From: jdp@caleb.UUCP (Jim Pritchett)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections,tx.politics,misc.legal,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: The Media (was Re: Who's weakening the constitution?)
Date: 23 Jan 93 06:24:13 GMT
 <4lNis*zz1@caleb.UUCP> <1993Jan21.214706.17023@montagar.com>
Distribution: usa,tx
Organization: is sometimes desirable

In article <1993Jan21.214706.17023@montagar.com>, David L. Cathey writes:

> In article <4lNis*zz1@caleb.UUCP>, jdp@caleb.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) writes:
> > WRONG!  No media succeeds in telling me what to think.  They may try, but
> > that is all they can do.  You are making a false assumption when you
> > assume that I am repeating what "my media" told me to think.  I think for
> > myself.
> 
> 	Are you sure?    Your thoughts are in no way influenced by the way
> the "media" filter information (good and bad) to you?  Slight flaws in logic
> are always caught and disgarded?  False propositions are always discovered,
> and all resulting conclusions are expunged from your memory?  You are a
> completely unbiased individual?  Have you applied for Sainthood yet?

Yes, I'm sure.  You see, I have something that is rare on the Net.  It is
called a brain.  I use it often, most people don't.  I use multiple sources
of information.  I know the biases of those sources.  I know who I trust.
If you listen carefully to what people say, you can learn more than they
intend to tell you.  (e.g. Clinton's admission that he planned middle class
tax increases in the 2nd? debate.)  None of these things require Sainthood.
In fact, none of them require great intellect.  All of these abilities come
from God.  They have been given to all of us.  However, the further one is
from God, the more difficulty he will have using them.  If I do make a
mistake, He will correct me - NOT because I am some sort of Saint, but because
I am His.
 

> 
> 	I don't think so.  However, if you would care to prove it, I would
> enjoy reading such a post.  People are generally shaped from an early age into

I don't know how I could "prove" such a thing.  However, you should know
that "environment" is NOT everything.  I spent four years at THE University
with the "Daily Texan."  Instead of becoming a left-wing, radical flake,
liberal like my "media", I learned a lot about slanted news stories, and
about how to see past the bias.  Of course, you'll say that I had already
been "conditioned" before that.  I didn't write this as a proof, merely an
example.  I do have a better one.  Remember Adam and Eve?  Perfect environment,
but they sinned anyway.  Why?  Because it was in them.  What is in you is
more important than the environment you are in.

> some basic set of beliefs, and will tend to listen to those that match those
> beliefs.  I don't think that all media tells you what to think, just certain
> sources of media (nothing radical, they present an argument and you accept it,
> even though it may be unknowningly flawed in some way).  Much of what is
> discussed here is opinion and speculation, anyway, not "facts".  Even the
> statistics that people dig up generally come from sources that support their
> opinion.  And occasionally, someone changes their mind on an issue...

Somehow, this sounds like it is heading toward the silly argument about how
it is impossible to prove to me that you (or anyone) exists.  You could all
be a figment of my imagination...


                                                Jim Pritchett


UUCP:  rwsys.lonestar.org!caleb!jdp
 or    utacfd.uta.edu!rwsys!caleb!jdp
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