Puncture, Don't Censor: ysabetwordsmith

Puncture, Don't Censor

According to this article, there's a move to ban military propaganda.

You might as well forbid a horse to piss. It's going to happen no matter how you try to stop it.

Just because someone is saying stupid things is not an excuse to censor them. The appropriate way to solve the problem of propaganda is to puncture it, not to censor it. Go ahead and let them put out their propaganda; just make sure people have access to the truth. The more obnoxious the propaganda, the bigger a target it makes. So the thing to do is to flog America's flacid journalists back into action -- or replace them with people who know how they should be responding to this kind of nonsense.

Fake Journalist: "Oh look, military propaganda! Now I don't have to write something myself today."
Real Journalist: "Oh look, a giant balloon full of hot air!" *STAB*STAB*RIP*SHRED* *fwwwwweeeeeeee* *PUBLISH*

Fake Journalist: "Oh look, a company-sponsored report! I'll just use this instead of doing research that might offend people who give us money."
Real Journalist: "Oh look, a steaming pile of bullshit! Let me just grab my muck rake." *rake*rake*dig*spread* "Hey! You! This is MY muck! Get off! Give me back that rake!" *whack*whack*rake*rake*fuss*fight*argue* *pile reduced to thin brown film by mobbing journalists* *PUBLISH*

Fake Journalist: "Oh look, a political debate! I'll just copy what they say."
Real Journalist: "Oh look, a political debate! Hey candidate, why did you vote against clean energy bills? Do you want global warming to KILL US ALL, you traitor? Hey audience, you could float an oil barge through the holes in this guy's argument!" *mock*mock*taunt*reveal*expose*mock* *PUBLISH*

Fake Journalist: "Oh look, a disaster! Hey weeping survivor, tell our viewers how you feel!"
Real Journalist: "Oh look, a disaster! Hey first-response person, did I just hear you say the building wasn't up to code? Why not?" *jot*jot*pester*jot* "Hey person in charge of building, why wasn't your building up to code? What's going on here?" *nag*nag*follow*nag* *research*research*expose*humiliate*annoy*research* *PUBLISH*

Dear fake journalists of America: Nobody told you not to be a plumber. Here's a plunger. It looks like you need one to deal with what you're trying to fob off on your audience.
Dear real journalists of America: Hello? HELLO? Is anyone out there-ere-re-e?

Deleted comment

Too true!

ysabetwordsmith

June 4 2008, 20:40:56 UTC 13 years ago

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"I'm firmly convinced that many people today don't want the truth, they simply want to be told what they want to hear. And some people truly don't have the judgement, sense, or wisdom to handle "real" news from "real" journalists anyway."

Both of these things are true. Many people hate the truth; honesty leads to unpopularity and occasional violence. For this reason -- plus bad training in some schools/churches/jobs/etc. -- many people handle the truth poorly when it is forced upon them. Then they whine when reality swats them like flies.

"Sad to say, the media is selling what people are buying."

All known human organizational models have drawbacks. This is one of the fatal flaws of capitalism: there are some things that wreak devastation if managed solely for profit and not for inherent purposes. The media must first and foremost investigate and inform. When that doesn't happen, the media devolves into bread and circuses. The unmet need for truth then exacerbates problems rapidly. The same is happening in health care, where people are pursuing profit at the expense of health. This kind of behavior is stupid at best and evil at worst. But it is what America collectively has chosen to do, despite the extremely dire consequences.