Media Influence Demoralizes Culture

In response to a letter from a friend who critiques Michael Medved's evaluation of media bias. Michael's column is linked in the title of this post.

The basic assertion is that Michael is wrong and that news purveyors are only giving news consumers what they want.

I disagree...

We all understand that news agencies and corporations need to make money and are in competition for viewer/readership.

If you want to say that consumers drive news I have no problem with that as long as you can define news effectively for me and as long as you consider the various factors that affect their choices.

If you define news the way I would, you would have to give it the value of neutrality. News, like ‘data’, is anemic. It only derives value based on context. It is animated and made dynamic by the purveyor’s rhetoric and the consumer’s pre-existing disposition.

The persuasion of rhetoric can be so subtle in news it seems even you have fallen prey. A glowing adjective to describe the ‘committed’ relationship of a gay couple here (though contrary to statistical analysis), a repugnant adjective describing the ‘debacle’ of a war there; this dogma dropped often enough in the casual parlance of newspeak is enough to convince those out of touch with decorum that they have accepted these as truths, or at least ought to.

It is in this way that Old Media, which includes Hollywood and its influence, defines culture. It is through consistent redefinition of liberal culture that the consumer, without alternatives, acquiesces, his old morals replaced is obliged to accept the new.

Like it or not, the bias exists and exists for ‘progressive’ thought and against conservative thought.

Consumers drive the news only with respect to acceptability (see previously - ‘pre-existing disposition’), and cultural acceptability is driven by media if you partake and lack principled perspective, and personal morality and historical context if you do not.

The introduction of greater and greater levels of negativity and pessimism (not to mention perversity, licentiousness and a prevalent disrespect for refinement) degrades democratic society through news outlets and television programming in general.

It should be apparent that it is the views of the ‘newsmen’ that drive cultural positions to the extent that the culture is unprepared or unwilling to recognize or reason an alternative.

I can state a myriad of examples where this is the case, but the most obvious is the Iraq war. According to the media, consistently and verifiably pacifist, this war is a failed policy. But would the public view it as such if the reporting were not so defeatist, or perhaps were even sometimes optimistic?

Briefly, I think you underestimate its influence. If ‘news’ were to reject the current trend of vulgarity and champion the ideas that make society more principled, refined and virtuous, the consumer would accept them wholeheartedly.

Was it Public Education?

[excerted from an email conversation with a High School friend]


I too was proud then of my Reagan vote and even more so now.

I'm sorry for the questions, but finding someone who actually understands and cares about the state of the culture and affairs of the country, especially in this time where I believe so much is at stake, is a treasure. So many don't realize that when they are not engaged, they allow the most radical in society to determine the course of national ethos. Alarmingly, those are they who loath American institutions and moral culture.

My father was fairly ambivalent with regard to politics. I didn't really pick much of it up from him, other than his value for self preservation.

Looking back I think just living in a family where the mother and father are committed and loving parents and where personal responsibility plays a big part, generally gives one good perspective.

I really wanted to find out if you would give some credit to your education in the public school system.

I figured since we went to most of the same schools we would have the same opinion. Mine is not a good one. I think there are lots of problems there. We no longer teach values, morality, preservation and esteem for democratic principles. Shouldn't we have known who Edmund Burke was by 6th or 7th grade? What about key Supreme Court decisions that impacted the country in profound ways? I don't even remember studying the Constitution that completely... ever. Am I mistaken?

I've learned so much more on my own. I cannot say enough for books, the internet, and talk radio. I have a television, matter of fact I have three, but do you think they're ever on? Its like a sewer pipe. Every image attempting to turn my son into a 'playa', my girls into Paris Hilton, and my wife and I into prescription drug addicts.

We've let the 60's radical culture do so much damage to this country. Drugs, sex, Rock-n-Roll!!!

I suppose, at the risk of offending you, it has to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has taught me the most. It has been the catalyst for the kinds of changes I've made in my life that have led to the clarity with which I see the designs of evil among men. Two forces exist and are in constant opposition to each other in all things. When one makes scriptures a companion, and sincerely understands that man has poured centuries of civilization, history of thought, and divine translation into these books, one must come to the same conclusions about our temporal existence.

God wanted all of us to return to live with him again, but made men free to decide their fate. He offered them a way to return to him that would exalt them, but it required self restraint, integrity, morality and personal accountability. Satan had a plan too. He would guarantee that all souls returned, but through deceit, coercion and intimidation.

Apply this to the opposite forms of government, democracy and communism (tyranny... despotism), and you begin to see the distinction I am making.

The danger is that Americans will not endeavor to remain free by staying informed and educated, but will slowly acquiesce to subtly greater and greater levels of constraint and captivity. It is an historical cycle.

When education fails to teach this principle, or even denies its transcendent quality in an effort not to offend, then it becomes worthless.

I am sorry for going on and on, but I'm just so fired up about the elections coming up and all. We stand to lose a lot.

I appreciate your complement. I simply express my feelings and try to look deeply for the right words. When you know that words have meaning and can elicit certain responses and feelings, it should be important for you to use them effectively.

Rhetoric persuades and I wish to be persuasive.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
- James Madison

Media Matters

Our perceptions frame our reality. When what we choose to perceive in this age of unlimited opportunities for clarification is only partial truth, or perhaps outright deceit, well then we our fools.

A Letter to a Friend

Hey, listen… I only bring this up ‘cause I care deeply about the perceptions people have of this country, its history and founding, and current understanding of its institutions.

 

It would not have had any affect on me otherwise were I not so respectful of you, your faith in the gospel, and your intellect and acumen in general.

 

However, I was miffed to hear you say that you believed the Constitution to be a living, breathing document open to interpretation.

 

Was it your intent to declare that this democracy would be better served by a handful of unelected expositors than by a representative congress?

 

I know that it’s a fashionable meme of the progressive movement, but may I say that this is a dangerous argument.

 

Perhaps you will accept my defense that the Constitution is a legal document and is binding on all men who would avow to live under its authority and that scholarly honors are not prerequisite for its understanding or application.

 

It is fixed in time certainly by divine consent and is not amenable but by the weight of a righteous and scrupulous citizenry who endeavor to maintain the liberties and agency of man, and who seek to preserve, protect and extend civilization with respect to supernal law.

 

Interpretations of the Constitution by secular humanists interjecting rights and permissions simply not contained in the document is not what was intended of the Judiciary. Its prescribed process was to apply the law as written by the democratic representatives in our congressional houses. It is tragic the way it has fabricated from whole cloth a leading role in the legislative process overarching democratic rule and subverting the system for laws formulation.

 

The battle now waged by the conservative movement is for a more subordinate and resigned Judiciary; a Judiciary that understands its role as applicator; fully supportive and subservient to the democratic process of rules making.

 

We simply cannot have the will of a democratic people being thwarted by the ideals of a handful of unelected elite.

 

For clarification’s sake… I happen to think that it is of the upmost importance to advance truth and to cut away the clouds of misunderstanding; and in all respects of course, the nascency of evil formulations.

 

 

 

 

Take it a step further...

Jim Calkins, the self-described self-interested blogger (It’s all about ME!), goes a long way in explaining the concept of ‘sight conditioning’, parlaying the psychology into a discussion on television viewing and its influence on perception.

In a talk I gave to a congregation in an LDS conference a month ago, I referred to a phrase, coined by the 19th century computer scientist Charles Babbage that has applications in social science and psychology. Mr. Babbage posited that a computer would only produce results concordant with the quality of data that is input, hence the phrase Garbage In, Garbage Out.

In an effort to explain the benefits of scripture study, I hypothesized about the importance of ‘good input’ in developing a healthy psyche or moral opinion, and further inferred, logically, that if the scriptures are the Word of God, and, God is Truth, it therefore stands that there is not a more pure form of Truth available to man than what is contained in the Bible and what are considered the standard works of the restored Church.

It is my opinion, and the opinion of many prophets and leaders of the Mormon religion that our sole spiritual endeavor on this earth is to know God more fully, which means he has called us to undertake a serious and inexorable search for Truth.

Jim has attacked specific media fare that he feels is explicitly detrimental to the mind and applies his understanding of the nature of 'sight conditioning' reasoning that “every single time we compromise with sin is when Satan gains more power over us. We get conditioned., and in short, we get duped.”

This evaluation is more relevant than ever given the preponderance of retrograde and fallacious dogma. Man’s general understanding, without the exercise of the Light of Christ - an inherent and divine elemental safeguard – and a commitment to heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, is a product of empirical evidence. The counter culture of the 50’s and 60’s foisted upon us much in the way of false and dangerous doctrine and ideology which has been extremely persuasive and continues to re-invent the spiritual and moral righteousness of Americans particularly.

Our culture has become increasingly accepting of ideas, behaviors, and movements which, when subjected to the lens of God’s righteous desires, appear as malignant and metastasizing tumors of deceit and moral corruption. Spurious ideas of multiculturalism, tolerance of deviancy, and compassion for ignorant, destructive, even violent behavior, are peddled on the television and in academia reinforcing the selfish and nihilistic modern man to the exclusion of the paramount principles of unification, moral and civilized behavior, and the rule of law.

What must be taken from this critique, and from the further investigation of this psychology of ‘human’ and, subsequently ‘cultural', conditioning is the understanding that at the most subconscious level our perceptions, values and behaviors are being continuously modified either toward or away from those that our Heavenly Father has designed. Therefore, if it is not edifying it is not doing anyone any good and is certainly not challenging us to greater humanity, civility, or spirituality.

One World Socialism Equals Tyranny

Where do you put your faith? In the sovereignty of the nation that made men free… or in the conglomeration of nations, many whose leader’s human rights atrocities go undetected, are ignored, or even often are explained or excused away.
You had better believe that Western Civilization is under attack like never before. The influence of millions, if not billions of dollars, appropriated to spread the ideas of World Socialism and Communism, is corrupting our Congress. By lining the pockets of Congressional Democrats, Soros will attempt to usurp American sovereignty and convince us that through coercive taxation only will we manage the hardships that exist in the world.
Certainly, Americans bear a great burden in the advance of civilization and the progress of humankind, but this vehicle is nefarious. We must maintain our sovereignty to ensure that no 'One World' body, whose members include some of the worst regimes and examples humanity has to offer, ever becomes so powerful as to relieve us of the rights set forth in our constitution.
It is our responsibility to beat back this agenda and to recommit to a level of humble respect and appreciation for what liberty truly means. We need to continue to support the leadership role America plays in global politics by bringing its values to the rest of the world. We cannot be successful by subverting the goodness of this country through legislated coercion at the hands of a world body, but can only realize the dream of a world brotherhood through America’s continued prosperity.

Republican Legacy

Rebuttal worth noting:

 

Keith’s post linked in title:

 

Stats Don’t Lie in Civil Rights Voting

 

Keith Baker, in a public forum posting of 8/24/06 - Salt Lake Tribune - criticizes Craig Monson’s post in the forum 8/12, by first stating that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not, as Mr. Monson attempts to point out, a Republican triumph but, through failed logic of his own, reverses the success of the project and awards it to the Democrats. Secondly, he attempts to peg Abraham Lincoln as a modern day Howard Dean. Does anybody buy that?

 

Keith’s assessments are shallow and un-researched perspectives typical of the left and their tendency for an emotional conception of history.

Though John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, presided over the Act for most of its process, he was not, based on his record as a senator and subsequent campaign for the Presidency, particularly fond of the issue and much like the rest of the nation had complicated and sometimes contradictory views about civil rights.

 

             Keith’s citation of congressional voting statistics to bolster his argument is fragmented and is camouflage for the deeper truths. Simply stating that 19 more Senate Democrats and 17 more House Democrats voted for the Act is misleading and reveals an elementary level assessment. Considering there were 248 Democrats and only 178 Republicans in Congress, a majority by a third, it is inevitable that there would be more “aye” votes cast by Democrats. With that said, the figures that bear out the truth more fully are that 80% of Republicans in both houses voted for, with only 19% against, contrasting that with 61% of Democrats for and an astounding 38% against.

 

A stronger case is made by reviewing the voting records of congress prior to the building social unrest over the civil rights issue that began in the 1950’s and culminated in the early 60’s with the passing of the Act. In fact, since 1933, Republicans had a more positive record on civil rights than the Democrats. In the twenty-six major civil rights votes since 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80% of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96% of the votes.

 

To address the second issue, Lincoln’s primary requisite as President was the unification of the Republic in the face of pressure from the south to secede. Though he was keenly aware of the battle waging to free the slave, his focus was on preserving the nation in its expansion. Keith’s assertion that Lincoln belongs in a class with the gay rights activists of this day is absurd. Though he presided over a war, as much economic as it was ideological, that emancipated thousands, his intellect and respect for moral traditions would have him viewing today’s moral dilemma with an eye to the appalling.

 

 

Vice and the Careless Man.

My buddy Jim - jimcalkins.blogspot.com - blogging about the snare of ignorance and the attempts by a certain evil force to use particularly influential people and their promotion of vice to subdue human reason, alludes to the example of television as a narcotic for the masses in dulling their senses to the current dangers of liberal ideologies.

What is ironic about Jim's argument is that, at the same time 'television' is numbing the human mind to the realities of an existential war with Islamo-nazism, a culture war with 'progressive academic groupthink', and the advocacy of a multi-cultured America with values no greater respected than those of the worst dictatorships, 'the programming' is promoting the self-same ideas in a subsconscious 'mind-meld' with the viewer.

Looking more clearly at the issue we see that the situation is always agenda driven. We can no more blame the television for the morose attitude against nationalism than we can the bottle which contained the vodka which quashed the libertarian desire in Russia.

Just as Lenin and Stalin attempted to dull the perspective of the Russian people through its influenc, and as Soros - wielding the heavy weight of the Democratic Party - attempts to use the legalization of Marijuana to captivate and usurp the agency of the American people, so the adversary, employing the apple polishers in Hollywood and main stream media, bids for our collective soul.

The Radical Left and the New Dems

VIEW THESE PHOTOS AT YOUR OWN RISK! THERE IS SOME NUDITY.

Anti Americanism runs deep on the left.

http://www.zombietime.com/hall_of_shame/

The Democratic Party will tell you that the anti-war movement is mainstream. That the majority of moderate Americans support it.

Look closely at these people. They do not represent me, my extended family, my neighbors, friends nor community... nor do the ideas presented represent anything in the way of general knowledge or moral judgement. Fabricated conspiracies and wildly exaggerated tales of American deceipt and national corruption quash rational evaluation, and blind hatred fuels a marginalized constituency which will only become angrier and more violent.

This is the radical left, supported by; The New Democratic Party, (see Lieberman vs. Lamont - http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06226/713379-152.stm) with special recognition going to Howard Dean, John Kerry, and (don't let her fool you) Hillary Clinton, and funded by George Soros and moveon.org. These are the 'useful idiots' defined in American history as early as 1948 who's job it is to assist in the advancement of socialism/communism.

This is not mainstream America. Mainstream America has an education not obscured by drug use, is family oriented, and lives by a moral code - also not obscured by drug use. But the radical voice of this very small minority enjoys a predominance in the media. It is scary to think of the influence it has on an ambivilent mind.
-Maurice

Benighted Cultures

It is unfortunate that man has not matured at the same rate across the globe, but that we must, so vehemently, defend liberty and agency.

What should be apparent to all is lost on those whose heritage has existed under an oppressive doctrine, a religion based on conquest and the subversion of the spirit of God.

Like all failed hypotheses, there is little doubt that this too should come to some ultimate demise but for the immutability of sin; the pride and covetousness… envy and anger.

Jim's Blog: Death of a salesman

Jim's Blog: Death of a salesman

This guy definately has a lew fews scroose.

Liberal 'Boomers' take credit for others hard work.

This contains a great analysis by Shelby Steele of current liberal psychology on the subject of war.


James Taranto gives an historical snippet of the civil rights movement which the Boomers take undue credit for.


http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110008452


-Maurice Enchel

Renaissance of the Homeless

This article provides the consummate clarification of the failure of Secular Humanism and its derisory quest for a societal canon.

 

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/mhelprin/?id=65000507

 

Man, ever striving to construct a top-down working societal discipline in an effort to replace God’s law, creates only anomie. Why? Because man is not accountable to man. It is as simple as that. “I’ll not have you tell me what to do!”

“But God… God holds the key to your salvation young man and you better shape up or there’ll be hell to pay.”

 

You cannot hold man accountable to the rule of law when the consequences are so moderated or even repealed as the humanists have done over several decades.

 

The founders of America were successful because they recognized their inability to develop something more suitable than the doctrine found in the old and new testaments so used IT for the basis of law, referring to God often.

 

 

Dharma Bums relent

The debate over the SWIFT program’s utterly contemptuous disclosure by the Venerable – see ‘Godless’ by Ann Coulter – NY Times, is, in my estimation, over.

 

The logic follows that if we are at war with a murderous ideology that could well last for decades - putting a burgeoning generation of children at risk of increasingly devastating attacks on their economic inheritance and Constitutional patrimony - then proper action should be taken to frustrate, subdue, and eventually retire all aspects of this religious hegemony.

 

Americans are progressively concluding that the actions undertaken by this subversive organization, and liberal media in general, are bare knuckled assaults on this elected administration’s effort to prosecute this war contending nothing else but the sheer hatred for the ideologies of conservative politics and religious values for which it stands.

 

The liberal meme; lie, cheat and steal to get your way or otherwise follow the radical play book, courtesy Alinsky (see ties with Hillary Clinton), is rapidly being exposed by the ‘Radio Patriots’; Hewitt, Limbaugh, Medved et alii, and by the internet blogosphere. These mediums provide the magnification and illumination required for rooting out false doctrines and dangerous gospels, and for propelling an invigorated morality.

The gig is up on the mouvement progressif. The Democrats have animated this philosophy to its breaking point with diminishing returns and now it’s time for the sleeping giant of reason, thoughtfulness, and the overall tenability of conservatism, to dwarf this shallow, dishonorable and nefarious Beat-ism.

-Maurice Enchel

 

 

Jake is cool

I think Jake is the best son in the whole world.

 

DAD.

NYT Subversion

Alberto Gonzalez has an obligation to prosecute on this matter. This is the second time that this subversive organization has seriously hindered our country's efforts to prosecute the War on Terror.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=12385&R=ECD324B9A

The final sentence in Gabriel's column is the cornerstone of what this argument is about.

"Can it really be the government's position that, in the middle of a war in which we have been attacked on our own soil, the power to classify or declassify vital secrets should be taken away from elected officials acting in accord with laws set by Congress and bestowed on a private institution accountable to no one?"

I voted for this administration. I voted for it because I want this cult of death - no different than the fascism of Hitler - brought to justice and I, and millions like me, handed the power for their prosecution to the man and the philosophy that we felt would effectively handle the situation.

As a voting block, millions concerned about the future of this country for the sake of their children, pledged to bring this ideology to ruin. We did so with the confidence that the administration we hired would use all the tools available to its greatest advantage.

We did not foresee, however, this usurpation of authority by false patriotism and adulterated constitutional largesse.
The first amendment does not give this institution the right to highjack my efforts to provide for the common defense nor to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Conservative Revival

An indication that a disregard for certain human disciplines is, ideologically, a failure.

John 8:32 - King made it famous... but what does it mean

If you are not a truth seeker, you will fail to make distinctions like the one Kevin has made in this piece.

In defense of this effort the Lord has commanded we seek truth and knowlegde in all things.

Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.

How have we allowed such a large part of our population -- professed followers of God and our saviour Jesus Christ -- to be so ignorant, and for that matter indignant of the most profound and influential of revelations?
It is time we stop apologizing for contrary behaviour, behaviour unbecoming of an enlightened civilization.

An enlightened civilization which is well aware of truth and the consequences we face when we deny or ignore it.

There are no excuses... we can't claim naivete... Either we are being edified by it or we are denying its existence.

Liberal Nonsense

Liberals will believe any ‘expert’… they have no moral compass.

The aim is for kids to understand that having sex is serious business and to help them become utterly at ease with condoms, right down to unrolling them correctly and learning to check the expiration date. Mickey Morgan, a social studies teacher at Oakwood who helps organize the event, says that's especially important for girls "so that it's not awkward for them to talk about safe sex with boys — when the time comes."

What better way to ensure that teens have more sex than to help them become “utterly at ease with” the process. We wouldn’t want a conversation about sex between two 8th graders to be awkward now would we?

But as schools wrestle with the question of how much information is too much, many health experts insist that the answer is clear: At a time when HIV and teen pregnancy are so prevalent, educators can't do enough to demystify condoms, even for eighth-graders who may be just beginning to explore their sexuality.

… And as an expert, tell me, why are issues such as HIV and teen pregnancy so prevalent?

Could it be because we talk about it so much… and treat sex like a fun little pastime by using phrases and words like ‘condom party’ and ‘gent tent’…? It makes me feel even that much more comfortable having religious endorsement of the program with the ‘Rubber Bible’.

Think about the mentality supporting these statements…

This is our culture… morons on parade… People who clearly do not understand the role of parent.

PS – Driving 125mph is dangerous… but it becomes much safer if you wear your seatbelt.