Light Entertainment That might get you thinking

Okay these are just some light stuff I have. The first one my husband told me about he heard it on dotnet Rocks from Toyboy so go watch it the face of news in 2014

video
Takes about 8 minutes

Second is a bit of humor that has been around for a while, but still makes me smile. It is titled
UN security council debates regime change in Amiraqa

article

So Enjoy

•  Both...

  of your light entertainment pieces are more thought provoking than anything else I've read so far today. I'll recommend!

  "Generosity, Ethics, Patience, Effort, Concentration, and Wisdom"

  by Dood Abides on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 02:51:19 AM PDT

•  The fourth Estate

   is worth fighting for.  At least in its original form.  We are in danger of being limited in reading/seeing only that with which we agree, even on this blog.  While promoting "alternative media" is often touted as the only way to get reality based news it could become so non-objective that we lose perspective.  More than reality based we need objectivity based media.  We somehow have to wrestle journalists out from under the thumb of corporations and make journalistic integrity, once again, an honorable professional achievement.  We have to reject newsertainment and once again relegate that type of journalism to shows like Entertainment Tonight.  I think the beginning of the end started with 24 hr news.  In order to draw the ratings it has became a mixture of real news, personal opinion, and entertainment.  While that in and of itself is not necessarily bad it has blurred the lines between what is really NEWS and the rest of its content.  Most people do not filter this out for themselves.  When Michalel Jackson gets more coverage than the Iraq War - bingo- Michael Jackson becomes news.  Journalist find a higher viewership when they put partisan and opposing pundits on to "discuss" the day's events and then producers find that talking heads with pretty faces bring more viewers than actual journalists.  The real news, partisan opinions, and entertainment fly by in sound bites so quickly that one barely absorbs what someone is saying before the next segment is on. In many cases the news producers are themselves the news.  The number of so called reporters has risen dramatically with 24 hr news coverage.  These people no longer garner the respect of past greats like Cronkite and Brinkley nor do they aspire to their objectivity and integrity--they want the high ratings and the sensational story and if necessary they will make their story a sensation right before our very eyes(if in doubt think Swiftboats).
   Print journalism is no longer the source for news.  We are too busy raising families and trying to make ends meet to ever have the time to read the morning paper and even if we do we find that it is so tied to those same corporations that provide our tv news that the info and opinions are the same.  Why bother with the time and effort of reading when we can get caught up on the news in 15 minutes or less watching CNN.  The few remaining good investigative journalists still try occaisionally to get our attention but for naught.  Instead they write tell all books that few read and many discount as partisan on the same TV segments we catagorize as news.
    I don't have solutions but I do know that understanding the problem is the first step in solving it.  It's something we all need to seriously consider and begin to frame for the future of our country as we know it.    

  by dmac on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 04:29:55 AM PDT

  •  I Agree

    Problem is like the video says it will be all over before it is even discussed. We have been so turned off by the Corporate Media that we have not actually looked at what we are creating to replace it. Thanks for reading my diary, at least there is three of us aware of what is happening without thought.

    by redrobin on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 06:15:00 AM PDT