightward after the 2000 election and now you can listen to one of their shows for 10 or more minutes before hearing any news. Infotainment. That's what Americans get and too many of us think its real news. It makes us more stupid and hateful every day.
I will go so far as to say this, too: Better public education in America is doomed unless we revert back to pre-Reagan broadcast news laws (and apply those standards to online outlets of those broadcast news organizations). It's doomed because children are not able to watch and think about reasoned debate. What passes for debate is really BAITING. In fact, it's bullying. The same behavior I have seen during an interview from, say Anderson Cooper even, I would have called bullying in my classroom. Instead of clarification-type questions Anderson and almost ALL the others on TV "news" will try to make the interviewee escalate his/her original statement. It's like kids. "I hate this class." "Oh, yeah. Are you saying you hate our teacher. I like her." "No. I just hate this class." "Oh, maybe you hate me, too, huh? Is that what you're saying?" Etc.
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