On Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:33:23 -0700, wrote:

On Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:53:00 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:35:47 -0700, "SteveB"
wrote:


"John" wrote in message
m...
On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:26:50 -0600, "David R.Birch"
wrote:

Hawke wrote:
Thanks to the Daily show another fast one attempted by Fox News has
been
busted. Michelle Bachman, a representative from Minnesota, tried to
get
people to come to Washington to pressure congressmen not to vote for
health care reform. On Fox News they showed shots of the crowd, and in
the attempt to make it look much bigger than it really was, they
spliced
in pictures from another crowd on another day that was much larger. It
was clear deception intended to make Bachman's turn out look much
larger
than it really was. Unfortunately for them John Stewart noticed the
actual crowd scene was not the one that happened several months ago.
Trees and the weather were different. So once again more proof that
Fox
News has a conservative agenda it's aggressively pushing has come to
light. Fox News...Busted! Quit calling it news.


Hawke

So you're saying Fox is no more trustworthy than the other networks?

Is this news to you?

Do you look at ABC, NBC And CBS as critically as you do Fox?

David


Actually, there was a study, published in the 31 September 2008 issue
of Scientific American, which showed that between 25 - 50% of the
American public were misinformed regarding current events and that
those who got their information from Fox News were far and away the
most poorly informed.

Cheers,

John B.
(johnbslocomatgmaildotcom)

That is a damn outright lie. How can 50% of the populace be misinformed
when less than ten percent follow current events enough to pass an eighth
grade civics test? Or many times answer questions like: Who is Joe Biden?
What are the two sections of Congress? Who is Speaker of the House?

Fifty percent of people read enough to be misinformed? Please! And don't
use the excuse that it's MEDICAL marijuana, so it's okay. Your brain is
missing. More than half the population doesn't give a **** one way or the
other, and of the other fifty percent, only about ten percent of those
really keep up to speed on current events.

Steve

Indeed. Very accurate indeed.
Seems John has again **** in his messkit.

Gunner

The logic here is a bit strange. I **** in the mess kit because I
referenced a piece published in September 2008, which, as far as I can
find, was never refuted? Or was it a sin to even mention the
shortcomings of the U.S. news?

Or perhaps because that the report stated a majority of the people
interviewed believed that weapons of mass destruction were discovered
in Iraq?

People tend to have friends and neighbors who are a somewhat like they are,
so it shouldn't be a surprise that you and SteveB think the country is full
of ignorant buttheads.

But the report John is referring to probably was based on one from the Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press -- a somewhat conservative
organization -- that does these surveys periodically. For example, here are
the results from their study titled "What Americans Know," which was done in
2007 or 2008:

http://people-press.org/report/319/p...on-revolutions

As John says, the people who "regularly" watch FOX News Channel are the
bottom of the barrel -- again, about what one would expect. Among news
channels, those who watch PBS's Jim Lehrer are at the top; similarly, those
who read the mainstream media newspaper websites are on top of the online
news heap. Those who read blogs are near the bottom.

Interestingly, those who watch the pseudo-news/opinion channels also score
'way up there. People who watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report score
highest of all. g But those who watch O'Reilly and who listen to Limbaugh
also score near the top.

That last one is surprising. Everybody I know who quotes those two
windbags is beyond help.

It's an interesting report. As you can see, the question that SteveB asks
about Pelosi was answered correctly by 49% of those surveyed. 69% (in 2007)
knew who the VP was. If only 10% of those he knows "follow current events,"
Steve might want to choose smarter friends, or move to a better
neighborhood. In your case, moving to a desert island probably would be a
better neighborhood.

Americans in general are a lot smarter than the ones you appear to know.

I can see how some people get a warped view, since a whole bunch of my
neighbors are like SteveB. One of them was berating me before the last
election about how Obama had been sworn in on the Koran. I told him
that the story had been thoroughly debunked, and his comeback was
"were you there?". Jeeze Louise. He was probably at this town hall
yesterday.
http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/mai...icleID=3462 7
Poor McCain. Can't even get a smooth ride in the heart of Tea Party
Crackpotville. :-)

Wayne

The interesting thing is how quickly people seem to accept "facts"
regarding things about which they are totally ignorant. The story
about Obama attending a "Moslem school" in Indonesia. There has been
many reports published which even correctly state the name of the
school - which translates to English as National School #1. Even the
name of the school illustrates that it wasn't a "madrassa" as Moslem
schools are known in Indonesia.

Of course, it was in a Moslem country too.... Except that the
constitution of Indonesia doesn't specify any religion as official but
simply says that we all believe in god and are free to worship as we
choose.

But what do I know? I only lived there for 20 years...
Regards,

J.B.