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Qualifications and the Tee Vee News
In the aftermath of last Wednesday's non-event of two pilots getting lost in the restricted airspace of Washington, DC, Judy Woodruff (of CNN's Inside Politics) had political wonkies Donna Brazile and Bay Buchanan on the Thursday edition of her show to discuss the national security protocol and whether the right measures were taken during the timeperiod when the nation's terrorism threat level was raised to its highest level of a red alert.
While I hesitate to point out the obvious, in what way are Donna Brazile and Bay Buchanan even remotely qualified to discuss national security protocol? Sure, they are entitled to an opinion like everyone else, but when CNN puts them on an internationally televised program to discuss the event itself, as opposed to what political effect the event might have, they are dishonestly conferring upon them a level of authority, education, experience and expertise they do not have.
We see this more and more in the media. This is a fallacy called "Appeal to Authority" for those of you that didn't have to sit through argumentation class in college. It means that just because someone is an expert in one area, doesn't mean that he is an expert in anything but that one area. In this instance, Donna and Bay are both qualified to discuss electoral politics (and how to fail at them, some would argue). But they have no qualifications whatsoever in national security and terrorism strategy. So why are they appearing on an internationally televised news program discussing these matters as authority figures?
Everytime I see this fallacious behavior from the media, I will be calling them on it. And when you see it, please send me tips at my DCP e-mail address. I will be compiling and publishing a weekly list here on the blog. Enough is enough. And if anyone would like to offer a title for this new blog feature, please e-mail it to me as well.
I can be reached at my DCP e-mail tether addy of casey@democracycellproject.net. Please let me know if you want me to use your name or initials (or nothing at all) in referring to an incident you are sending in.
I look forward to reading your eagle-eyed reporting of these events. Thanks.
Casey
On Super Tuesday, I was enthusiastically celebrating results in a large tavern with large media screen, which was blaring in the corner as usual, with people cheering for Kerry & so on.
All of a sudden, I saw people crowded around - sudden terror alert. One of the female talking heads was going on about "people in intelligence say" and if you listened closely, she was just talking about conversations she overheard and never identified any of the "people." There was absolutely nothing of substance.
It kind of ruined the whole moment and also foreshadowed a future event - a "Bin Laden Tape" right before we were to vote for President. Cheney said in Sept. 2004 in Iowa (where Gore won narrowly in 2000) that terror attacks would be more likely under Kerry/Edwards. This was reported with hardly any qualification, over and over, by the echo chamber of the MSM.
Nothing about them is surprising - it's just
propaganda.
But last year Scott Lee Jr., Wal-Mart's chief executive, was paid $17.5 million. That is, every two weeks Mr. Lee was paid about as much as his average employee will earn in a lifetime.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/opinion/13krugman.html?8hpib
Sent email (to friend who watches cable):
Big terrorist captured in Pakistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5005708,00.html
1. I thought Al Libbi wasn't really an Al Quaida operative, but a case of mistaken identity. They are still calling him like he's a playing card.
2. They killed the guy they thought was leading them to Bin Laden. Smart.
Reply email:
THis is ALL over the TV news. SUCCESS! They need something like this to stop the news about riots in Afganistan and police in Baghdad cursing US soldiers. It's for home consumption (and hope they don't piss off Pakistanis)
Guess what's been on the "news" the last two days?
"Terrrr terrrr terrrr".
Jeez, do ya think it will help the polls?
Another set of pictures to cheer you up:
Scroll to the bottom of the blog entry at LUTD and check out the billboards.
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=894
Truth Shall Prevail
If polls show that people respond to the fear of terror, then terror it will be - for domestic consumption.
If polls show that W isn't popular and people respond better to his wife, then she will pose as a comedienne.
You know about my mom in ND - a friend wrote her from Illinois (elderly), going on about how funny & charming Laura B was. My mom wrote back about how she didn't think any more of her than of her husband.
Now that my mom's eyes are opened, she sees the apathy and the simple or even primitive analysis of so many people. She is a regular elderly midwestern person living on a fixed income, has medical problems, doesn't own a home, is a widow. Yet she can see that young boys are dying for nothing, that it's deja vu from Vietnam & that we don't learn, that it's for the corporations not for the people (here or overseas). She also watched a tv show on delayed stress syndrome and feels strongly (as do I) that my father had that all along.
Gore et al are set to launch their network 1 August but it will be aimed at a young demographic, with a stated intent NOT to be explicitly liberal or a video "version of Air America".
Interesting but not the focus that's needed, or at least not the only one.
http://news.com.com/Gores+TV+network+set+to+launch+with+Google+tie-in/2100-1047_3-5653913.html