Re: MD Understanding Quality And Power

From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jan 15 2005 - 16:32:22 GMT

  • Next message: Matt Kundert: "Re: MD Reply to Chin"

    Hi Ant,

    Platt:
    > >The story Ant relates about the The Sun's error in reporting about
    > >Liverpool fans is easily matched by Jason Blair's fictional reporting

    Ant:
    > Such as what report?

    Platt:
    > >in the venerated "NY Times"

    Jason Blair was a highly regarded black reporter for the NY Times who
    submitted fictional reports about the D.C. sniper story which for weeks
    were printed on the front page..

    > >and the patently false story of Bush's national
    > >guard service perpetrated by "CBS News" in a blatant attempt to prevent
    > >the election of George Bush.
    >
    > And what exactly was inaccurate about this story?

    CBS news claimed a forged document was authentic in an effort to show that
    Bush lied about his national guard service. Bloggers immediately spotted
    the forgery which to this day is denied by Dan Rather, the anchor for CBS
    news.
     
    > >That the mainstream media in the U.S. has a left-wing bias
    >
    > I think only an extreme right-winger (or someone brainwashed…) would
    > seriously believe this. As noted in the quote of Ramsey Clarke by Mark H:

    Repeated surveys show the majority of U.S. journalists describe
    themselves liberal rather than conservative.
     
    > >was confirmed
    > >in a recent editorial in Newsweek where senior editor Howard Feinman, a
    > >leftist leaning pundit, admitted that in the last election there were
    > >three parties--Democrat, Republican, and the American Mainstream Media
    > >Party, dubbed the AMMP. His final summation, after demonstrating how the
    > >mainstream media went all out to slant the news in Kerry's favor, simply
    > >was,"It's hard to know who, if anyone, in the 'media' has any
    > >credibility."

    That a left-wing pundit admits the mainstream media is biased in favor of
    Democrats (as well as surveys of journalists themselves), shows that your
    statement about extreme right-wingers (or someone brainwashed) is wildly
    off the mark.

    > I therefore never implied that profit “is somehow a low quality activity”
    > (I’d privatise everything tomorrow if it made for higher quality living
    > generally). I think what the MOQ implies is that generating profit is a
    > social value pattern while education is an intellectual quality pattern.
    > Therefore, as long as generating profit (for instance, in the media)
    > doesn’t impede or undermine education (or any other intellectual value
    > pattern such as truth and justice) it’s a perfectly acceptable activity.
    >
    > i.e. Quality first, intellectual ideas to work out how to best provide
    > Quality second and social systems to provide it third.

    Glad to know you favor profits. But, why shouldn't people be free to
    decide how best to provide Quality for themselves? We certainly don't need
    intellectuals to tell us how best to live our lives. That's Rigel-like
    hubris.

    What concerns me is the notion that intellectuals have a lock on what
    should be considered "higher quality living generally," and should
    therefore be allowed to use government power to redistribute wealth to
    achieve their Utopian model.

    Please spare us from do-gooders who attack the free market system and thus
    inhibit responses to DQ.

    Best regards,
    Platt

      

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