Saturday, November 29, 2014

Sick of being told what to think

Newspapers didn't used to be brimming over with opinion. TV newsreaders didn't used to overlay their own reactions to the stories they read. Talk show hosts didn't use to confine callers to the topic of their choice and bully anyone who failed to agree with their own lines. National radio hosts didn't used to be aggressive and rude and over talk the people we actually want to hear from.

There is no end of 'personalities' who want to be the star, the oracle, the influencer. They cross over from radio, into print, into telly and saturate us with their own particular brand be it bighead blowhard, shallow hand-wringer, self-regarding 'sage'... most are big on ego and short on humility.

The week that was  reached a new level of talking heads hell-bent on whipping up outrage against their own bete noire.

And when it's not political targets it's any number of causes pushed without regard for facts. 

It's overwhelming. I try to stop listening and reading. The clamour bores me rigid yet angers me all at once. It would depress me if I had the capacity for depression.


It's simple really. I am sick of being told what to think. And the crowd of tellers seems to be bigger and louder than ever before. It's like a great big wave crashing down on your head...

Otherwise, I am leading a perfectly happy life:-)




17 comments:

Kiwiwit said...

This is why I don't watch or listen to the broadcast media in this country.

Brendan McNeill said...

Ah Lindsay, I had a chuckle when I read your post. Sometimes I feel like ‘getting it all out there’ as well.

While we are sharing our discontents, I suspect we might cope better if the general discourse was more substantive. Does anyone have original ideas anymore, or are we to be forever blighted by commentators repeating the accepted 'wisdom' of their peers?

Who amongst them is prepared to step off the reservation?

I have been drifting down the dial most of my life. I had settled on National Radio many years ago, but now I find it almost impossible to bear, with the most puerile interviews in the afternoons, through to the party political broadcast on Saturday mornings.

I’m enjoying the Concert program. They usually play music that has stood the test of time. I hope it lasts, as south of that there is only static.

Jamie said...

Yes I am convinced Radio National is running commie PSYOPS on the NZ people...

http://www.psywarrior.com/psyhist.html

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/06/psyops-wars-are-fought-on-and-off-the-battlefield/

F-ing commie SOB's are on notice...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWupuAj1bio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sib4tOC4iUE

http://www.metrolyrics.com/bear-hug-lyrics-fun-lovin-criminals.html

You fools at Radio National had better stop fooling around!!!

tranquil said...

The utter dross that passes for "news" is a result of the left's "long march through the institutions" with their "cultural Marxism".
A leftist environment is like a pine forest - almost nothing grows under it.

The cure? Get young people *thinking* again instead of just being spoonfed leftist drivel at schools, universities and teacher training colleges. It's for that reason that I hope that charter schools become a permanent feature of our school system here. At least *they* should be free of leftist propaganda and at least the children attending them will have the ability to think and critically reason about things.

Anonymous said...

Bob Jones writes the worst kind of drivel. So agree, Lindsay, it's all a real yawn, and the lot of them are rude and arrogant. Far better to listen to Mozart. Charter schools, the wave of change? The cultural Marxists have had it all for far too long.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Actually Bob Jones wrote the most helpful and timely column this week. I had to renew my driver's licence and he'd warned against the awful queues and attitude at the AA Lower Hutt, and revealed/recommended VINZ, also a local accredited driver licence agent. I went there on Friday and had a good-humoured, efficient speedy, experience. The ladies were well-chuffed with the positive publicity he had given their organisation.

Jamie said...

Sun Tzu says...Know your enemies and know yourself...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijw3ZIhkCjM&list=RDIjw3ZIhkCjM

The art of war is of vital importance to the State...

It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected....

http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html

The entire NZ Officer Corp and NZSIS are in dereliction of duty!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTyekEjmWxk

A serious offence in times of war...You know the punishment!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2HOJ7ScMwQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-generation_warfare

This call-sign shits on all of you FIFO tin officers and spooks!!!

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Seriously Jamie, Why not start your own blog? Not being facetious but then people could see with immediacy (if they want to) the youtube videos you refer us to.

Jamie said...

I don't know how and there's nobody to teach me

:(

Jamie said...

I am a simple man who is near computer illiterate, with no job, and am on the bones of my ass...

:(

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Go to blogger.com

Even rudimentary skills will get you there.

My 16 year-old says, "God, if you can do it Mum..."

Costs nothing bar some frustration trying.

gravedodger said...

Rachel Smalley 0500 to 1600 weekday mornings want the crown as queen bee of biased tosh.
TV one holds Breathless Commy Dann as its flag bearer.
Paddy Gower is the star at TV3 while the NZ Herald has a veritable stable of opinion shapers.
TV3's weeknight 1900 hrs political tosh remains off my viewing list for similar reasons.

Jamie seems a troubled soul, Lesley, at No Minister he is often red carded.
My efforts there are without cost to me apart from some serious time issues that can cause comment from swmbo

Jamie said...

The assistance was much appreciated Lindsay,
I wish there were more people like you in the world...

Here is my first effort...

http://r1016132.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/msm-journos-hit-new-low/

It's pretty rough and ready but Rome wasn't built in a day...

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Had to laugh when I saw you are using "comment moderation". Try to 'moderate' yourself a bit and I will put it on my 'blogs I read' panel:-)

Anonymous said...

Okay, an exception to the rule. Usually though, I find his opinion fairly ruthless and mean spirited, in that I've got mine brother, who cares about you.

Anonymous said...

Any fool can start a blog. I am also computer illiterate, but it's so easy. It's spoonfed to you really, its simple. Blogger is simpler than Wordpress in my opinion.

You just need a keyboard, hands and a brain. In that order.

Jigsaw said...

Personally I am over Red Radio-after many decades of listening I now go almost anywhere else rather than hear their left slanted views and nothing at all to balance it. Katherine Ryan has to be one of the worst broadcasters around and Helen Wilson who does the interviews after 5 pm is so dreadful we have stopped listening altogether.
Recently I heard Brian Edwards claim that TV 'journalists' now get no training at all - I believe it!