President Obama gave Vox an interview last month. In it, he blamed a lack of uniformity of facts and worldview as we had them 20 and 30 years ago on a “balkanization” of the media. He blamed Fox News and MSNBC for contributing to polarization, and technology, presumably the internet, for furthering it. It has been reported that MSNBC is currently making changes to make the network less progressive. President Obama doesn’t watch cable news.
Category Archives: Analysis
Inequality and the end of #ISIS
There is a very strong case for calling ISIS a terrorist organization. However, unlike Al Qaeda, the people who founded ISIS built it on a foundation that is rooted on every last tenet of Islam. In fact, if we can accuse ISIS of anything, it is of being too punctilious in applying Islamic canon. In this sense, ISIS is no different than the extreme of any religion. While Christianity ended its crusades a few hundred years ago, it isn’t implausible for Islam to now wage its own version. It is, after all, the youngest of the major religions. Continue reading Inequality and the end of #ISIS
FBI Director Comey’s Truths about Policing and Race
FBI Director Comey ‘s speech is notable for many reasons. It is most notable for his directness in referencing and qualifying racism in a way few in public service have dared show in recent memory. For that, I thank and commend him. It is clear that this is a subject near and dear to his heart. Continue reading FBI Director Comey’s Truths about Policing and Race
Honesty, the media, and the shrinking public trust
It seems as if NBC’s Brian Williams is the latest national media figure to fall from grace after he told what is either an embellishment or a lie about an experience he’d previously talked about on television. When caught, Williams did the right thing and apologized. Time to move on? Well, no. Continue reading Honesty, the media, and the shrinking public trust
#PoliticalCorrectness as I see it
I write this on the heels of reading Jamelle Bouie’s always excellent newsletter.
He writes:
A good chunk of the Internet has been consumed in a conversation over Jonathan Chait’s New York magazine on the “new political correctness.” I have…tried to avoid that conversation as much as possible. Continue reading #PoliticalCorrectness as I see it
I love America, even today
December 9 10, 2014
After a day like today yesterday, I still love America. Continue reading I love America, even today
To Annie from Pittsburgh, the NYT reader who asked why…
Originally posted in answer to my comment on Paul Krugman’s column: Recovery at last? Continue reading To Annie from Pittsburgh, the NYT reader who asked why…
Mark Wahlberg Is Seeking a Pardon for His 1988 Assault Conviction | TIME
The 43-year-old former rapper says he is not the person he once was
Continue reading Mark Wahlberg Is Seeking a Pardon for His 1988 Assault Conviction | TIME
“White privilege” as an irritant when talking about race…
An old friend left me a question on my post of Nick Kristof’s column on Facebook:
The question is asked by someone whom I know is well-meaning, thoughtful and truly wants to see the dialog on race get ahead, rather than continue at the standstill it is at now. Continue reading “White privilege” as an irritant when talking about race…
Election 2014: Lessons for progressives
It was my hope, a week after the election, that I would hear and read meaningful analyses on the cause, consequences and long-term outlook for Democrats after their losses this midterm election. Very little of what I read this week was “filling,” until I came across William Greider’s “How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul” in The Nation. Greider concludes:
The tattered authenticity of the party matters more now because both the country and the world face dangers and disorders that demand a fundamental reordering of the global economic system. This requires bold action, at a time when neither party is confronting the threatening situation. The Republicans are a wholly owned subsidiary of the business-finance machine; the Democrats are rented.