I’m really upset with the mainstream news media today, and have been since this afternoon, when something hit me like a ton of bricks.
Consider these three things:
(1) In the time period that gas prices went up from $3 to $4 a gallon, they increased statistically by 33%. But media hysteria about gas prices increased way more than 33%. And it’s hurting tourist traps all over the country. C’mon people. If you could afford to go somewhere when gas was $3, it’s highly unlikely that $4 makes the trip prohibitive. But the media drumbeat has people paranoid about it. “Gosh, Mabel. We can’t go nowhere now because the gas is so high.”
(2) Several months ago, you got the impression that every individual taxpayer would get a $600 rebate, and every household would get $1,200. Many people and households didn’t get anywhere near that. Some taxpayers had Federal tax liabilities so low that they didn’t get anything. And I’m sure that the people, after having already spent $600 in their heads and only seeing a $300 check or even nothing, are blaming the Republicans since the President is supposedly one, in spite of the Democrat-run House and Senate voting for the rebate scheme. Pray tell, media, you could have taken a few moments to explain that not everybody was going to get $600 or $1,200. I think the media knew it but covered it up because they thought that people would get angry at Republicans once the checks weren’t as big as the media put on.
(3) The spiking costs of food? The media are getting it right when they say the supply is contracting because of floods and ethanol. But they won’t bother to tell you that while supply is decreasing, the demand is increasing because of mass immigration, and rapid procreation among third-worlders. Forbid that white people should get upset and do something about it.
(4) I wish I had a dime for every time I have heard someone say that their gun is registered or that they’re registered with a political party. The reason they think that is that because prime-time TV peddles those notions. There is no political jurisdiction in the United States of America that requires that you register your particular guns with your particular person. Even the cities that have banned guns don’t require registration for those who can legally have them through exceptions in their laws. And the NRA vigorously opposes registration or similar schemes, and with all the libs in this country, such proposals appear often. Background checks and (in states that have them) FOID cards aren’t gun registration, they are nothing more than criminal background examinations. FOID cards might well be unconstitutional prior restraint, but they’re not registration. As far as political parties, there are a lot of states (e.g. Missouri) that don’t have political party registration for registered voters, you just vote in the party primary that you want to vote in on the day of any given primary election, and it doesn’t have to be the same each time — in fact, the election clerks don’t even mark down which party’s ballot you took.
So, you put this all together, and you might come to the conclusion that the MSM is lazy, and doesn’t want to bother explaining things to people.
BUT…
It hit me this afternoon while watching the noon news. There was a text scroll across the bottom noting the DTV transition on Feburary 17, 2009, and the scroll told you what to do in order to keep on receiving over-the-air TV after that date. In case you don’t know, those who watch TV over-the-air using a regular analog TV will have to get a converter box before February 17, because on that day, analog TV stations are shutting down, leaving only their digital transmissions. The TV channels’ frequencies that go blank will then be used for first responder radio services, like police and fire.
It seems like every couple of hours, every broadcast TV channels are running those scrolls. On top of that, there are public service announcements that announce the same thing about once every several hours, and they give you all the details. On top of that, any given local newscast runs a pseudo-news story about the DTV transition, and they again explain all the details to you about what will happen and what you should do to retrofit your analog TV to be useful after February 17.
By the time next February comes and goes, the media will have gone on and on about the DTV transition for thirteen-and-a-half months.
Plain words, the media are going through great pains to give you all the details and explain to you all the intricacies of the DTV transition, such that the only people who don’t know the score are cave-dwelling retards. Meanwhile, they can’t find a few moments to explain anything about gas prices, tax rebate checks, food prices, guns and political parties. The reason is that the former is about the media itself. Of course they’re going to make sure that you’ll be able to watch them after February 17. Since 33% of American households don’t have cable or satellite, and most of those don’t have an HDTV, they don’t want to lose those eyeballs. But I’ll be damned if they extend this luxury to the real news that they tell us they’re reporting.
