Bill O'Reilly and the Potty-Mouthed Eight-Year-Old Girl

[KillerGremlin]

i watched the south park movie this weekend...it made me happy

[Professor S]

Bill O'Reilly is the epitome of a self-absorbed gasbag, and is a travesty of conservative opinion. If you want to see the worst of conservatives, watch his show. He's a ignorant jackass, same as Anne Coulter.

You want good, thought provoking conservative opinion? I recommend Michael Medved, Dennis Praeger and Glenn Beck (he's also a decent comedian, which adds entertainment value).

[Xantar]

Originally Posted by Professor S

You want good, thought provoking conservative opinion? I recommend Michael Medved,

Wait...didn't he just criticize Happy Feet for its gay acceptance agenda?

Admittedly, I don't read much of Medved's work, but when he spends a significant part of his time blasting a cartoon penguin movie for its "anti-religious bias" and gay subtext or praising March of the Penguins because it affirms family values or criticizing Million Dollar Baby because of its pro-euthanasia agenda, I find it a little hard to take him seriously.

I like to get all my thought provoking conservative opinion from Charles Krauthammer.

Oh, and don't sell Ann Coulter short. She may be a complete gasbag, but she knows exactly what she's doing.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Xantar

Wait...didn't he just criticize Happy Feet for its gay [url=http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/blog/g/5094f586-fed7-4cf4-872c-d20b94c78024acceptance agenda[/url]?

Admittedly, I don't read much of Medved's work, but when he spends a significant part of his time blasting a cartoon penguin movie for its "anti-religious bias" and gay subtext or praising March of the Penguins because it affirms family values or criticizing Million Dollar Baby because of its pro-euthanasia agenda, I find it a little hard to take him seriously.

I like to get all my thought provoking conservative opinion from Charles Krauthammer.

Oh, and don't sell Ann Coulter short. She may be a complete gasbag, but she knows exactly what she's doing.

I tend to disregard Medved's family values schtick for his insanely informed poltical and international views. I've never listened to a commentator who has had more command of facts and information than he does. AS for the movie reviews, you have to remember that Medved started out as a movie reviewer for PBS as well as print, and he still does review movies for a living, but he does so with a concern for his values. By the way, Medved's major complaint about Happy Feet was that he felt it sold a false bill of goods to the consumer in its commecials, showing it as a penguin dance movie when it contained heavy handed social and political commentary. Oh, and I also don;t agree with a lot of Medved's views when it comes to economics. He's a 100% free-marketer, while I believe in a market that is basically free, but with certain controls to keep corporations from gaining too much control. You know, like all the controls that have slowly been repealed over the last 4-8 years. I like Medved, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything he says. He makes good, substantiated and well executed points, but that doesn't mean I always agree with those points.

As for Krauthhammer, I like him, but I think he can get tunnel-vision sometimes.

Coulter does know exactly what she's doing, and that makes it worse. Political idealism should be done from the heart, and not for JUST the wallet. She only cares about sensationaism, publicity and book sales, not finding answers.

My favorite is Glenn Beck. He has one of the best bull**** detectors I've ever seen or heard, and he'll rip apart a conservative just as quickly as a liberal if he feels that conservative is not up to snuff.

[Typhoid]

So I read this thread again, accompanied with thinking of many other forums.
People say things such as "Did you read what __ said" or "__ said this" or "But __ is an ___?"




Can people not make up their own minds, without encorporating any thoughts of any type of media influence, or something?

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

So I read this thread again, accompanied with thinking of many other forums.
People say things such as "Did you read what __ said" or "__ said this" or "But __ is an ___?"




Can people not make up their own minds, without encorporating any thoughts of any type of media influence, or something?

To think that your thoughts and opinions haven't been directly influenced by others is foolish. We are bombarded with opinion-making media and commentary daily on TV, the radio, billboards and yes even the classroom. Trying to say you can avoid letting media affect your opinion is like saying you can breathe without inhaling. You have to inhale, you have no choice in the matter.

Enjoying the opinion of others can also be an enlightening experience. It allows you to look at a topic from another perpective and the works of those that would have their opinions heard have done no less than change the world, such as those from Martin Luther, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Abrham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne and Jesus (regardless of whether he is the son of God or not). The danger is simply repeating what someone else has said without actually thinking about it or doing any research on your own. This is far more rare, but an example of this is Hitler and his rise to power.

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

[Teuthida]

I think this is the first time I wholeheartedly agree with one of your posts.

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

Good post. I took Typhoid's question and thought about it. I can't come up with any response better than yours, however I thought it interesting how in my experience his question is one posed by many, but not only just about the media. For example, I hear something similar fairly often from fellow engineering students or physics majors or similar. Some ask the question why they need to learn more specialized areas of engineering, when they argue that they are able to derive everything they need from the basic physics equations. For example, I'm a studying electrical engineer, and a friend of mine who is also an EE used to complain that he doesn't need specialized integrated chips because he can build the exact same thing out of the basic analog components. While he's right, that is he is able make the same thing out of analog components, he would also be wasting a lot of time.

Edit: I reread this and thought maybe the connection between my example and Typhoid's isn't very clear. Questioning the need for specialized areas of engineering is another way of questioning the need for what other people have already said or done, and boils down to the question why can't someone figure out the things they need on their own without incorporating what others have already done.

In this case, I do think learning the basics (especially electromagnetic theory for EEs) is key to truly understanding the field. But as you said, a lot can be learned and your knowledge can be strengthened by listening and thinking about what others have already done or said.

A roundabout way of saying you don't always need to reinvent the wheel, which I think applies to Tyhpoid's question as well.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Listening to what others have to say can help strengthen your own opinion or better yet, help change your opinion for the better once you've thought about a topic from a new light. The point is to LISTEN and THINK before allowing it to help shape your thoughts. Those are two activities that one can never do too much.

I was meaning strictly people in a media position, not just "regular" people.
Like, people put more stock and credability in someone, just because they are on TV, forgetting that they can be on TV for various reasons, and that can falsly influence people with really...really bad advice and outlooks. IE: Ann Coulter.