August 22, 2003
Damned lies…
Journalists are fact-checkers, or should be, by vocation. Some bloggers are fact-checkers by avocation. Both groups, and pundits, too, are often spreaders of lies either for ideological reasons or laziness (perhaps caused by ideology).
I highly recommend this op-ed column by Keith R. Taylor, a retired Navy officer, in today’s Washington Post. His column concerns those who spread conspiracy e-mail. But I found his comments also apply to so many journalists, pundits, and bloggers who, as it appears to me, have little regard for facts or the dialogic nature of the construction of truth. (via The Daily Howler)
Posted by acline | August 22, 2003 | Posted in: Main |
The Howler asks a good question - why do we tolerate lying liars on the net? I avoid the angry left AND the angry right - but what draws people to these extreme sites? How can reasonable people filter out these caustic elements? Why has “hate” become the new “in” thing for both right and left?
Rebecca…those are big questions with no easy answers. But I think a small piece of it has to do with the way our media environment portrays governance, politics, and civic participation–overly dramatic and emotional with simplistic, contentious characters.
BTW, you’ve created a monster. Not only have I submitted to Carnival of the Vanities now, I’m hosting it on 3 Sept.!
Go! Doc! Go!