Robs thought for the day ……….Media ???????

Rob Keeble

Member
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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Unlike most of you I amplaying catch up in my life having lived for years under the rule of a gov thatcensored and controlled everything we got to read or hear so ever since I firstcame across a copy of the soviet weekly on the streets of London in 1977 I havehad a thirst for information…….but….

About 6 years or more ago I visiteda local tourist attraction called BlackCreekPioneerVillage. There they hadan old printing press and it was a part of the village newspaper “store”. Iremember the "printer" talking about how news and these presses permeated thelandscape of rural North America and how theywere leased to businesses given their cost along with some idea of how the newstraveled and the speed at which this news traveled back in the day.
Absolutely fascinatinghistory given we often see some telegrapher or photographerwith the old magnesium flash running about town in a western movie.

But today watching thevarious news channels I hop around on in the early morn to catch up on "News I :huh::dunno:" I could not help but feel I was being more “manipulated” “misinformed” and basically treatedlike I was some total idiot. I could not help but feel some guy sitting behind thescenes was playing puppeteer and “engineering” what was being beamed my way. Its totally putting me off and giving rise to my own desire to "black them out".

For some time this has beengetting to me. It seems journalism has so badly strayed from a time when itsrole in the village was to educate, inform and entertain and as such had in myview a vital role to play and did. Now it seems to do nothing more than attemptto pit man against man and stir up controversy all in the name of trying to gettheir beanstalk to stick its head out of the cloud higher than the next one so they can score a point and charge an advertiser more $$.

It does not seem to matterwhether the subject is woodworking, food, health or that dreaded politics.Simply sticking to the role I outlined appears to have become insufficient.

The work one has to do now toget at the facts requires you have the tenacity for getting at the truthbordering on being Sherlock Holmes. I dont have time for that so by default of overwhelming the masses with disinformation the agenda of some or other pupeteer reigns, that gets to me even more.

Never mind the influence ofthe “money” element that I find particularly prevalent in the woodworking or any othermagazines or if you consider it, other woodworking forums and their masterservant policy which would have no one speak a word of negativity about themaster or the masters products.

So I thought I would turn tomy common sense buddies for your take on how you navigate this maze to well besomewhat informed without being dragged out to sea only to sink in misinformation.

In my mind this is where aforum plays a significant role for me since it provides opportunity foreducation and correction of erroneous facts by a more “non aligned” group of independent thinkers ...er hopefully.

Just a sidebar I gave upwoodworking magazines and this issue was one of several motivations for doingso. I have purchased many tools reliant on the integrity of the tool teststhese magazines conduct but after a while and exposure here came to feel theylack credibility due to the masters advertising dollars oversight forcing the hand of truth. They may not praise junk but they also dont point it out unless its so blatant they simply are forced to.

So what’s your take? Have weall got to become aggregators of dozens of media sources to be able toestablish some simple fact about anything or do we simply go with the flow andadopt a “join a club” and go for a ride approach.

Help me through my paranoia I cant help feeling some very negative character from WW2 is alive and well and kicking around the media everywhere i turn.

Remember a time when there was a boogie man under every bed and closet?
 
Rob,

I agree with you.

It's nearly impossible to get an unbiased "reporting" on the news today. What they present to the public is more of an editorialized commentary. It's almost like they believe the public is incapable of digesting factual information so they have to do it for you and sell to you. All media seem to have their own political agenda. Frankly I find it insulting.
 
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If it's in the media or from the government, I try to ignor it and go with my own thoughts and beliefs. As far as woodworking I believe what other woodworkers tell me, much better information then magazines. You're right on, Rob. :thumb:
 
Hear, hear!

At some point in time, the press (the only real media of the day) realized that controversy sells papers. (I could be wrong, but I believe William Randolph Hearst was at the forefront of the movement.) The press, as well as the rest of today's media, continues to promote controversy, and when there's none to be found, they create some of their own.

Personally, I gave up on TV and radio news years ago. For truly newsworthy events, I try to get information from a broad range of sources and come to my own conclusion instead of relying on one network's spoon-fed version of the "truth". I do occasionally listen to talk radio (both sides of the aisle) just for the entertainment value, and to shake my head over the thought that people are eating that crap up as if it were the unvarnished truth.

In regards to woodworking, like you, I've pretty much given up on woodworking publications due to the advertiser's influence. I saw that concept in action in the software business. We'd buy lots of ad space and hire "independent" labs to ensure our products got good reviews. Also, the woodworking mags seldom had much of interest to me. I really don't need or want plans to build a spice rack or a pair of bookends out of plywood, nor am I planning to use a router and pocket hole jig to build a Queen Anne armoire. :rolleyes:
 
Rob, I mostly agree with your post. I only subscribe too one wwing magazine- Fine Woodworking. The reason is that I like to see fine craftsmanship and be inspired by what other woodworkers are doing. (I like the pictures) Some of their articles are helpful and instructive. I always take their recommendations about tools with a grain of salt and almost always ask questions on forums before buying.

I used to subscribe to some hunting mags, but after learning from time in the woods, find them very generic and just plain boring and sometimes inaccurate. Many of the hunts are done on preserves.

If you have ever been interviewed by the press you will know just how biased they are. I went back to the reporter and chewed him out and his pusillanimous reply was that his editor made him lie. Never again!

I wish more people understood what true independent thinking was and knew how to think critically. People are too busy with their lives to spend the time in conversation and debate about things that matter. It's too easy to park yourself in front of the T.V. and no matter how independent you think you are, you are allowing garbage to go into your head. I think there is no substitute for conversation where you have to defend your philosophies. I really treasure debate and find myself sometimes changing my mind after hearing another persons point of view. That is where the real value of community and society is established.
 
Paul,

In theory public debate would be beneficial and educational for those involved. IMHO our society has become very bigoted and close-minded. Most have their minds made up before any real debate or discussion begins and these debates or discussions become just a soapbox for one to spew their rhetoric.

I believe not facing someone face-to-face, in person, up close and in public changes the way people "debate or discuss" subjects. Looking at text on a monitor, for example, gives a lot of folks a false sense of bravery they wouldn't have if they had to face the person to discuss or debate a topic.

The other problem is we go into these debates so self-assured in our beliefs we end up defending them and look at it as a battle or game where the object is to win rather than an opportunity to learn.

Of course, for these debates to be a learning situation, first you have to respect the other person and their right to have a differing opinion....... and accept the possibility.....maybe a slim possibility but still a possibility that the other person's differing ideas might...might be correct and your ideas/opinions might be wrong.

In short....societal changes have pretty well caused what we see. If the "news channels" didn't get viewers, they couldn't demand their prices for advertising and they'd change the way they function. So, we as a society have created the problem with our changing lifestyles.
 
I wonder if we are looking through rose colored glasses and if we had lived during the 1800's through early 1900's if we would find that it was similar experiences. Surely the big ranchers dictated authority for a time. If you didn't believe or propose what they believed, bad things happened. Acquiring land for the RR, government stealing, rampant land thefts, killings and then bribes for towns to get RR lines or the line to pass through certain properties. What I believe is the people's belief in the written word and their ability to think it through is certainly going by the wayside. Our new generation is of the opinion if it is on the internet, it must be true. So the internet must be what large circulation papers must have been like over a 100 years ago.
 
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