Where is the Center

[flybynight]

The fact is that using the two video clips, side by side, and evaluating them for the amount of time spent pro and con, they're both about the same.

NBC and the other dreaded state-run media librul networks have ALL reported news that is NEGATIVE for Obama. The wingnuts will never acknowledge that, because it would undermine their claims that any good news is real and not just the librul media being "in the tank" for the President. NBC et al have even spent time covering the bogus IRS & Benghazi scandals to appease more conservative viewers. Real lib networks doing that.

The biased leftist state-run media dogged Clinton for 2 years with the Lewinsky nonsense. Real lib news networks again.

Fox news, OTOH, marches in lock step with all things conservative. It's so painfully transparent.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

You're not actually implying that NBC isn't biased, are you?

I'm not implying, I am stating emphatically that the poster I was responding to has not proven his point. He used what appears to be a highly doctrinaire on-line publication to make a point. The on-line source lacks credibility to be an "expert witness" in this court. NBC may or may not be Liberal or be biased; he has failed to make his point, and displays his own coloration by reaching out to use what I would call a tainted source to make his point.

There is a portion of our population and a portion of our media that are liberal, left leaning, leftist or whatever. The people, institutions, organizations and businesses of the left run from very left over to modestly left.

There is a portion of our population and a pofrtion of our media that are conservative, right leaning, rightist or whatever. The people, institutions, organizations and business of the right run from very right over to modestly right.

There is a portion of our population, our media, that are CENTERIST. The people, institutions, organizations and businesses who are centrists run from quietly centrist to loudly centrist, and we will aruge from now until the end of the earth where the dividing line is between a leftist and a centrist, and where the dividing line is between a rightist/conservative and a centrist.

So in answer to your challenge: YES! NBC fits into the centrist grouping in our society.

So after a thread which has now reached 100 different posts, we still have no concensus on where the dividing lines are. We have a number of people, and I believe this includes YOU, who refuse to sign-on to the concept that there might actually be a center in American thinking.

 

[Small Market Guy]

So in answer to your challenge: YES! NBC fits into the centrist grouping in our society.

If NBC fits there, so does Fox News. Conservatives are pretty unhappy with Fox lately.

If you want to find the "center" in media, watch a little of everything and average it out. Because there isn't one outlet that is completely without bias. It's impossible to do on a national basis, for whatever reason. What you CAN do, and I think most major news outlets do a decent job of, is to be fair.

If you want to find the "center" in the public, look for people who don't care about politics. So yes, you're wrong yet again, I DO believe there is a "center" in the public politic. There just isn't a "center" among people who actually give two craps about politics.

 

[TheBigA]

If you want to find the "center" in media, watch a little of everything and average it out.

I agree with that. I expand that to music as well. Get tired of the songs on one station? Switch genres for a while. Clean out the closets a bit.

The center is somewhere between a bunch of different things.

 

[Small Market Guy]

I agree with that. I expand that to music as well. Get tired of the songs on one station? Switch genres for a while. Clean out the closets a bit.

The center is somewhere between a bunch of different things.

We're also talking about an average political view when there are 310 million different views in this country. No two people are going to be lock step on every single issue. Putting labels on people is always a tricky deal. I consider myself conservative, but I also believe that gay marriage isn't inconsistent with conservatism. I believe in legalizing pot. I wouldn't lose a second of sleep if the death penalty went away tomorrow. Who is anyone else to tell me that I'm not conservative?

To find the "center" of a metric that is subjective in the first place is just an exercise in futility. That's why I put the people who have no beliefs in the middle. They won't mind.

 

[Avid Listener]

When it comes to "fair and balanced" reporting, it's not just whether or not certain scandals are mentioned. In good journalism, the coverage of a story doesn't end until the story is resolved. For example, if a building catches fire, the story should be covered until the fire is put out. The way the bias is displayed in favor of the current President is that a story might be covered about his latest failure, but once reported, there is no follow-up, no continuing coverage of the on-going disaster his errors have caused. There is no follow-up on the aftermath of his blunders. It gives the false impression that though there was a problem, it's all OK now because it's no longer being covered. That's the sort of bias that those references to the mainstream media's coverage of the President's failures do not address.

 

[Avid Listener]

We're also talking about an average political view when there are 310 million different views in this country. No two people are going to be lock step on every single issue. Putting labels on people is always a tricky deal. I consider myself conservative, but I also believe that gay marriage isn't inconsistent with conservatism. I believe in legalizing pot. I wouldn't lose a second of sleep if the death penalty went away tomorrow. Who is anyone else to tell me that I'm not conservative?

Sorry, but there is an accurate label for the position you describe. It's libertarian, in lower case. Just because you self-identify erroneously doesn't mean that the system is flawed. It only means you're using the wrong system of nomenclature.

To find the "center" of a metric that is subjective in the first place is just an exercise in futility. That's why I put the people who have no beliefs in the middle. They won't mind.

That's why there are the various two-axis political alignment systems out there, that I've referenced several times in this thread. Instead of continuing to lament about the inadequacies of a single-axis political alignment system, why not get on board with any of the two-axis systems available to pick from?

 

[flybynight]

When it comes to "fair and balanced" reporting, it's not just whether or not certain scandals are mentioned. In good journalism, the coverage of a story doesn't end until the story is resolved. For example, if a building catches fire, the story should be covered until the fire is put out. The way the bias is displayed in favor of the current President is that a story might be covered about his latest failure, but one reported, there is no follow-up, no continuing coverage of the on-going disaster his errors have caused. There is no follow-up on the aftermath of his blunders. It gives the false impression that though there was a problem, it's all OK now because it's no longer being covered. That's the sort of bias that those references to the mainstream media's coverage of the President's failures do not address.

So because every other outlet EXCEPT Fox news doesn't beat anti-Obama stories to death, they're not telling the whole story and are biased.

Got it.

 

[flybynight]

That's why there are the various two-axis political alignment systems out there, that I've referenced several times in this thread. Instead of continuing to lament about the inadequacies of a single-axis political alignment system, why not get on board with any of the two-axis systems available to pick from?

Maybe he's not a lazy, insecure robot who needs to be on a "team" to feel confident with his positions.

FYI, SMG, I actually out-conservative you on cap punishment. lol

 

[Avid Listener]

So because every other outlet EXCEPT Fox news doesn't beat anti-Obama stories to death, they're not telling the whole story and are biased.

Got it.

Another good example of revealing bias is to refer to continuing coverage of an on-going situation as "beating it to death". Of course you'd prefer it if the current President's failures would be allowed to be forgotten by distractions like his newest failure, or the antics of the Kardashian sluts.

 

[flybynight]

Another good example of revealing bias is to refer to continuing coverage of an on-going situation as "beating it to death". Of course you'd prefer it if the current President's failures would be allowed to be forgotten by distractions like his newest failure, or the antics of the Kardashian sluts.

No, it's evident that talkradio and Fox will beat-to-death any story they think pleases their wingnut audience. You're a great example of how well that works. Most know that the problem in talking with people like you, is that you are hyper-partisan, so you automatically assume everybody else is also hyper-partisan---which means that if someone disagrees with you and points out dumb comments you make, you believe it's because they're on the other side. This is a great way for you to dismiss people who disagree with you and preserve your ego. You are the ideal P1 for Fox news and talkradio.

 

[boombox4]

All that comes to mind right now when I see the words "NBC" and "News" is the instance when they rigged up a GMC pickup truck (one of the popular 80's-90's models with side tanks) with explosives so it would burst into flames during impact, therefore proving such pickup trucks to be dangerous vehicles.

 

[TheBigA]

That was over 20 years ago.

 

[Silkie]

Center is to the left of Constitutional Republic, which is just left of anarchy on the Political Spectrum. That is where the center is located.

 

[Small Market Guy]

Sorry, but there is an accurate label for the position you describe. It's libertarian, in lower case. Just because you self-identify erroneously doesn't mean that the system is flawed. It only means you're using the wrong system of nomenclature.

Except I believe in SMALL government, not NO government. I also don't believe in isolationism. So while I have libertarian leanings, I'm more conservative than libertarian.

 

[Small Market Guy]

This is a great way for you to dismiss people who disagree with you and preserve your ego. You are the ideal P1 for Fox news and talkradio.

I hope you see the irony in posting that right after calling someone a wingnut.

 

[TheBigA]

Except I believe in SMALL government, not NO government.

Unfortunately, small government is impractical with a big country. Small government in this country became impractical after the Civil War because of reconstruction. There are no working examples of small government with a country this size. At least not among the world powers.

 

[flybynight]

I hope you see the irony in posting that right after calling someone a wingnut.

Of course I realize the irony, but he IS a wingnut. Should I pretend otherwise so it doesn't look so ironic?

 

[Silkie]

Unfortunately, small government is impractical with a big country. Small government in this country became impractical after the Civil War because of reconstruction. There are no working examples of small government with a country this size. At least not among the world powers.

They've never had a Constitutional Republic, with a Constitution that sets a strong central government with limited power, that sets a line over which government may not step. The examples of governments with a country this size have nothing to do with government by consent of the governed, only iron fists. We don't know what we have until we no longer have it, including little fora such as these - and no one escapes, including those who went along to get along.

 

[Avid Listener]

Except I believe in SMALL government, not NO government. I also don't believe in isolationism. So while I have libertarian leanings, I'm more conservative than libertarian.

True libertarians also believe in small government. Only a few whacko anarchists who masquerade as "libertarians" favor no government. And, true libertarians are not isolationists, though they are very reluctant to engage in interventionism. Like I said, you would benefit from taking any of those quizzes I posted earlier.

Unfortunately, small government is impractical with a big country. Small government in this country became impractical after the Civil War because of reconstruction. There are no working examples of small government with a country this size. At least not among the world powers.

Poppycock! America did fine with a Federal system that maintained a small central Federal government with limited powers and individual state governments tasked with taking care of their affairs from the end of the Civil War until FDR came along over half a century later.