Originally Posted By vbdad55 If we want to talk ' folksy' how does one pick Reagan as the cuplrit over Carter ? Hell, even TV went to the backwoods at that time - every sitcom was yahoo related.
Originally Posted By Mr X Easy...because Reagan was "folksy and appealing". Carter was just folksy, kind of, I guess. More of a show than anything else. AND obviously he was a smart guy but it's not like he tried to hide it. Hee Haw. Reagan gave the whole idea mass appeal, I guess is my point.
Originally Posted By dshyates But Reagan, and even Carter were/are smart people. With Reagan, he took great care to hide his intelligence. But McCain took great pains to hide Palin's intelligence. Big Dif.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 you mean hide her lack of intelligence. I still shake my head wondering how the hell that pick occurred - If there was a museum of all time stupidest political moves-- this one make the wing with the top 10.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Carter era effect on TV = Carter Country / BJ & the Bear / Dukes of Hazzard / Flo / Alice and resurgence of Hee Haw -- off the top of my head -- anera when "kiss my grits" was a catch phrase and somehow peole thought having a 30 foot antenna sticking out of the back of ones' car yelling breaker breaker good buddy was cool.....yikes...gives me the shakes
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <BBC notwithstanding the Brits have their fair share of National Enquirer/US Weekly publications.> Oh, sure they do. They have their tabloids and celebrity news. But they also have the BBC. I'm not saying "and never the twain shall meet," but it's not like here on most of the major news networks. Here the twain done met a long time ago and it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart. At least we do still have PBS (I'll take the NewsHour over anything on network or the "big three" cable news nets), BBC America, and depending on your cable package, other options. But you have to have cable. And you have to want to watch it.
Originally Posted By alexbook For those who think the Brits are so much better informed than Americans, consider this story from a year ago: >>A quarter of the population think that Winston Churchill never actually existed, a survey suggests. While a poll recently named him the greatest Briton of all time, the wartime prime minister is seen by many as a mythical figure along with the likes of Florence Nightingale and Sir Walter Raleigh.<< >>According to the survey of 3,000 respondents, many believe the inspirational Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Cleopatra and the Duke of Wellington are also characters dreamed up for films and books. Some think Charles Dickens was himself a character in fiction rather than the creator of David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Martin Chuzzlewit. In a damning indictment of the nation's historical knowledge, many of those surveyed said they believe Sherlock Holmes was a real person, along with the pilot Biggles and even the Three Musketeers. Almost 50 per cent were certain that Eleanor Rigby existed not just in the imagination of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.<< <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512087/Challenge-Churchill-One-think-Winnie-didnt-exist-Sherlock-Holmes-did.html" target="_blank">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...did.html</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Almost 50 per cent were certain that Eleanor Rigby existed not just in the imagination of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.<< Uhhhhhh ... <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/eleanor-rigby-worked-as-a-maid-on-a-ward-where-she-slowly-grew-old-mystery-solved-1012505.html" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/a...505.html</a>
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>And you have to want to watch it.<< Yes, and more and more people seem to be tuning news out. I can understand that to a certain extent -- our news seems pretty scandal-obsessed since the 1970s at least. People are able to choose news spun the way they like it, and I'm not sure that's very healthy. Anyway, the point the original video makes is that Americans aren't being told about a whole lot of the world, and I have no reason to doubt it. As news staffs are cut down to skeleton crews at newspapers, magazines and broadcast media, there are less news gatherers out there to set the facts straight. It's much cheaper and much easier to offer up AP stories and celebrity news.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 You're right on all counts, as far as I can see. People do have the internet as a new tool to find information, and it can be a great one; the trouble there is there's so much misinformation as well, and a lot of people don't know how (or aren't interested in knowing how) to tell the difference.
Originally Posted By avromark It's not just sorting out the reliable and unreliable information. But when I travel I notice people tend to be very "country" obsessed with the Internet. Ie. When I went to Southeast Asia, most people only surf "Asian" centric websites. I mean if you went to work and asked everyone to pull up a news site, what makes you think Yahoo/Google (US), CNN and MSNBC etc come up. How many will pull up anything from anywhere else? It's not like you have to be Canadian to pull up CBC, or British to pull up BBC or Know that Channel Nine is Australian etc. Even if you only know English there are options. Of course if you can read other languages the floodgates open.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt So I flipped on the TV this morning and Good Morning America was on. First story I hear: a recap of Anna Nicole Smith's death scandal. I kid you not.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>First story I hear: a recap of Anna Nicole Smith's death scandal. I kid you not.<< You were late tuning in. I was treated to the two handcuffed fleeing prisoners running into the phone pole. Over and over and over ... Come to think of it, that was in New Zealand. Who says American TV doesn't cover the rest of the world when it's something important?
Originally Posted By dshyates I have to admit I liked the dumb criminal video. MSNBC added the whizzes and boings to the looped video. It was hilarious.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost We had one in our area today were this guy was on his way to court to answer charges of breaking and entering. On his way to court he broke into a house and took a laptop. On his way out the owner drove in and caught him doing it. The guy then asked for directions to the court and was arrested when he got to the courthouse. I think one would be hard pressed to find anything dumber than that.
Originally Posted By alexbook If you're interested in such things, I suggest checking out clumsycrooks.com. Some very strange stuff out there.
