Decency, Trump and Obama.

[hollodero]

(03-16-2017, 04:32 PM)Dill Wrote: The one positive side of the current conjuncture is that the US is not presently in a depression, nor does the population feel deeply humiliated by a war loss which saddles it with guilt and crippling reparations.  

I saw your reasoning, and while that seems valid, I'm not so sure whether overall this really is a positive side. If you think about it. I leave it at that.

(03-16-2017, 04:32 PM)Dill Wrote: It is very hard to discuss the p***y grabber who back in the '90s called reporters pretending to be his own publicist, and then led the birther movement and still thinks 3-5 million people voted illegally and wants to bring back torture. How do you even mention all that without seeming arrogant and condescending? And why should you (the journalist) be faulted for "condescending" if you look askance at this behavior? Why should this, um, 'extraordinary' candidate be so normalized?

That's a fair question. He shouldn't. Objectivity, reason and truth must prevail.

The tendency one needs to shy away from is letting your own political pendulum swing with half amplitude towards the own political beliefs. Which seems perfectly fine to do, given how agenda-driven the other side operates. Why not go slightly "liberal" - or take things one step further then hard facts determine - when opposing their agenda too. Why not overstating things a bit too. Well. It feels right, but isn't helpful. One needs to give the personal opinion as well, sure, else it would not be a debate. But the controversy should be fought with facts.

Regarding the media, your landscape is complicated, and FOX is a propaganda outlet which is hard to oppose. But it's more complex. It was equally ridiculous when your MSM praised Trump's Congress speech. As if now finally he got normal, phew, everything's fine and forgotten now. That was hard to watch. What Rachel Maddow (who obviously is great, but I don't know her and don't care) did and how she did it was stupid, too.

Btw. I'm not so sure about FOX and whether they of all people are the conservatives that need to come around. After all, there are still journalists at work, and their reporting turns into a loyalty test. I don't know it the willingness to show loyalty stretches into eternity. There are signs of opposition.
Maybe FOX needs to save America.