A good quote

[TheDude1]

From a speech at VMI, by former SecState Rex Tillerson:

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom... A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not, what a fact is and is not and begin by holding ourselves accountable to truthfulness and demand our pursuit of America's future be fact-based -- not based on wishful thinking, not hoped-for outcomes made in shallow promises, but with a clear-eyed view of the facts as they are, and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek solutions to our most daunting challenges."

 

[lurkeraspect84]

 

[JimboBBN]

One of my personal favorites..

"I'm too drunk to taste this chicken."

 

[SNU0821]

Hope both Democrats and Republicans take note of this.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

 

[SNU0821]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

Go ahead and close this one down. Nothing further needs to be said. Well said sir.

 

[Spacegrass]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

It exists just that the majority of Americans don't watch it because selling the story is more entertaining. A good thing is to read your news info , not watch it. I am not an avid reader and hate reading most long books. But I can read news articles online for a while.

 

[dukedevilz]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

Reminds me something a friend of mine posted on FB not that long ago. Good post.

We share biased news to reinforce our own biases.

Unfortunately, we post about our political positions, not to find common ground, but to divide and attract an echo chamber of yay sayers.

To be sick of the political divide and hyper partisanship is to blame our own selves: for perpetuating biased news and giving voice to those spewing already chewed up political angles. Our naiveté is glaring and destructive.

What is the remedy? Stick to facts-based new sources, away from punditry and shock factor political commentary. At least listen to both sides.

People make political decisions for a myriad of reasons. People are complicated. Labeling others hardly achieves anything or nails the core of who people are at all.

People are good by nature.

 

[F-Duke]

That's nice and all except Tillerson is completely full of shit. He was one of the most closed off, secretive Secretary of States in recent memory. Against normal procedure, he'd bar journalists from traveling with the envoy and reporting on his departments dealings. When he did bring press with him, he'd hand pick one that was to his liking and demand they not report or update until after the trip was over (this too is completely opposite of virtually every other past state department.)

 

[anon_0astpxev9h4gk]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

To be fair, journalism has never been unbiased, most just claim it was..

 

[Kevin Bryan]

To be fair, journalism has never been unbiased, most just claim it was..

Definitely right, in terms of opinion pieces. But I am talking about misinformation in terms of things that are construed as factual.

 

[theetommyt]

You want news that is pretty much unbiased? Read Reuters.

I know NPR leans left, but they do a good job of trying to present both sides and vanilla facts with minimal opinions and editorials. There's probably a right leaning vanilla equivalent.

The facts presented by both of these sources are highly accurate.

 

[KYtotheCore]

@haters, @ patriots

 

[TheDude1]

Ha, in order for this to happen media would have to cease to exist. Problem is, it's hard to determine what is factual when everyone is pushing an agenda and nearly all the "news" today is opinion-based. You're either getting flat out lied to or it's getting spun a certain direction to favor a specific agenda, doesn't matter what the subject matter is. There is no such thing as unbiased news anymore.

KB... love you, but thats not really true, at least not to the extent you are implying. A good amount of news media today is generally that, at its core... news media. This, despite personal biases (which have always existed) and money interests (which have also always existed). The blurring of the lines between news and opinion is certainly greater than ever, but by simply being careful with your sources (and being sure to fact check when something sounds off), it’s fairly easy to discern fact from fiction. I think the people who lament there being *no* difference between opinion media and news media are actually often people who are simply not taking the time and energy to discern between the two, and who instead just issue these blanket proclamations that absolve them of figuring stuff out.

For example, check out this interesting new article from the New Yorker, a news source that is pretty darn good...apparently Trumps personal attorney (who either had no other clients, one other client, or at most two other clients) was accepting millions and millions of suspicious payments, payments that triggered “suspicious activity reports” from his bank for activities that indicated possible “bribery or gratuity” and “suspicious use of third-party transactors (straw-man)” activity... and these reports were then scrubbed from a national data base that things generally have never been scrubbed from, which was suspicious enough that government employees raised red flags about it (and that’s how we found out about the AT&T and Novartis payments.)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The press is literally our only way to know what is happening in the world around us, and is often considered the only true check to a government that runs out of control. While there is a lot of BS noise out there, we as Americans with brains should be able to separate the opinion from the news, and not just “give up” on what is TRULY our only source of information for what is happening outside of our own limited personal experiences. Blanket rejection of all sources of information because “fake news!” and yelling opinion-based shock TV and forwarded emails is just irresponsible at best.

And anyway... I think you may be missing the far more important takeaway from this quote, KB, given Tillerson’s recent job. But I think you know that?

 

[toonces11]

KB... love you, but thats not really true, at least not to the extent you are implying. A good amount of news media today is generally that, at its core... news media. This, despite personal biases (which have always existed) and money interests (which have also always existed). The blurring of the lines between news and opinion is certainly greater than ever, but by simply being careful with your sources (and being sure to fact check when something sounds off), it’s fairly easy to discern fact from fiction. I think the people who lament there being *no* difference between opinion media and news media are actually often people who are simply not taking the time and energy to discern between the two, and who instead just issue these blanket proclamations that absolve them of figuring stuff out.

For example, check out this interesting new article from the New Yorker, a news source that is pretty darn good...apparently Trumps personal attorney (who either had no other clients, one other client, or at most two other clients) was accepting millions and millions of suspicious payments, payments that triggered “suspicious activity reports” from his bank for activities that indicated possible “bribery or gratuity” and “suspicious use of third-party transactors (straw-man)” activity... and these reports were then scrubbed from a national data base that things generally have never been scrubbed from, which was suspicious enough that government employees raised red flags about it (and that’s how we found out about the AT&T and Novartis payments.)

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The press is literally our only way to know what is happening in the world around us, and is often considered the only true check to a government that runs out of control. While there is a lot of BS noise out there, we as Americans with brains should be able to separate the opinion from the news, and not just “give up” on what is TRULY our only source of information for what is happening outside of our own limited personal experiences. Blanket rejection of all sources of information because “fake news!” and yelling opinion-based shock TV and forwarded emails is just irresponsible at best.

And anyway... I think you may be missing the far more important takeaway from this quote, KB, given Tillerson’s recent job. But I think you know that?

I mostly agree, but why would the average american have to fact check every article they read? I don't think its blanket rejection of all media, but it has become a big enough problem that it would be nice if there was a huge overhaul of the entire system. I think the media has become way over political and now, they don't even take the minimal steps of hiding it. Its become a platform for junior high girls to constantly go back and forth without a reasonable resolution on the table.

As to the above article---I don't think its a stretch that any billionaire would have a stable of lawyers of all types helping them navigate thru all types of nefarious situations. The power that comes with that amount of money is beyond anything a normal citizen could imagine. Trump was elected despite this stuff-----so i don't see how its some huge shock that sex scandals, lawsuits, NDA's, and all types of shit you see in the movies has gone on. Trump was elected b/c the country was tired of the same BS that was going on for 8 years and obviously didn't want 8 more. The same thing is going to happen after Trumps run---people will be sick of hearing of this crap and vote the opposite in. Thats why people should vote almost strictly on policy and tune the rest out----or you will have petty arguments that lead to nothing but hate for the other side.

 

[Spacegrass]

Don't get your news from places like Occupy Democrats or Breitbart.

 

[ndesgeorges]

You want news that is pretty much unbiased? Read Reuters.

I know NPR leans left, but they do a good job of trying to present both sides and vanilla facts with minimal opinions and editorials. There's probably a right leaning vanilla equivalent.

The facts presented by both of these sources are highly accurate.

This.

I laugh when people claim they cant get unbiased news. Reuters is facts, im sure there are opinion pieces, but I have never read one.

And NPR journalists definitely lean left, but again, they dont mix their opinions with facts. You can search out opinion pieces if you want.

 

[ThroughBlue]

I agree with the poster that suggested reading your news.